Digital health solutions are increasingly important in enhancing healthcare accessibility and efficiency, particularly in remote or underserved areas. Under the HSR, in 2018, the Chinese company Huawei signed an agreement with the Government of Papua New Guinea to build a telemedicine system that would facilitate remote medical consultations and improve healthcare delivery in rural areas.
Improving public health infrastructure is crucial for preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases. China has been investing in public health and disease surveillance systems in partner countries under the HSR, such as the China-aided Malaria Control Project in Cameroon, which includes the construction of a national malaria control centre, laboratories, and training facilities. As building human resources for health is an integral part of strengthening the healthcare infrastructure, China has funded the construction of the China-Zimbabwe Friendship Hospital School of Nursing in Zimbabwe to bolster the training of local nursing professionals.
Similarly, the China-Africa Public Health Cooperation Plan, established in 2018, focuses on joint initiatives in areas such as malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention and control. Joint medical research projects are another essential component of international health cooperation under the HSR.
Health, once viewed primarily as a humanitarian domain, has become another avenue through which China seeks to project influence and strengthen its global footprint.
Similarly, the China-Brazil Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), established in 2018, aims to foster cooperation in epidemiological research, surveillance, and laboratory testing. The HSR also encourages the sharing of healthcare technologies and innovations between China and partner countries. For instance, the China-Arab States Technology Transfer Centre, established in 2016, seeks to facilitate the transfer of Chinese medical technologies and innovations to Arab countries, with a focus on areas such as telemedicine, medical imaging, and traditional Chinese medicine.
Likewise, during the COVID-19 crisis, in March 2020, China dispatched medical teams and supplies to Italy and Serbia under the HSR banner, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vu?i? publicly thanking Xi Jinping while criticising EU export restrictions on medical goods.
In January 2023, China’s foreign minister inaugurated the new headquarters of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Addis Ababa, a project that the Chinese government committed to fund in 2018.
Expanding Global Health Leadership role: The Health Silk Road serves as a vehicle for expanding China’s global health leadership by engaging in various health-related initiatives, providing financial contributions, technical assistance, and capacity-building support, participating in global health forums, and forging strategic partnerships. These efforts demonstrate China’s growing commitment to international health cooperation and its ambition to position itself as a proactive and responsible global health actor.
In March 2026, due to the growing global demand for advancements in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, the Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine (CSNM), supported by the Chinese Medical Association, formally launched its inaugural issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (JNMMI). Interestingly, the journal cover artwork celebrates the Chinese Lunar Year of the Horse (2026). The galloping horses symbolise vitality, progress, perseverance, and scientific innovation. As the official cover of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, the image reflects the journal’s vision of advancing nuclear medicine and molecular imaging through international collaboration and continuous scientific development.
China has also increased its funding to multilateral health organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. These contributions demonstrate China’s commitment to international health cooperation and its willingness to contribute to global health financing.
Moreover, China is also pushing the UN for more jobs for its nationals and suggesting that the brunt of job cuts fall on US citizens because UNO is bracing for sweeping change after facing massive U.S. funding cuts, and it has floated slashing 20% of its secretariat’s 33,000-strong workforce. China, now the U.N.’s second-largest contributor, isn’t shy about seizing the opening. China’s financial share in the U.N. has also surged from less than 01% in 1995 to over 20% of the regular budget today. Although Beijing isn’t trying to replace Washington outright, but it’s taking influential, low-profile posts at UNO while pledging money where it counts, like $500 million over the next five years to the World Health Organisation after U.S. withdrawal.
The Health Silk Road (HSR) illustrates China’s determination to translate its growing economic and political influence into leadership within the global health arena. Rather than allowing its role in international health governance to evolve gradually, Beijing has pursued a deliberate and highly coordinated strategy that spans multilateral organisations, regional partnerships, national health systems, universities, hospitals, and research institutions. Through this extensive network, China is steadily expanding its presence and shaping conversations on health cooperation across the developing world.
More broadly, the initiative reflects Beijing’s ambition to play a greater role in defining the norms and institutions of the international order. Chinese policymakers increasingly present their country’s development experience and governance model as viable alternatives to Western approaches. In this context, the Health Silk Road is not merely a public health program; it is part of a larger effort to embed Chinese ideas, standards, and partnerships across a wide range of sectors connected to the Belt and Road Initiative. Health, once viewed primarily as a humanitarian domain, has become another avenue through which China seeks to project influence and strengthen its global footprint
(Concluded)
The writer works at a public policy think tank and can be reached at [email protected].