The delivery and priority of China's medical assistance to Africa should be reformed to ensure it is sustainable in the long run, a member of the CPPCC National Committee has urged.

Wang Jian, who is the deputy director of the nation's Traditional Chinese Medicine for AIDS Prevention and Treatment, made the remarks on Monday as the two sessions continues. He lived and worked in Tanzania in Africa for three years, largely researching the use of traditional Chinese medicines in the treatment of AIDS.

Wang said that about 40,000 African AIDS patients have taken TCM medications "that worked well particularly for boosting immunity and averting opportunistic infections".

But he said TCM treatment is mainly supplementary, and cannot replace anti-viral therapy, the main treatment for HIV/AIDS.

He urged reform of China's medical assistance program to Africa that began in the 1960s.

For years, China has dispatched large numbers of medical experts to Africa who have mainly provided clinical treatment for local patients. "That cannot continue as China itself also faces a shortage of medical workers within the country," Wang said.

He said that what Africa needs most now is "capacity building", and urged the government to shift its priority to training programs for local medical staff.