Ma Yili stresses maternal, newborn health in Africa visit

The release of the video of Ma Yili's visit coincided with the seventh Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing, where eight initiatives for cooperation with African countries were announced, including one on healthcare.

Ahead of FOCAC, UNICEF, the National Health Commission of China and the African Union jointly held a session on China-Africa cooperation in maternal and newborn health under the High-Level Meeting on China-Africa Health Cooperation in Beijing. Participants at the meeting made a collective call to increase investments and place maternal, newborn and child health along the continuum of care as a key priority in China-Africa cooperation. At FOCAC, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced $60 billion of financing to Africa over the next three years, with maternal and child health as one of his priorities.

In a recent meeting with UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, Kenya's first lady Margaret Kenyatta welcomed UNICEF's collaboration with her country and committed herself to supporting UNICEF's global healthcare interventions for mothers and children.