When the ebola epidemic broke out in Sierra Leone, China made a timely intervention in the fight against the disease. A mobile laboratory was sent to the country, and later became a permanent one. The country's President Ernest Bai Koroma is visiting China. His first stop was the center that set up the laboratory.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has started his week-long China visit, by expressing his gratitude to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The center has sent 177 medical workers to Sierra Leone during and after the ebola epidemic since 2014.

He noted China’s contributions in the wake of the outbreak, included the supplying of personal protective equipment, personnel, funds and a mobile laboratory. A permanent biological safety laboratory also was set up in 2015. Over 14,000 specimens have been tested in the lab during the ebola epidemic.

The end of ebola is a new beginning for Sierra Leone. The country is currently conducting a Post-Ebola Recovery Programme, which aims to build a resilient health system to fight any future outbreaks. China is expected to provide more than just equipment and medicine, but also the essential training of the native laboratory workforce.

"The key to ensure the future safety of the country is to establish an early warning and prevention system for epidemics, which requires many skilled medical staffers to be deployed at the community level. This will be our priority for future collaboration with Sierra Leone," Wang Yu, director general of Center For Disease Control & Prevention, said.

To benefit more people, the center hopes to make the laboratory the biggest and best of its kind in Western Africa.