Editor's Note: On August 9, 2024, the fifth "Angel of Life for Africa" midwifery training program was successfully completed after two weeks of training at Wenzhou Medical University in east China's Zhejiang Province. The training program was jointly organized by Wenzhou Medical University, Anbo Zhiyuan International Cultural Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd., and the Wenzhou Yanghong Charity Foundation. Upwards of 30 students from 12 African countries graduated and would return to help improve the health of pregnant women and newborns in their home countries.

Over the past five years, the "Angel of Life for Africa" midwifery training program has trained nearly 300 students from 27 African countries. These students have returned home and made significant contributions to helping reduce local maternal and neonatal mortality rates through advanced midwifery skills and knowledge.

In 2024, this project was listed as a foreign aid training project by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Group photo of participants at the opening ceremony of the first "Angel of Life for Africa" midwifery training program in 2018.

Every life deserves respect

In 2016, during the China-Africa People's Forum in Tanzania, Dong Qixin, executive director of Anbo Zhiyuan International Cultural Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd., met with her old friends Joseph Kahama, secretary-general of the Tanzania-China Friendship Promotion Association, and his wife Nancy. During talks, Dong learned that Tanzania was facing the dilemma of a tragic consequence of inadequate medical conditions and outdated medical practices, with many mothers having died during childbirth due to a lack of proper care. Nancy told Dong that if China could provide support to train professional midwives in Tanzania, the situation might gradually improve.