Xia Yuanjie

szrbgracexia@126.com

VALDEMAR RODRIGUES AUGUSTO TCHIPENHE and Ivana Todorovic, two Shenzhen-based foreign medical researchers, were recently awarded by their home countries for their contribution to local pandemic prevention and control.

Tchipenhe, a 24-year-old Angolan field application scientist with BGI Genomics (BGI), shouldered heavy responsibility for building four Huo Yan biological nucleic acid laboratories (Huo Yan Lab) in his motherland. He spent almost five months setting up labs, installing devices, training local technicians and working as a translator between the Angolan Government, the Ministry of Health in Angola and BGI.

To recognize his accomplishment in applying China’s technology to Africa, the Angolan authority awarded him the Certificate of National Youth Honor in September last year.

In April  this year, the assembly of Banjaluka, capital of the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, honored Todorovic as outstanding youth for her contribution in education and medicine to the city.

The 28-year-old, who is BGI’s clinical R&D specialist/manager, took an active part in facilitating a donation of 5,000 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test kits by BGI and Mammoth Foundation, a Shenzhen-based nonprofit organization, to reach the ground of Banjaluka.

China’s pandemic aid has made a big difference in these two countries.

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