The People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s first infectious disease prevention and control center in Africa will be delivered in early July, Wu Qian, spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense, said Thursday.
The center for the study of tropical infectious diseases will be completed soon and delivered to the government of Sierra Leone, Wu said at a press conference on Thursday.
According to Wu, the center will mainly serve the purpose of improving local capabilities in preventing and treating large-scale infectious disease outbreak.
For decades, China has been providing aid to African countries, especially in the public health sector as the country's peacekeeping missions include not only combating against terrorism but also improving local standard of living and poor medical standards, analysts said.
Sierra Leone has suffered from the Ebola virus, which is a severe, often fatal illness in humans with limited treatment options, according to the World Health Organization.
After the largest Ebola outbreak in 2014, China was the first country to make medical donations and send over 1,000 medical staff to the affected countries, treating more than 900 patients and training some 13,000 medical workers in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and other countries, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
China is actively taking on international responsibility in global health. In October 2017, The China Food and Drug Administration approved an Ebola vaccine developed by the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and a Tianjin-based company.
