A training session for Shanxi medical aid professionals to Africa opens at Shanxi University in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, on March 6. [Photo/sxwsjs.gov.cn]

A training session for Shanxi medical aid professionals to Africa kicked off at Shanxi University in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, on March 6.

More than 120 medical staff members of major hospitals in Shanxi province took part in the event, which included French language and professional skills training.

The trainees are destined to carry out medical aid at six sites in Cameroon, Togo and Djibouti after eight months of thorough training.

Shanxi has dispatched 56 medical teams, made up of 1,209 members, since it took part in the Chinese medical aid program for African countries in 1975. The province facilitated the "journey to brightness" program, which offers free treatment to African catarct patients, and has been involved in professional medical training for the control and prevention of the deadly Ebola fever.