"It’s my ultimate dream to promote traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to Africa, to benefit the African people, and to boost exchanges and mutual learning," said Diarra Boubacar, a promoter of the world's first TCM-related Luban Workshop and the first foreigner to obtain a doctorate degree in TCM, in an exclusive interview with China Investment magazine.

Diarra Boubacar, a promoter of the Mali Luban Workshop and the first foreigner to obtain a doctorate degree in TCM [Photo/ China Investment magazine]

Mali is the first African country to include traditional medicine in the key area of national medicine; the Mali Institute of Traditional Medicine is the first national-level institution of its kind in Africa. Many of Mali's traditional medical methods are similar to those of TCM.

According to Diarra, the Luban Workshops aim to share China's advanced technologies and experience with developing countries and even developed countries through the Belt and Road Initiative. The Luban workshop in Mali has prospects of promoting TCM to Africa, so that more people can benefit from it.

As Diarra notes, vocational education has been considered highly important by African governments. Both Mahamadou Sumada, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Mali, and Zhu Liying, Chinese Ambassador to Mali, delivered speeches at the completion ceremony of the workshop.

Many students were spotted inquiring about the enrollment and expressing their wishes to study in the workshop.

Last year, four Mali teachers successively went to Tianjin, China to receive training. They and Diarra have become the teaching staff of the workshop.

In Africa, there are about 6,000 kinds of herbal medicines, some of which are unique to Africa and have special curative effects on certain diseases.

However, the common herbal medicines in Africa are not dispensed by pills and decoctions. There is a need to learn the extraction procedures of medicines from China, for industrial development.

At present, plant-based medicines from Mali are common in the European market, but are hardly seen in China. This provides a lot of room for cooperation between China and Mali in traditional medicine.