China: One Belt One Road
January 26th, 2018“…..This year, at the opening of the One Belt and One Road Initiative forum, Xi Jinping reiterated his pledge to create 100 health projects for women and children in the developing world—a commitment to maternal and child health that fills a void left by the US withdrawal of funding to the United Nations Population Fund. China is also investing in vaccine development and collaboration in biomedical advances with support from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Between 2000 and 2012, China committed a total of $3 billion to 255 projects on health, population, and water and sanitation in Africa. The country also built hospitals and malaria control centers, invested in medical equipment, provided anti-malarial treatment, and trained health care workers. China’s assistance was crucial to both the response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa and expanding its soft power further into Africa. China is also increasing its global health partnerships, both academically and across governments, and now boasts multilateral and bilateral partnerships with UN agencies, developed and developing nations, and many international non-governmental organizations. The country is forming public/private partnerships for global health and is engaging in many academic partnerships. It has even established a consortium organization much like the Consortium of Universities for Global Health called the China Consortium of Universities for Global Health, which so far includes 23 member universities…..”
