The aim of this study was to find out the effect of the global pandemic on the health diplomacy between Ethiopia and China. This study also evaluated the efficiency of the Ethiopian health system to tackle COVID-19 and the contribution of this pandemic in transforming the country’s health system. The health sector of Ethiopia relies on other international organizations and donors. As a result of this, the health system is porous and not capable to give immediate response for pandemics and emergency cases. Ethiopia, as a poor country with fragile health system has not copped up with the increase in COVID-19 patient loads across the country. The FDRE Health Policy, which has been the policy of the country for 30 years since 1993, has put the control of communicable disease, epidemics and disease related to malnutrition and poor living condition as first priorities. Yet, the country has not implemented the policy on the ground and the system has not been efficient to tackle the global pandemic COVID-19. To do this study, qualitative method was utilized and data was collected through interview and document analysis. A total of seven people were interviewed from different organizations. These interviewees were from Ministry of Health, St. Paul Hospital, Ministry of Finance, Eka Hospital, Chinese Embassy and MCM General Hospital. More than 40 articles, news reports, the Ethiopian health polices – both the working health policy and the one in a draft stage, and bulletins of WHO were analyzed. Results revealed that the Ethiopian health policy had a gap and the system lacked preparedness to tackle the pandemic in the beginning of the outbreak. In addition to this, the result indicated that the Ethio-China’s health diplomacy was positively impacted by COVID-19 and as a result it brought opportunities to strengthen their cooperation. Thus, it is recommended that Ethiopia should revise its policy to make health as one of its priorities and continue its relation with China to work together in the health sector.
| Published in | Journal of Political Science and International Relations (Volume 4, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13 |
| Page(s) | 143-153 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group |
COVID-19, Pandemic, Health Diplomacy, Health Policy
| [1] | BGI. 2021. Newly launched Chinese-operated COVID-19 testing lab rekindles hope for reviving Ethiopia’s passenger flight service. Available at: https://www.bgi.com/. |
| [2] | Bobin F and Tilouine J. 2020. “Coronavirus: l’offensive de charme de la Chine en Afrique” (Coronavirus: China’s Charm Offensive in Africa), Le Monde. |
| [3] | Brodsky, Michael. 2020. ‘Diplomacy after the Coronavirus’. The Jerusalem Post. |
| [4] | Brown MD, Mackey TK, Shaoiro CN, Kolker J, Novotny TE. 2014. Bridging Public Health and Foreign Affairs: The Tradecraft of Global Health Diplomacy and The Role of Health Attaches. Science and Diplomacy. |
| [5] | CCTV. 2012. “Ethiopia-China Aid/Hospital. |
| [6] | Chan LH. 2010. WHO- the world’s most powerful international organizations? J Epidemiol Community Health. |
| [7] | Chattu, V. K., A. Adisha, and S. Yaya. 2020. Canada’s role in strengthening global health security during the COVID-19 pandemic. Global Health Research and Policy. |
| [8] | China Daily. 2021. global.chinadaily.com.cn. |
| [9] | ENA. 2020. Ethiopia to Start Manufacturing COVID-19 Testing Kits. Ethiopian News Agency. EPHI. 2020. Knowledge Translation Directorate, Rapid Evidence Synthesis on COVID-19 Pandemic to Inform the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa. |
| [10] | EPA. 2019. www.press.et |
| [11] | EPHI. 2020. Knowledge Translation Directorate, Rapid Evidence Synthesis on COVID-19 Pandemic to Inform the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa. |
| [12] | Ethiopian Herald. 2021. www.press.et. |
| [13] | Feldbaum, Harley and Joshua Michaud. 2010. "Health Diplomacy and the Enduring Relevance of Foreign Policy Interests." PLoS Medicine 7, no. 4 (April 20, 2010). doi: 10.1371/journal. pmed.1000226. |
| [14] | Fidler DP. 2001. The globalization of public health: the first 100 years of international health policy. Bull World Health Organ. |
| [15] | Fidler DP. 2005. Health and Foreign Policy: A Conceptual Overview. London, England: The Nuffield Trust. |
| [16] | Fidler DP. 2010. Council on Foreign Relations: Institutions and Global Governance Program. New York. |
| [17] | Gagnon M. L. 2012. Global health diplomacy: Understanding how and why health is integrated into foreign policy (Doctoral dissertation). |
| [18] | Geda A. 2020. The Macroeconomic and Social Impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia and Suggested Direction for Policy Response. Addis Ababa University. |
| [19] | Hesketh T, and Wei XZ. 1997. “Health in China. From Mao to market reform.” Bmj 314 (7093): 1543–5. |
| [20] | Hoffman, S. J. 2010. Strengthening global health diplomacy in Canada's foreign policy architecture: Literature review and key informant interviews. Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 16 (3), 17-41. |
| [21] | Huang Y-Z. 2010. Pursuing health as foreign policy: the case of China. Ind J Global Legal Stud.; 17: 105–46. |
| [22] | Jeffery P. Koplan et al. 2009. Towards a common definition of global health. The Lancet 373, no. 9679. |
| [23] | Kickbusch. 2013. Global Health Diplomacy. Bulletin of World Health Organization. www.researchgate.net. |
| [24] | Kickbusch I, Silberschmidt G, Buss P. 2007. Global health diplomacy: the need for new perspectives, strategic approaches and skills in global health. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. |
| [25] | Kissinger, H. 2020. The coronavirus pandemic will forever Alter the world order. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from Available at: www.wsj.com/articles/. |
| [26] | Lauer, S. A., Grantz, K. H., Bi, Q., Jones, F. K., Zheng, Q., Meredith, H. R., Azman, A. S., Reich, N. G., & Lessler, J. 2020. The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application. Annals of Internal Medicine. Available at: https://doi.org/. |
| [27] | Lemi Belay, Alex Ezeh and Garumma Tolu. 2021. How Prepared Is Africa for the COVID-19 Pandemic Response? The Case of Ethiopia. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy. Available at: https:/www.dovepress.com/. |
| [28] | LePan, N. 2020. Visualizing the history of pandemics. Visual Capitalist. www.visualcapitalist.com. |
| [29] | Manyazewal T and Matlakala MC. 2018. Implementing health care reform: implications for performance of public hospitals in central Ethiopia. Jornal of global health. |
| [30] | Medeiros S, and Fravel M. T. 2003. China’s New Diplomacy. www.semanticscholar.org. |
| [31] | Mekuria W. 2018. The link between agricultural production and population dynamics in Ethiopia: a review Adv plants Agric Res. |
| [32] | Michaud, Josh and Kates Jennifer. 2013. “Global health diplomacy: advancing foreign policy and global health interests.” |
| [33] | Ministry of Health and Ethiopian Public Health Institute. 2020. Risk Communication and Community Engagement Strategy for COVID-19 Outbreak Response in Ethiopia. RCCE. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: MoH & EPHI. |
| [34] | Mwangi, N. 2020. China’s aid to Africa in fighting COVID-19. CGTN. https:// africa.cgtn.com/2020/06/18/chinas-aid-to-africa-in-fighting-COVID-19/. |
| [35] | NDRMC. 2020. ETHIOPIA: COVID-19 Humanitarian impact Situation Update No. 13. Available at: https://reliefweb.int/. |
| [36] | Nigus Shimelis. 2020. ‘COVID-19 Pandemic Induced Challenges and Opportunities in Ethiopia: Situational Analysis Based on Global and National Evidences.’ Global Scientific. www.globalscientificjournal.com. |
| [37] | Nkachukwu S. 2020. ‘Strengthening health systems in Africa: The COVID-19 pandemic fallout’. Journal of the Pan African Thoracic Society. Available at: https://patsjournal.org. |
| [38] | Novotny T, Kickbusch I, Adams V, Leslie H. 2008. Global Health Diplomacy: A Bridge to Innovative Collective Action. Global Forum Update for Health.[Googlr Scholar]. |
| [39] | Olander, E. 2020. Coronavirus: African COVID-19 aid re-emerges as Chinese priority. Available at: www.theafricareport.com. |
| [40] | Oslo Ministerial Declaration on Global Health. 2006 “A pressing foreign policy issue of our time, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, France, Indonesia, Norway, Senegal, South Africa, and Thailand”, The Lancet, Volume 369, Issue 9570, 1373–1378. |
| [41] | Public Health Agency of Sweden. 2020. COVID-19 - The Public Health Agency of Sweden. Available at: www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se. |
| [42] | Richard B. 2020. The politics of the coronavirus and its impact on international relations. African Journal of Political Science and International Relations. University of the Western Cape, South Africa. |
| [43] | Roberton T, Carter ED, Chou VB, et al. 2020. Early Estimates of the Indirect Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Maternal and Child Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Lancet Glob. |
| [44] | Saker, L., Lee, K., Canniyo, B., Gilmore, A., & Campbell-Lendrum, D. 2004. |
| [45] | UN Ethiopia. 2020. One UN assessment, Socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia. |
| [46] | USAID and Health System. 2020. www.usaid.gov. |
| [47] | Valenza, D. 2020. The Irresistible Rise of Health Diplomacy: Why Narratives Matter in the Time of COVID-19. Retrieved 29 May 2020. Available at: cris.unu.edu/health-diplomacy-narratives. |
| [48] | Walta Information. 2008. Interview with China’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Gu Xiaojie, in Addis Ababa. |
| [49] | White B and Lo B. 2020. A Framework for Rationing Ventilators and Critical Care Beds During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Am Med Assoc. |
| [50] | WHO Regional Office for Africa. 2020. “First case of COVID-19 confirmed in Ethiopia”. |
| [51] | World Health Organization. 2012. Health System in Africa. www.afro.who.int. |
| [52] | Worsnop and Catherine Z. 2017. Domestic Politics and the WHO’s International Health Regulations: Explaining the Use of Trade and Travel Barriers During Disease Outbreaks. Review of International Organizations 12 (3): 365–95. |
| [53] | Xinhua. 2020. Roundup: Chinese medical team arrives in Ethiopia to help fight COVID-19. Available at: China.org.cn. |
APA Style
Abebaw Zerihun. (2021). The Impact of the Global Pandemic COVID-19 in Relation to Diplomatic Practice: Ethio-China Health Diplomacy. Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 4(4), 143-153. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13
ACS Style
Abebaw Zerihun. The Impact of the Global Pandemic COVID-19 in Relation to Diplomatic Practice: Ethio-China Health Diplomacy. J. Polit. Sci. Int. Relat. 2021, 4(4), 143-153. doi: 10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13
AMA Style
Abebaw Zerihun. The Impact of the Global Pandemic COVID-19 in Relation to Diplomatic Practice: Ethio-China Health Diplomacy. J Polit Sci Int Relat. 2021;4(4):143-153. doi: 10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13,
author = {Abebaw Zerihun},
title = {The Impact of the Global Pandemic COVID-19 in Relation to Diplomatic Practice: Ethio-China Health Diplomacy},
journal = {Journal of Political Science and International Relations},
volume = {4},
number = {4},
pages = {143-153},
doi = {10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jpsir.20210404.13},
abstract = {The aim of this study was to find out the effect of the global pandemic on the health diplomacy between Ethiopia and China. This study also evaluated the efficiency of the Ethiopian health system to tackle COVID-19 and the contribution of this pandemic in transforming the country’s health system. The health sector of Ethiopia relies on other international organizations and donors. As a result of this, the health system is porous and not capable to give immediate response for pandemics and emergency cases. Ethiopia, as a poor country with fragile health system has not copped up with the increase in COVID-19 patient loads across the country. The FDRE Health Policy, which has been the policy of the country for 30 years since 1993, has put the control of communicable disease, epidemics and disease related to malnutrition and poor living condition as first priorities. Yet, the country has not implemented the policy on the ground and the system has not been efficient to tackle the global pandemic COVID-19. To do this study, qualitative method was utilized and data was collected through interview and document analysis. A total of seven people were interviewed from different organizations. These interviewees were from Ministry of Health, St. Paul Hospital, Ministry of Finance, Eka Hospital, Chinese Embassy and MCM General Hospital. More than 40 articles, news reports, the Ethiopian health polices – both the working health policy and the one in a draft stage, and bulletins of WHO were analyzed. Results revealed that the Ethiopian health policy had a gap and the system lacked preparedness to tackle the pandemic in the beginning of the outbreak. In addition to this, the result indicated that the Ethio-China’s health diplomacy was positively impacted by COVID-19 and as a result it brought opportunities to strengthen their cooperation. Thus, it is recommended that Ethiopia should revise its policy to make health as one of its priorities and continue its relation with China to work together in the health sector.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Impact of the Global Pandemic COVID-19 in Relation to Diplomatic Practice: Ethio-China Health Diplomacy AU - Abebaw Zerihun Y1 - 2021/12/11 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13 DO - 10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13 T2 - Journal of Political Science and International Relations JF - Journal of Political Science and International Relations JO - Journal of Political Science and International Relations SP - 143 EP - 153 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2640-2785 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20210404.13 AB - The aim of this study was to find out the effect of the global pandemic on the health diplomacy between Ethiopia and China. This study also evaluated the efficiency of the Ethiopian health system to tackle COVID-19 and the contribution of this pandemic in transforming the country’s health system. The health sector of Ethiopia relies on other international organizations and donors. As a result of this, the health system is porous and not capable to give immediate response for pandemics and emergency cases. Ethiopia, as a poor country with fragile health system has not copped up with the increase in COVID-19 patient loads across the country. The FDRE Health Policy, which has been the policy of the country for 30 years since 1993, has put the control of communicable disease, epidemics and disease related to malnutrition and poor living condition as first priorities. Yet, the country has not implemented the policy on the ground and the system has not been efficient to tackle the global pandemic COVID-19. To do this study, qualitative method was utilized and data was collected through interview and document analysis. A total of seven people were interviewed from different organizations. These interviewees were from Ministry of Health, St. Paul Hospital, Ministry of Finance, Eka Hospital, Chinese Embassy and MCM General Hospital. More than 40 articles, news reports, the Ethiopian health polices – both the working health policy and the one in a draft stage, and bulletins of WHO were analyzed. Results revealed that the Ethiopian health policy had a gap and the system lacked preparedness to tackle the pandemic in the beginning of the outbreak. In addition to this, the result indicated that the Ethio-China’s health diplomacy was positively impacted by COVID-19 and as a result it brought opportunities to strengthen their cooperation. Thus, it is recommended that Ethiopia should revise its policy to make health as one of its priorities and continue its relation with China to work together in the health sector. VL - 4 IS - 4 ER -
Information
Email: