4 February 2007 - PANA. Liberia's efforts to combat malaria received a major boost with the launch Thursday of the China-Liberia Centre for Malaria Prevention and Treatment by visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.
President Jintao, who was on a one-day working visit to Liberia, was flanked by his host, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, as he unveiled the plaque at the centre- the largest state-owned medical facility in Monrovia funded by the US in the 1960s and named after its former President John F. Kennedy.
Similar centres are to be built by Beijing in other parts of Liberia, China's Commerce Minister Bo Zilai said during the ceremony.
The General Administrator of the hospital said the new treatment centre would go a long way in addressing the malaria problem in the country.
"This centre is a serious development in malaria treatment in this country since it will be doing extensive research," said Joel Jones, a Liberian medical doctor heading the country's Malaria Control Programmme.
 
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