PH, China share prevention and control of COVID-19, ‘The Plague of the Century’

CHINESE academician Zhang Boli, one of the most prominent figures in China’s fight against COVID-19 considers the corona virus to be the “Plague of the Century.” Sharing the China experience, he stressed how preventive measures were executed. He discussed the importance of early intervention to reduce severe conversion rate and the integration of Chinese and Western medicine with comprehensive rehabilitation treatment such as breathing training, physical therapy, Taichi etc. , psycho-therapy to prevent after effects of the Covid-19 infection such as physical injury (damage to immune function, heart, lung and kidney) and psychological trauma such as insomnia, anxiety and depression. He had also introduced Xuanfei Baidu Decoction, another traditional Chinese medicine widely used in China’s fight against COVID-19.

These and more were discussed the webinar, entitled “Learning from the China Experience – Control and

Surge Prevention”, spearheaded by the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Foreign Service Institute and the Philippine Archipelago International Trading Corporation (PAITC).

Boli, together with Dr. Jia Zhenhua also discussed the utilization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the prevention and treatment of respiratory infectious disease in China. During his talk, he broke down COVID-19 based on Collateral Disease Theory and discussed how this is treated through the approach of Traditional Chinese medicine. One treatment of note that was mentioned was Lianhua Qingwen capsule, which is already widely used and distributed in major drugstores in the Philippines.

Boli is honorary President of the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and recipient of the national honorary title of People’s Hero in August 2020 while Dr. Zhenhua, Chief Physician of TCM, Doctoral Supervisor and President of Hebei

Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine.

On the Philippine side, guests were able to listen talks from two of the most important figures in the country’s fight against COVID-19 – National Task Force Deputy Chief Implementor and Testing Czar Secretary Vince Dizon & NTF Contact Tracing Czar and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

“With over 4 Million deaths and 186 Million infections and counting globally, knowledge sharing is an essential form of cooperation in managing COVID-19. The slogan is: No one is safe unless everyone is safe,” said DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. in his opening remarks.

Through an interpreter Boli further said that China is sharing its TMC knowledge with the world through donations of traditional Chinese medicine, to different countries. Webinars were also done in other countries, he said.

For her part, PAITC President, Olivia Limpe-aw noted the similarities in terms of experiences, government policies and values of both countries in dealing with the modern-day virus

“Quarantine with medication is key, integration of Chinese and western medicine with rehabilitation treatment all help to increase curative rate and reduce mortality rate. Learning that there are two other TCM to treat COVID-19 aside from Lianhua Qingwen is something new to us so it has expanded our knowledge on TCM and that there are other options that we hope will be available in the Philippines in the next few months.

“Since it looks like COVID-19 isn't going to be over that easily, so we will have to deal with it -manage, mitigate so we can all move on and bring back normalcy to our lives,” Limpe-aw said.