GAO, Mali, April 25 -- April 25th every year is World Malaria Day. On the basis of self-prevention and control, the 10th Chinese Peacekeeping Level-2 Hospital to United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) also organized a series of health activities on malaria prevention and control for eight other peacekeeping contingents within the MINUSMA Sector East in the past few days.
Africa is known to account for 95% of the world's malaria cases, and the Gao mission area in Mali, West Africa, is one of the high-risk areas for malaria outbreaks.
Since April 2023, the 10th Chinese Peacekeeping Level-2 Hospital to MINUSMA has dispatched a malaria prevention and education team to tour eight peacekeeping contingents of the MINUSMA, including the Egyptian gendarmerie, the Bangladeshi combat infantry battalion and the Cambodian Explosive Ordnance Disposal Contingent (EOD Team), to carry out relevant educational activities. They shared the malaria prevention and treatment expertise as well as emergency handling methods, aiming to improve the peacekeepers’ malaria prevention and control capabilities.
This tour is not only a special activity in response to the theme of the World Malaria Day, but also a concrete measure to protect the lives and health of peacekeepers. "We learned a lot about malaria prevention and how to give first aid. This educational activity is really useful," said a medical officer assigned to the Level I hospital of the Bangladeshi combat infantry battalion in the MINUSMA Sector Eastern.