MANILA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and a medical company launched on Thursday a program in the Philippines under a United Nations' initiative for supporting local hospitals and training local doctors to treat women and children suffering burns.
With the program, named UN Every Woman Every Child China Partnership Network Life Regeneration Action Program in the Philippines, the CPAFFC and medical company Mebo International will cooperate with the Philippine government and hospitals to provide training course on burn treatment for more than 1,000 local doctors in 2020.
"What we are going to do is to equip the doctors with the knowledge of actual processing the burn treatment specialized for women and children," said Kevin Xu, board chairman of Mebo International.
Meanwhile, CPAFFC and Mebo International will work with the Philippine medical groups and hospitals to train and build local medical teams on burn treatment, especially in rural areas.
Maria Francia Laxamana, assistant secretary of the Philippine Department of Health, expressed her gratitude to the medical program and assistance.
"We gladly welcome this commitment from China and we look forward to the collaboration," she said, adding "the Chinese government and its partners have been helping us in medical and health area."
Noting that burn is a serious problem in the Philippines because of using firecrackers, Laxamana said she believed the medical program will be helpful and become a legacy between the Philippines and China.
The UN initiative Every Woman Every Child was formally launched by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2010 with an aim to reduce child mortality and improvement of maternal health through global collaboration.
In September 2014, the CPAFFC announced the co-founding of the China Partnership Network as a supportive partner of the UN initiative, and appealed to Chinese companies, civil organizations and academic institutes for cooperation in improving the health of women and children.
Ji Yongjun, deputy director of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of CPAFFC, said during the program's launching ceremony that the UN Every Woman Every Child China Partnership Network Life Regeneration Action Program has already been successfully launched in Thailand, Malaysia, Egypt and Lebanon in 2017 and 2018.
The action will be carried out step by step in the future with the target of helping women, children, and adolescents suffering from poverty in China, Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and East Asia, Ji said.
"The action will provide life regeneration techniques and the medical supplies, host training courses of local doctors, as well as promote the economy and social development in different countries," he added.
