China-Zimbabwe health partnership delivers new hope to patients – World

The miraculous rescue of critically ill patients from life-threatening conditions and the restoration of health to countless others who had endured years of pain have highlighted the growing impact of China’s medical assistance in Zimbabwe.

For many patients who walk through the doors of the Zimbabwe-China Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Center in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, the combination of traditional healing techniques, cutting-edge medical technologies and decades of clinical expertise has become a powerful symbol of the enduring health partnership between Zimbabwe and China.

By saving patients suffering from multiple organ failure and severe strokes while restoring mobility and dignity to those living with chronic pain, the 23rd Chinese medical team has earned near-legendary status in the southern African nation.

Remarkable recoveries

Stories of remarkable recoveries have spread far beyond the capital Harare to remote communities across Zimbabwe, drawing patients from hundreds of kilometers away in search of healing and a second chance at life.

One of the team’s most remarkable achievements involved an elderly HIV-positive patient suffering from acute heart failure and cardiogenic shock who had progressed to multiple organ failure.

The patient’s condition deteriorated rapidly as respiratory failure, severe sepsis, acute liver and kidney injury, life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias and severe electrolyte imbalances developed simultaneously.

According to the medical team, local healthcare workers repeatedly failed to secure venous access because extensive swelling had caused the patient’s peripheral veins to collapse.

Drawing on multidisciplinary expertise and coordinated emergency care, the Chinese doctors successfully intervened, stabilizing the patient and pulling him back from the brink of death.

In another dramatic case, a patient arrived with an acute ischemic stroke displaying classic warning signs, including facial drooping, weakness on one side of the body and slurred speech.

Recognizing the urgency, the Chinese medical team launched a coordinated emergency response within the critical four-and-a-half-hour treatment window that often determines whether a stroke survivor regains independence or faces permanent disability.

The successful treatment added another chapter to a growing list of cases that have strengthened confidence in Chinese medical expertise among Zimbabweans.

Behind what many patients describe as “magic” is a highly trained 10-member team led by Ma Zheng, head of the 23rd Chinese medical team and the first public health specialist from the Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention to serve on a medical mission in Zimbabwe.

“We owe our success to the outstanding interdisciplinary teamwork of specialists in internal medicine, critical care, traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, and other disciplines drawn primarily from leading hospitals in China’s Hunan province,” Ma said.

Located at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Zimbabwe’s premier referral institution, the team treats an average of 30 patients each day from Harare and beyond.

Since the introduction of TCM in Zimbabwe in 2020, the center has become a trusted destination for patients suffering from chronic pain, diabetes, hypertension and stroke-related complications.

“We offer treatments including acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, massage therapy and Chinese herbal medicine,” Ma said.

Acupuncture involves the use of thin, sterile needles inserted into carefully selected points to relieve pain and stimulate recovery while moxibustion uses the application of heat to specific points on the body to improve circulation and promote healing.

For more than five years, Revayi Roselinah Chaitezvi, a resident of Chitungwiza on the outskirts of Harare, lived with crippling back pain that robbed her of mobility and independence.

“I tried different hospitals, doctors and medicines, but countless attempts at treatment brought little relief,” she recalled.

Everything changed after she began receiving acupuncture therapy. By her third session, the pain that had dominated her life for years had begun to subside.

For Jomarie Nhari, 27, from the Harare suburb of Tynwald South, the breakthrough came after months of frustration.

Persistent muscle strain and severe shoulder pain had resisted conventional treatment. After five physiotherapy sessions failed to bring improvement, doctors recommended X-rays and MRI scans, but the costs were beyond her reach.

Since beginning acupuncture treatment last year, Nhari says the results have exceeded her expectations.

At 61, Ivy Gundam, who suffers from high blood pressure and persistent knee pain, says acupuncture has become an essential part of her health management routine.

“The pain used to decide what I could and could not do. Now, I am in control of my life again,” she said.

Advanced techniques

Beyond patient care, the Chinese medical team has helped introduce advanced neuromodulation technologies, including deep brain stimulation and spinal cord stimulation, for the first time in Zimbabwe.

These technologies now enable the local treatment of conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, severe neuralgia and spinal cord injuries, while strengthening Zimbabwe’s healthcare system and reducing the need for treatment abroad.

The team also plans to introduce rapid multiplex detection technology widely used in China, capable of screening for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B using a single test.

“This technology is simple, affordable, delivers rapid results and can easily be deployed at the grassroots level,” Ma said.

Ma noted that the medical team further provides public health training to local doctors and nurses to improve their ability to diagnose, treat and manage infectious diseases.

Beyond the medics and thousands of patients who have benefited, the team’s work is also building local capacity through hands-on training and technology transfer.

Among those inspired by the program is the 2022-2023 Miss Zimbabwe Queen, Charlotte Muziri.

Her connection began in 2017 when her father suffered a stroke. After years of searching for effective treatment, the family traveled more than 200 kilometers from Mvuma to seek help from the Chinese medical team.

“That first treatment returned hope to our family for the first time in years,” she recalled.

Today, the University of Zimbabwe graduate volunteers as a trainee and hopes to further her studies in China.

“This is my third year working with them. I have had opportunities to travel to China and learn new approaches to delivering better healthcare services,” Muziri said.

Inspired by acupuncture’s remarkable healing power, Munashe Mboneka became one of Zimbabwe’s first locally trained practitioners.

“I started learning traditional Chinese medicine in 2022 because I wanted to help local people in Zimbabwe,” he said.

After undergoing a month-long specialized training in China’s Hunan province, he now assists at the center, where demand frequently exceeds capacity.

“The Chinese doctors have become a beacon of hope for Zimbabweans who had exhausted other treatment options,” Mboneka said.

Some patients travel more than 400 kilometers, enduring more than six-hour journeys from distant cities such as Bulawayo simply to receive treatment.

From the bustling city of Harare to remote rural communities, the team’s work extends across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces, where occasional outreach camps provide free consultations, acupuncture treatments, disease screening and health education to thousands who might otherwise go without care.

For Ma, these efforts represent the next chapter in a healthcare partnership spanning more than four decades.

China first dispatched medical teams to Zimbabwe in 1985, laying the foundation for a long-standing relationship that has also supported the construction of healthcare facilities such as Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital and the Mahusekwa China-Zimbabwe Friendship Hospital.

Today, that partnership is measured not only in hospitals built and technologies transferred, but also in lives saved, pain relieved and hope restored.

victor@chinadailyafrica.com