Medical cooperation has been key to progress, modernization over past six decades
Sino-African healthcare diplomacy in the past six decades has been remarkably inspiring. Africa, through China’s support, has defied the doom and gloom that characterized its healthcare system as the globe’s weakest link in the fight against communicable and non-communicable diseases.
With no conditions attached, China’s bilateral and multilateral healthcare assistance to Africa was established on the principle of equality and mutual benefit. This open and inclusive attitude from China has supported African countries in responding effectively to various epidemics including Ebola and COVID-19.
The strategic diplomacy and policy approaches in providing shared prosperity in the China-Africa community of health for the past six decades are anchored on several factors.
The first is Chinese medical teams. After the attainment of self-rule for most African countries, Africa needed to develop its ravaged healthcare system. When the French medical team withdrew its services in Algeria in 1962, the government requested that the international community offer medical aid to its citizens. China responded immediately in 1963 by sending its first medical team to the North African country, marking the genesis of its providing medical aid to other countries.
As Chinese and African diplomatic relations continued to flourish, more medical teams were sent to provide additional personnel to understaffed hospitals in Africa.
Consequently, when the Ebola outbreak struck West Africa in 2014, Chinese medical teams were instrumental in the fight against the disease. Similarly, in boosting its COVID-19 aid efforts in Africa, China sent medical teams to various African countries to help fight the pandemic. Since 1963, various reports indicate that China has sent more than 20,000 Chinese health professionals to Africa, benefiting millions of patients on the continent.
The second factor is infrastructure development. In 2015, after the second Ministerial Forum of China-Africa Health Development was held in Cape Town, South Africa, China pledged to build 100 hospitals and clinics on the continent. China has implemented its pledge through the construction of ultramodern health facilities in Africa.
In 2018, China fully funded and built West Africa’s largest healthcare facility in Niger. Similarly, in 2022, Egypt launched, with China’s assistance, an automated and refrigerated vaccine storage complex with a capacity for storing up to 150 million doses. This facility will ensure the safety of vaccine storage and boost Africa’s vaccine supply chain, especially in light of the extra 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses from China that were pledged during the 2021 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Dakar, Senegal.
At the continental level, China has aided the construction of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The headquarters will help improve the national capabilities and the African public health prevention and control system, in a bid to benefit a population of approximately 1.4 billion people.
The third factor is the establishment of healthcare management and policy coordination systems. In shaping the future of sustainable and long-term health cooperation, Chinese and African health ministers established the Ministerial Forum of China-Africa Health Development in 2013. The forum has been instrumental in mapping and supporting Africa’s long-term healthcare policy coordination and management systems.
Fourth is the promotion of information exchanges and technologies. Through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China has implemented health research programs that aim to provide cutting-edge technology transfers in Africa. Through digital technology, China was able to train African medical professionals remotely and share various digital epidemic prevention and control manuals. China has also offered hundreds of thousands of scholarships to African students to earn medical-related degrees.
The collaborative health diplomacy between Africa and China is becoming more vital than ever in saving lives and improving the healthcare system in Africa.
Thus, as Africa and China strive to build a community with a shared future in the new era, including a community of health, the two civilizations should continue to ensure that there is access to quality medicines and pharmaceutical supplies for Africa. In addition, more bilateral engagements with China through joint venture cooperations, private-public partnerships and build-operate-transfer projects should be encouraged to strengthen healthcare in Africa.
The author is executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute in Kenya.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.