China’s Efforts in Fighting against Ebola Crisis: Human Security Perspectives

Shunji CuiDepartment of Political Science, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University

Email: ssjcui@zju.edu.cn

Ebola Outbreak in West Africa in 2014

Ebola: An International Public Health Emergency

• The Outbreak: • December 2013, reports of suspected Ebola case• March 2014, officially declared

• In West Africa• Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone = most hit countries

• August 2014, WHO: • Ebola = a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

• September 2014, UN Security Council: • Ebola a threat to international peace and security, establishing the United

Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

• By December 2014: 17,145 cases, 6070 death (WHO)

• “One of the worst infectious-disease-driven humanitarian crises of recent times” –(International Archives of Medicine, 2015).

What kind of support China has provided?

Financial Supports: •The Chinese government has so far offered four rounds of emergency aid worth about 123 million dollars in total, for nearly 13 countries in Africa

Source: UNDP

What kind of support China has provided?

Equipment:

•The relief goods include: •personal protective equipment, patient monitors, sprays, food and medicines•A mobile biosafety lab to Sierra Leone

•Helped Liberia build a treatment center with 100 beds

What kind of support China has provided?

Personnel Contribution: •By Jan 4, 2015: China sent more than 600 medical personnel to Africa

1. Medical personnel:

2. Testing team:

3. Expert team:

4. Public health training team:

•A total of 3,382 virus specimens were tested •633 patients received treatment•2,928 people received public health training

Picture in the Left:A Chinese cargo plane is bringing medical supplies to help Liberia in its fight to contain the deadly Ebola Virus Disease arrived at the Roberts International Airport outside the capital Monrovia. (source: Xinhua)

Picture in the Right:A Chinese medical worker demonstrates equipment to test body temperature at the China-Sierra Leone Friendship Hospital in Freetown. (source: Xinhua)

Timeline of China’s anti-Ebola aid in AfricaMarch, 2014, breakout

May, first batch of relief goods to infected countries

Aug. 7, second batch of relief goods Aug. 9, expert team sent to infected countries

Sept. 12, 32.54 million dollars package of humanitarian aid

Sept.16, 59 experts and a mobile lab sent Sept.18, new package of 32.54 million dollars sentSept.29/30, aid for Ghana

Oct.15, 6 million dollars of food aid sent to infected countries

Oct.16, 16 million dollars aid announced

Oct.24, 82 million dollars new aid announcedOct.27, new round of relief materials sentOct.30, 4th batch of aid worth 82 million dollars unveiled & PLA’s participation

Nov.17, 1.6 million dollars aid to Nigeria in total

Nov. 25, construction of a 100-bed Ebola treatment center in Liberia completed

Nov.20, 820000 dollars medical supplies to Togo

Dec.2, donation of 6 million dollars to UNDP

Dec.20, a second group of 14 medical experts send to Sierra Leone

Feb. 6, 2015, 1500 metric tons of food assistance to Liberia

Feb.13, a P3 level biolab handed over to Sierra Leone

China working with International Communities

• China-US-Liberia Trilateral Cooperation: US and China agreed to work together to provide needed equipment, supplies, and treatment facilities in Liberia.

• -e.g. When the Chinese chartered plane loaded with anti-epidemic supplies arrived at the airport in Liberia, the US air troops sent a number of large forklifts to help unload the materials. The American side also expressed the willingness to help treat the potentially affected Chinese staff locally or provide transferring services.

China working with International Communities

• China-France: China and France agreed to join hands to combat the "unprecedented" spread of Ebola in western part of Africa.

• -e.g. • -agreed to strengthen cooperation, carry out joint research

on the Ebola virus through the P4 laboratories located in France and China

• - stepped up exchanges between humanitarian and medical aid teams to share knowledge and experience on preventing and curing the disease

• - cooperated with a third country in the disease-affected areas to help improve the local public health system

China working with International Communities

• China-UK: China and UK have conducted several rounds of contact and reached consensus on the issue of their medical staff on the ground joining hands to combat Ebola.

• China-Japan-South Korea: The health ministers of Japan, China and South Korea agreed that they would collaborate on measures to prevent the arrival of Ebola and other deadly diseases.

• -e.g. agreed to boost information-sharing on the Ebola epidemic and countermeasures against other types of diseases, such as pandemic influenza

China working with International Communities

• China-IGOs:

• China-WHO: Chinese donation of 2 million dollars

• China-AU: Chinese donation of 2 million dollars

•

• China-UNDP (Multi-partner Trust Fund): Chinese donation of 6

million dollars

Preparing for the Post-Ebola Period

•-more investment in demand for building public health system in Africa

•-more shared responsibilities by Chinese companies in Africa

•-more cooperation with NGOs in • -constructing sustainable multilateral institutions

Assessing China’s Efforts I

(1) Remain as Top-down Approaches:

•Government initiated, top-down approaches• As long as to leaders support,,,, can be very effective (eg ) • If government lack of interests, then, what happens?

•Lack of strong NGSs; corporate’s philanthropic culture• Problem– other courtiers = governments + corporates + charities + civil

societies • If china would have meaningful international cooperation, top-down is not

enough.

Problems• -Organization: There is no independent office who in charge of foreign

medical aid in China. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Health and Family Planning Commission (former Ministry of Health) share the common management, which s.t. causing problems in coordination, and hence affect efficacy and speed.

MFA: responsible for personal security and propaganda

Ministry of Commerce: responsible for funding and providing necessary goods

NHFPC (former Ministry of Health): responsible for human resource, selecting medical team from different provinces

Picture: the coordination of different departments

Assessing China’s Efforts II(2) Historical Comparison:Historically:

•Lack of philanthropic culture

•China’s traditional international aids or financing model (eg in Africa)• Often criticized as backed by local resources; resource-backed loans, and tied aid to

create business opportunities.

This time:

•Largest international humanitarian aids• The willingness, scale and speed, esp. personnel contributions are unprecedented in

Chinese history

•We see more humanitarian concern in China’s PF; part of China as a responsible great power

Assessing China’s Efforts III(3) Great Power Responsibility as Value of International Society:•The importance of responsibility •The meanings of responsibility – humanitarian emphasis

China-Africa economic cooperation (within six major projects, HSe included)1.Industrial cooperation, 2.Financial cooperation, 3.Poverty alleviation cooperation, 4.Environmental protection cooperation, 5.Civil and cultural exchanges cooperation, 6.Peace and security cooperation •Real Test: China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the 6th Forum how these principles would be reflected and implemented.

Research Objective I

Identify relationships between poverty and epidemic•Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone = high rates of poverty

• ranked near the bottom on the UN’s HDI• impacts of civil wars, political instability (destroyed much of the

existing social and economic infrastructure)

•Lack of health systems• at the outset of the epidemic, they were unprepared• lacked sufficient amounts of everything required to contain the

epidemic: eg, drugs, ambulances, facilities, trained health personnel, and many other items.

Research Objective II

How China’s aid can go beyond the immediate fight of Ebola crisis, dealing with root causes

•Explore the concept of “positive peace” (Johan Galtung).• Eg, help these countries to improve its economic and social

infrastructure; • Building medical system• Reducing gap between rural and urban areas.

Thank you