Chinese peacekeeping nurse Zhou Juan took a photo with a local student during the free medical service to Rand School in Gao City of Mali in February 2023. (Photo by Liu Bin)

By Wang Xuechao, Lin Xuefeng and Zhang Bin

Zhou Juan, a military nurse of the 10th batch of peacekeepers of the Chinese peacekeeping Level-2 Hospital to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), is called the Angel in Blue Helmet by the patients and peacekeeping peers because of her kindness and professionalism. In March 2023, a short video released by MINUSMA, titled "Meet Zhou Juan, a Chinese nurse based in Gao", had made her known to more people concerned about the international peacekeeping cause.

In May 2013, 30-year-old Zhou Juan applied to join the Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent to South Sudan when her hospital was commissioned to form a peacekeeping medical contingent for the very first time. As a country that had only formally declared independence for less than two years, South Sudan was then seen nearly 1.5 million displaced victims by the war and 370,000 people escaping into neighboring countries as refugees. All the service members that applied for the peacekeeping mission would be confronted with real violent threats. However, Zhou said, "As a soldier, I should go to the battlefield when there is a need, otherwise I will have regrets in my life."

Shortly after they arrived in Wau, South Sudan, a mass brawl broke out there, which caused dozens of civilians injured. A pregnant woman was stuck in a severe coma with faint vital signs due to brain injury. When many people thought she could not come through, Zhou and her teammates did not give up and performed immediate brain surgery on her. The day after the operation, this severely wounded mother-to-be woke up miraculously. "Thanks you for giving me and my baby a second life", she managed to express her gratitude to Zhou Juan with difficulty.

Zhou also received a peacekeeping police officer who had caught a fever for eight days during her emergency night shift. She worked through the night with doctors to give the patient a thorough examination and anti-bacterial treatment. They initially relieved the electrolyte imbalance condition but still failed to stop the sharp drop in white blood cell level for him. As his condition deteriorated further, the hospital requested an emergency transfer for him. The next morning, without a moment's rest after a busy night, Zhou proposed to escort the patient on the helicopter from Wau to Uganda via Juba due to her familiarity with the disease. Not until the patient was safely transferred to the Level-3 Hospital in Entebbe, Uganda did Zhou become relieved.

Due to her outstanding performance in the peacekeeping mission, Zhou won compliments from peacekeepers of various countries and local troops and civilians, and was awarded the UN Peace Medal of Honor. She was also appointed head nurse of respiratory and gastroenterology department of the hospital deservedly before the wrap-up of the peacekeeping mission.

In May 2017, Zhou once again volunteered to take part in the 5th Chinese peacekeeping mission to Mali. Compared to South Sudan in East Africa, Mali in West Africa featured more harsh conditions as well as demanding and dangerous tasks. Due to frequent terrorist attacks, this region was prevailing with severe security situations and a barrage of gunshot casualties. A particular batch of war wound treatment was still fresh in Zhou's mind.

In the early morning of November 24, 2017, the Niger combat battalion of MINUSMA was attacked by terrorists, which caused three deaths and 14 wounded for the battalion, one death and one wounded for Mali government forces. "A patient with penetrating injury by a bullet in his right hand, right hemothorax, rib fracture, blood pressure 80/60, critical condition and clouding of consciousness. Another one with penetrating injury by a bullet in his right lower limb, iliac bone fracture, blood pressure 110/90, conscious..." Hearing these injury reports from the intercom, Zhou was very worried about the safety of the wounded.

When seeing these patients keep bleeding out from the bullet wound, Zhou was still startled although mentally prepared beforehand. However, she soon calmed down and assisted to carry out ultrasonic and X-ray examinations by applying her trained professional rescue skills according to the batch treatment plan. And she also took hemostatic dressing, fixation, emergency blood replenishment, fluid infusion and other first aid measures upon the injured, and tacitly assisted the doctor to operate emergency surgery on a severely wounded person.

That treatment mission continued until the evening, Zhou had insisted to the end without a break. Afterward, she was praised by her teammates as "a vanguard in the rescue of the wounded".

In the second half of 2022, the hospital was once again ordered to form a peacekeeping medical contingent to Mali, and Zhou, who was about to turn 40, decided to take the mission again. This was her second peacekeeping mission to Mali. Suffering from constant terrorist attacks, this region was one of the most dangerous peacekeeping mission areas in the world. However, this had not stopped Zhou and her fellow peacekeepers from persevering with going out for providing free medical services and delivering food, medicines, school supplies and other articles to poor local children.

In mid-February 2023, Zhou and her comrades went to Rand School in Gao, Mali to carry out free medical treatment. During the service, they found that many children in the school were infected with dermatitis, which was probably related to their daily hygiene habits. Therefore, in view of local conditions, they organized and arranged health knowledge popularization activities for teachers and students, distributed hygiene knowledge manuals, and exhorted the children to develop good health habits.

The medical team finally treated more than 130 patients in this event. "Many thanks to the Chinese military doctors, thank you for treating every patient carefully," the school doctor who participated in the whole activity said excitedly to the medical team members after the free treatment.

In addition, as mentioned by the leader of the 10th batch of peacekeepers of the Chinese peacekeeping Level-2 Hospital to MINUSMA, Zhou has not only completed outpatient, emergency and first-aid tasks, but also actively participated in a number of exchange activities organized by the Sector East of MINUSMA, such as the United Nations Day celebration, the Women's Day cultural night and humanitarian donations, showing the good image of China's peacekeepers to the world.