Tunisia hosted the inaugural Tunis Forum on the Development of Sino‑African Medicine on November 21–22, 2025, bringing together government officials, medical experts and business leaders from China and across Africa. The two-day event, co-organized by the Tunisian Ministry of Health and the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, aims to deepen medical collaboration, strengthen public health systems, and foster knowledge exchange between Beijing and African capitals.
In his video remarks, the head of China’s Health Commission stressed China’s readiness to partner with African countries in key public-health priorities: infectious-disease control, maternal and child health, and broader healthcare capacity building. Meanwhile, Tunisian Health Minister Mustapha Ferjani welcomed the initiative, describing the forum as an “unprecedented platform” that blends Tunisian medical expertise, Chinese scientific capacity, and African ambition for health development. He recalled that Tunisia has long served as a gateway for China-Africa medical cooperation since the first Chinese medical mission in Tunisia in 1973.
The forum also featured the signing of three new bilateral agreements, between key hospitals and medical schools in Tunisia and Chinese partners, to enhance cooperation in cardiovascular care, urology, surgical capacity building, and medical-technology exchange. One headline agreement links La Rabta Hospital in Tunis with a regional hospital in China’s Jiangxi province to establish a joint cardiovascular center focused on modern catheterization techniques. Another connects the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis with the broader Sino-African Medical Alliance to introduce advanced urological procedures, training for Tunisian and African doctors, and support for cutting-edge medical technologies.
These developments build on decades of China-Tunisia medical cooperation. Since 1973, China has dispatched numerous medical teams to Tunisia, covering specialties such as obstetrics, pediatrics, orthopedics, acupuncture, and surgery – contributing millions of outpatient services and hundreds of thousands of operations over the years. In 2023, Tunisian parliament formally approved an MoU with China to host Chinese medical teams across multiple Tunisian hospitals, including the newly established Traditional Chinese Medicine Center at Mongi Slim Hospital in Tunis.
The 2025 forum signals a renewed, strategic push: medical cooperation is being elevated from bilateral aid to a broader, multinational platform aiming for systemic impact on public health across Africa. By integrating joint training, infrastructure partnerships, and shared medical research, the forum’s architects hope to build a sustainable Sino-African medical ecosystem.
For Tunisia, this ushers in fresh opportunities to upgrade healthcare infrastructure, leverage Chinese expertise, and improve service delivery in key areas such as surgical care, maternal health, and chronic disease management. For China and its African partners, it reinforces a commitment to a people-dominated model of cooperation – where health, capacity building, and shared human development are central to bilateral and continental engagement.
