VICTORIA, British Columbia - Since the early 2000s, China has become a major player in international development aid. Health care has been a significant component of Chinese foreign aid since the 1960s, but its importance to Chinese foreign policy has increased in recent years with the introduction of the Silk Road. Chinese President Xi Jinping presented the Silk Road in 2016 as an extension of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China launched the BRI in 2013 and is the most ambitious and successful foreign policy strategy of China so far.
China’s ambition with the BRI is to revitalize the ancient Silk Road trade routes by expanding China’s political and economic influence in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Since 2021, BRI has produced about 40% of global economic production and covered 140 countries. The Chinese Silk Road uses the transport infrastructure and economic relations established within the BRI to provide health care to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Fighting malaria
The main component of the Chinese Silk Health Path is the transfer of methods and experiences learned from its successes in public health. In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that China had been granted malaria-free status, the nation’s greatest health achievement to date. China is now applying its technologies and methods to eradicate malaria in the African context.
Sub-Saharan Africa is facing a high malaria burden compared to the rest of the world. In 2020, the African continent accounted for 95% of the global malaria burden and 96% of malaria deaths worldwide. Since the 1970s, China has developed two pharmaceutical innovations, artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) and long-term insecticide networks (LLINs), which have significantly suppressed malaria infections in China. The WHO now recommends ACT as the primary treatment for malaria, and the use of LLIN in Africa prevented 68% of malaria cases between 2000 and 2015.
China also partnered with the Tanzanian government between 2015 and 2018 to implement the first phase of the China-Tanzania Malaria Prevention and Control Demonstration Project. The project used the Chinese model of surveillance “1-3-7”, which proved to be incredibly successful in China’s efforts to eradicate malaria, to screen and monitor malaria cases. The model has the potential to reduce malaria cases by more than 80%.
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has further improved the Silk Road as China has become a leading supplier of vaccines, personal protective equipment and other medical supplies. In early 2020, China managed to curb the spread of COVID-19 within its borders. This has enabled the country to advance its leadership position in global health by increasing the presence of Chinese medical equipment in the global market.
In November 2021, the Chinese government pledged to deliver one billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to the African continent. China has shipped a significant portion of the vaccines as “commercial supplies.” This method of vaccine delivery differs from other large vaccine manufacturers, such as the United States, which usually offers vaccines as donations. China has also built “vaccine filling and refining factories” in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. China’s use of the market to deliver vaccines to Africa has allowed it to far surpass the United States and other Western countries in global vaccine distribution, further advancing the Silk Road
What do the critics say?
China’s emergence as a leader in global health care through the Silk Road has differed from the traditional donor in the West. Traditional health care from Western donors often comes with conditionality, with recipient governments having to follow certain democratic standards or implement economic reforms to receive aid. However, Chinese health care often lacks any conditions related to it, which leads critics to accuse China of supporting repressive regimes in countries.
Critics have also condemned what they believe is the economic opportunism of Chinese health care in Africa. They claim that China is using the Silk Road to penetrate African markets for its products and gain access to the continent’s natural resources. China has responded to these criticisms by indicating that it provides assistance to many countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are not rich in natural resources. China also pointed out that its health care is helping to fill infrastructure gaps in poor rural regions.
The emergence of China as a leader in global health care through the Silk Road has supported many nations in Africa in the fight against infectious diseases. While critics condemn Chinese health care as exploitative, the nation is proving to be a partner for LMICs in need.
- Kaitlin DeVeerd
Photo: Flickr