DAKAR — China's efforts to fight the COVID-19 epidemic and its public health system have proved highly effective, said Sire Sy, president of the Pan-African think tank Africa WorldWide Group (AWG).

"Out of a total of more than 82,000 people infected, China has managed to cure more than 75,000 while (about) 3,000 have died. This is proof enough that China has the best public health system at present," the Senegalese economist and a media expert said in a recent interview with Russia's Sputnik news agency on the topic "China and the coronavirus pandemic."

According to him, the AWG, which studies geopolitical problems and geo-economy from African perspectives, estimates that the statistics published by the Chinese authorities show the essential information about its coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking of some Western observers questioning China's official data, he said people should "go beyond the figures," and "it is the perspective which is the most important."

"If there is a prospect that emerges, it is that, at present, China shows the best public health system in the world," he said.

The African think tank president refuted the media speculation that "this epidemic marks the decline" of China, saying "but now, today, this China has been able to contain the coronavirus and better, offer its aid to other countries, either through official or private means, notably the Jack Ma Foundation."

Moreover, in his opinion, in this global public health crisis, "China teaches us a lot. Western societies say 'time is money', and the Chinese have shown 'time is health,' a way of saying that health is the first wealth of men and nations and not capital and the market."

The expert said China's anti-virus efforts remind some of the Western countries that "the economy must be at the service of people and not vice versa."

Also, he told Sputnik that he believes the COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder that "we were in a world dominated by global competition on monopolies and exclusion. China reminds us that we must also integrate people and public health systems."

In the interview, the AWG head also called on the international community to start preparing for new, post-pandemic international relations and global economy.