Thirty-nine medical workers who participated in the Cataract Blindness Elimination Project in Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa, received commemorative medals on Friday in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, from Leung Chun-ying, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hong Kong-based GX Foundation.

Established in 2018, the GX Foundation focuses on providing humanitarian aid in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

"As an important project of the foundation, the Cataract Blindness Elimination Project has received strong support from Shanxi," Leung said at the presentation ceremony.

"Since the launch of the project, medical teams from Shanxi have faithfully maintained a spirit of service as they overcame many difficulties. They carried out cataract surgeries with superb skill and dedication, bringing light and hope to the local people and earning wide acclaim."

Since the launch of the project in Djibouti in February 2023, five teams comprising 39 medical workers from Shanxi have performed eye examinations for 7,741 people and performed 4,696 cataract surgeries.

The sixth and seventh medical teams plan to carry out similar work starting in September and concluding in January next year.