By Wang Xueyang and Zhang Dan

BEIJING, November 15 — The second military medicine conference of the China-Africa Forum on Peace and Security was held in Beijing via video link on November 14. and medical experts from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and military health services from 21 African countries.In recent years, China-Africa military medical cooperation has developed steadily, with successful results achieved in bilateral cooperation on combating the COVID-19 pandemic, staff training, capacity building, etc. According to Chinese participants, the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is still protracted with repeated rebounds, so China and Africa need to strengthen medical cooperation more than ever and jointly address challenges in the medical and health fields. China will continue to provide support and assistance to the public health prevention and control system and the capacity building of the African military. In addition, they also showcased the Chinese military’s scientific research experience, practices and achievements in responding to public health emergencies. Representatives of African countries delivered speeches on building of the military medical and health system, building public health emergency response capacity and China-Africa military medical cooperation during the conference. “The African and Chinese militaries should strengthen their coordination and establish a multi-level cooperation framework to better respond to global public health emergencies,” said a senior South African military health service officer.