Improving health services for African migrants in China: A health diplomacy perspective

Abstract

Global health has become an increasingly prominent component of foreign policy in the last decade. The term health diplomacy has been used to describe this growing interface between foreign policy and global health, and it encompasses both the concept of using health to further foreign policy objectives as well as the idea that diplomatic tools can be helpful for attaining public health goals. The Chinese presence in Africa has grown in the last 15 years, generating increased interest in Sino-African relations. While much has been written in recent years about the Chinese presence in Africa, the growing numbers of Africans in China have attracted considerably less attention. Many are small-scale traders and might be expected to face many of the health challenges common among foreign migrants, but their health needs have been largely unrecognised. In this paper, we consider how a health diplomacy approach could be applied to African migrants in China, and the potential advantages and limitations of this strategy. We identify areas of overlap between public health, trade and foreign policy goals that can be emphasised to generate support for improved services for African migrants in China and to engage partners from a diversity of sectors.

Keywords:

• China
• Africa
• health diplomacy
• migrants
• migration

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Matthew Brown's helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Funding

This research was supported by a Fulbright US Student Grant, NIH Fogarty Career Development Award [US NIH 1K01TW008200-01A1], NIH Fogarty International Center Grant [5R25TW009340], NIMH Psychiatric Epidemiology Training programme [T32MH014592-35], China Medical Board grant no. [12111] and the UNC Center for AIDS Research [NIAID 5P30AI050410-13].

Notes

1. Our use of the term African is meant to refer to all citizens of countries on the African continent or people who consider themselves to be of African origin. We do not claim cultural homogeneity across this diverse group of people.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This research was supported by a Fulbright US Student Grant, NIH Fogarty Career Development Award [US NIH 1K01TW008200-01A1], NIH Fogarty International Center Grant [5R25TW009340], NIMH Psychiatric Epidemiology Training programme [T32MH014592-35], China Medical Board grant no. [12111] and the UNC Center for AIDS Research [NIAID 5P30AI050410-13].