Jack Ma joins Africa CDC in online medical exchange session on combating Covid-19

May 04, 2020: The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Group founder appeared in a medical-exchange webinar co-hosted by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The two-hour session was broadcast on the Global MediXchange (GMCC) for combating the Covid-19 platform.

Sharing knowledge, experience and best practices are of the utmost importance to combat Covid-19, Jack Ma said in the webinar that brought together medical practitioners in Africa and China to discuss ways to fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

Over 1,600 healthcare workers from more than 20 African nations participated in the live exchange.

The session was part of the GMCC’s ongoing efforts to share coronavirus-related insights and experience among medical communities around the globe. Since March, the platform has organised knowledge-exchange sessions between medical experts in China and those from Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

“Over the past three months, I have spent each and every day following the pandemic. And during our donation efforts, we realized that not only medical supplies are needed but also the frontline experience to fight the virus are crucial,” Ma said. “That is why we established the GMCC. The purpose is to share the existing experience so that other countries do not need to start from zero.”

During the exchange, Dr. Chen Wang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, shared lessons gained from Wuhan, the original epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

He discussed a range of solutions implemented in China, from city lockdowns and holiday extensions to community-management initiatives and the construction of shelter hospitals. Wang said he hoped that insights from the country’s unified approach across all layers of society could inspire ideas and solutions among international communities dealing with similar problems.

During the live-streamed session, Ma pledged his continued support to Africa amid the health crisis. He also called on others to stand together to battle the global pandemic.

“Solidarity and collaboration are the only ways we can succeed,” he said. “The solution is not isolation but cooperation instead.”