CHINESE and Zanzibar authorities have opened a new chapter of health cooperation, launching the second phase of the China-aided schistosomiasis control pilot project.

Hassan Khamis Hafidh, the deputy Health minister for Zanzibar, said the pilot project on Unguja Island will integrate China's experience in schistosomiasis prevention and control as well as comprehensively improve the local schistosomiasis prevention and control capabilities.

It will operate through a model that combines environmental governance with medical intervention, he said, while Li Qianghua, head of the Chinese consulate general in Zanzibar, said the project has achieved great success on Pemba Island.

Chinese experts will cooperate with the local experts to ensure the success of the project and help local communities achieve the goal of eliminating schistosomiasis, he specified, elaborating that since China sent the first medical team to Zanzibar in 1964, the two sides have always observed sincere collaboration.

To date, 682 medical experts have treated more than two million patients in the Zanzibar archipelago., he said, while Yang Kun, director of the schistosomiasis control project, talked of unremitting efforts of experts in assisting with schistosomiasis control.

The incidence of schistosomiasis in the demonstration area of the first phase of the project has dropped from 8.92 percent of the population to a data indication of 0.64 percent prevalence, he specified.

In the pilot work on Unguja Island, the project team plans to carry out a two-week systematic training of health technicians while completing debugging and material allocation work pm laboratory equipment.

Saleh Juma, head of the neglected tropical diseases office in Pemba, said after years of cooperation, China's schistosomiasis control experience is proving workable in Zanzibar.

The project was launched in Isles in the presence of various dignitaries, including senior Zanzibar government officials, country office of the World Health Organization and Chinese schistosomiasis control experts, in the wake of its successful implementation on Pemba Island, officials noted.