https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/07/29/chinas-health-silk-road-in-the-middle-east/

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) establishments of the Health Silk Road (HSR) and Digital Silk Road (DSR) in 2015 demonstrates how China's diplomacy has moved beyond infrastructure and construction to include the health and technology sectors. Numerous areas of collaboration strengthen China's influence and support the BRI framework's endurance after the COVID-19 epidemic.

China has invested in healthcare infrastructure and has sent medical supplies, personnel, and pharmaceutical items abroad in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the beginning of a new phase in global medical cooperation. Now, the Chinese government is concentrating on issues that might help both donor and recipient nations. It will open new doors for long-term growth in Chinese health care investment and can help to enhance healthcare systems in underdeveloped areas.

President Xi Jinping stressed the need for international collaboration and solidarity in a speech at the 2021 Global Health Summit over the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability of China to control the virus at home has enabled China the authority to actively participate in vaccine production and distribution in Africa and the Middle East.

The BRI is crucial in ensuring access to vaccines and medical supplies in Latin America, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa earlier than in Western nations. Middle Eastern countries, like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, were among the first outside of China to approve the Sinopharm vaccine, demonstrating their confidence in modern Chinese medicine.

Egypt was the first African nation to produce the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. A Cairo factory will produce more than 200 million doses per year under a deal with a Chinese pharmaceutical company, and a second factory will produce three million doses per day. Egypt would thus become the largest vaccine producer in Africa and the Middle East.

In 2021, China said that it had provided two billion doses of vaccines to 120 countries and international organizations, more than any other country, including 180 million vaccine doses to Africa. Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco are among the largest recipients.

Due to the severe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on both economic growth and health care, the health care sector is becoming an increasingly important reform goal for Middle Eastern countries attempting to modernize their economies. One of the primary concerns is attracting investment into the health care industry. This change will require a strong emphasis on integrating technology and creating a health infrastructure.

In recent decades, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia have developed as regional centres as a result of the perceived high quality of health care supplied by their private health sectors. Despite significant expenditures in health infrastructure by several Middle Eastern and North African nations, health spending as a percentage of GDP remains extremely low. Lebanon, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia spend more of their GDPs on health than the rest of the area, although the UAE and Qatar are the fastest rising.

The health sector will increasingly rely on imported medications and manufacturers, according to the Gulf states' new growth strategy, while the health care market will play a critical role in growing health care investment. China is an important trade and health-care investment partner in realizing this objective. The pharmaceutical business is seen as a major area of development in Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 due to its future growth prospects, export potential, and mid- to long-term economic effect.

At a decisive time in the COVID-19 epidemic, China stepped up to provide poor nations medical help and vaccines. This action heightened relations between China and the US. In the lack of stronger cooperation from the United States and the European Union, China grasped the chance to increase its influence in the Middle East and Africa, where vaccination rates are low.

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year and new subvariants proliferate, China will be unable to win the vaccine rollout race and fulfill all of the poor regions' immunization demands on its own. To accomplish the global recovery from the health crisis, all big powers must work together.