Three converging factors—China’s COVID-19 response in Africa, growing uncertainty of traditional donor commitments, and the impacts of China’s 2021 Global Development Initiative (GDI) on its aid policies and global development norms—necessitate a thorough, historicized, and nuanced understanding of China’s health aid. In a new report, Jennifer Bouey and her colleagues assess the impact of China’s overseas development, demographics, pandemic response, and global health aid. This analysis also examines China’s presence in Africa’s health care sector. Drawing on mixed-methods research, including a desk review of both English and Chinese language policy documents, quantitative analysis of China’s health aid flows, and qualitative field studies in Kenya and Sierra Leone, this study offers an independent assessment of how Chinese health aid operates, how it is perceived by African stakeholders, and its implications for global health governance.
This event is co-sponsored by Georgetown University’s Africa-China Initiative and Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.
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Jennifer Bouey is the Tang Chair for China Policy Studies at the RAND Corporation and associate professor and chair for the Department of Global Health at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on health, technology, and social issues.