Healthcare as a Health Investment

This chapter explores healthcare as an investment and the geopolitical implications of healthcare in Africa. The importance of healthcare as a tool of diplomacy is documented and acknowledged. According to Li, the West and China have common interests in Africa regarding economic development and environmental protection. China, Africa, and Western countries must discuss effective methods for increasing cooperation on the continent together. But their interest can sometimes be contradictory in different aspects of the continent. Healthcare is the crossroads of their geo-political implications in Africa. As the PRC evolves from a poor country to a superpower, Africa has become the testing ground for soft power diplomacy via economic development and healthcare.

The State of International Healthcare Development in Africa

An estimated 1 million Chinese live and work in Africa. The interaction between Chinese and Native Africans is correlated with the increase in Chinese commerce on the African continent. However, a number of these interactions were not friendly. Many of the Chinese now face added scrutiny or outright discrimination due to their treatment of Native Africans as depicted in social media. The discord between USAID and the Chinese Government has negatively impacted the state of international healthcare development in Africa. Healthy debate and the implementation of collaborative solutions have been compromised by social media discrimination images. Non-traditional media has led the debate on the soft power control of Africa. This chapter explores the state of international healthcare development in Africa.

Current State of Chinese and USA Healthcare and Corona Care (COVID-19) in Africa

As Chinese and African countries grow in trade and economic development so has the soft power dynamics. Healthcare has been an area where the Chinese have dominated the area for the last decade. The USA has been in a decline and has been absent in providing the leadership in healthcare soft power dynamics. The partisan politics in the USA has consumed the United States Agency for International Development bringing an era of Chinese experimentation with a free market (capitalism) and toying with international development superpower status. Yet, there are still areas of improvement for healthcare in Africa between United States America (USA) and China (PRC). Africans have become used to engaging with the Chinese in the hope of meeting their developmental healthcare goals. But the acceptance of the Chinese healthcare and medicine in Africa is a game changer in the healthcare diplomacy arena.

The African Continent During and the Corona (COVID-19) Pandemic

There have been a lot of changes during this COVID-19 pandemic that will affect the relationship between PRC and the African continent. Some of these changes have been in the interpersonal relationship between ordinary Chinese and individuals of African descent. These changes have affected the diplomatic relationship and its effects on healthcare developmental projects. These projects have been affected by images on social media on how the Chinese mistreat Africans in China. Social media has been an important tool to affect the dynamic in these relationships. These social media outlets have been instrumental in the availability of mistreated Africans in the PRC. The United States of America, The People's Republic of China, and the African continent will be in a new era in a diplomatic relationship after the corona (COVID-19) pandemic. Whoever has the best game plan will win the hearts and minds of Africans.

Current Healthcare Collaborative Projects in Africa Between the USA and the PRC

African public healthcare systems suffer from a significant “brain drain” of their healthcare professionals and knowledge. As health workers migrate to wealthier countries such as Australia, Canada, the USA, and the United Kingdom, Africa is struggling to meet its healthcare needs. PRC is playing an increasingly important role in the African public health sector. However, only a handful of countries have received priority in receiving Chinese development assistance for healthcare. The USA has struggled with the development of new strategies for international development. As the USA has been reducing healthcare options in the developing nations in Africa, PRC has increased money and expertise for Africa.

The History and Overall Economic Influence of Chinese Healthcare Aid in Africa

The motivation of the Chinese on soft power economic development goes beyond healthcare diplomacy. Chinese firms and construction projects are all over the African continent. Across the continent, there has also been a noticeable decline in American hospitals being built in relation to Chinese hospitals being built. This has been one of the factors contributing to the reduction of the USA's previous hold on economic development throughout Africa. Notably, China has increased its involvement in global health governance. As the largest developing country and the second largest economy in the world, China's engagement in global health governance should be given considerable attention as the PRC has been providing medical assistance in various ways to African now for almost six decades. Despite initial concerns, this has steadily continued even throughout COVID-19.

Healthcare Aid Between the USA and China During the Cold War

The best propaganda is not propaganda; instead, superpowers should provide resources to developing countries during this information age to enable economic growth. A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in the world politics because other countries—admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness—want to follow it. In this sense, it is also important to set the agenda and attract others in world politics and not only to force them to change by threatening military force or economic sanctions. This soft power—getting others to want the outcomes that you want—co-opts people rather than coercing them.

Healthcare Diplomacy

This chapter presents a historical summary of international development aid in developing Africa as a form of diplomacy. Most of these developmental projects started in the 1960s after independence and have been used as a tool for diplomacy. Healthcare for example has been a major tool for diplomacy by the United States of American (USA) and now China (PRC). During this era, the USA was the leader of soft power diplomacy and PRC was still a poor country trying to survive by making new friends in Africa. China's engagement in African health projects has differed from aid provided by traditional Western donors. The PRC builds on its own prior experiences of building its health system as a developing country and in the manner in which it places special emphasis on the issue of the national sovereignty of recipient countries.