Africa’s Music Scene and China’s Role in Global Health

Editor's Note

Earlier this year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the role that foreign policy plays in global health. This week, Jiyong Jin, deputy dean of Shanghai International Studies University's School of International Relations, outlines for Think Global Health's Foreign Policy and Global Health series how China has shaped its foreign policy over time to become one of the most important stakeholders in global health and the primary competitor of the United States.

Next, Santosh Kumar, professor at the University of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs, and Jan-Walter De Neve, founding director of the Doctor of Public Health program at San Diego State University's Division of Global Health Management and Policy, unpack the link between anemia and school attendance in India.

Pivoting to Africa, Mariëlle Bemelmans, director at Wemos, and Moses Mulumba, director general of Afya na Haki (Ahaki) in Uganda, shed light on how regional production of medicines and vaccines has, so far, largely benefited pharmaceutical companies in high-income countries rather than Africa's needs and interests. To remedy that, the authors call for production of medicines and vaccines for and by African countries.

Also covering Africa, CFR's Mariel Ferragamo takes a look at how artists on the continent use music as a public-health messaging tool. Ferragamo cites singer and activist Bobi Wine and his song "Corona Virus Alert," which received more than 50,000 streams and inspired UNESCO's #DontGoViral campaign as one example of African music saving lives.

Until next week!—Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor