Shanxi Provincial Eye Hospital has signed an agreement with a hospital in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, to help train staff in the facility's ophthalmology department.

The deal, confirmed on Sept 18, will see a team of ophthalmic experts from Shanxi travel to Cameroon to provide technical training, while staff members from Yaounde Women and Children's Hospital will be invited to North China to improve their skills.

The agreement is an extension of the "journey to brightness" program, a Chinese initiative which offers free treatment to cataract patients in Africa. As one of participants in the project, Shanxi Provincial Eye Hospital sent a team of specialists to Cameroon in May, which completed 627 cases of cataract surgery during their stay.

Fru Fobuzshi Angwafo III, director of Yaounde Women and Children's Hospital, said that the cooperation furthers the communication in health care between two sides. He hoped that the partnership with Shanxi will help the hospital improve the skills of its staff and the service it is able to provide to patients.