Abstract
Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, developing cooperation with African countries in the form of medical and health assistance has become an important part of China's foreign policy. The aid mode and social impact of China's aid medical architecture projects to Africa is in urgent need of research. The chapter traces the timeline of China’s medical aid projects in Africa, analyzes the construction contexts, and divides the project development process into a sequence of phases. Based on general investigations, the chapter further focuses on Mahusekwa hospital in Zimbabwe as a case, and evaluates its social impacts on economic development, social services, social compatibility and the natural environment via interviews and questionnaires. According to the research results, the chapter brings forward suggestions, like optimizing development policies, encouraging public participation and strengthening departmental collaboration, which could be a reference for the planning and implementation of China’s aid construction projects to Africa.
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Notes
- 1.
The “general delivery system” refers to a management system used to ensure the timely completion of high-quality foreign aid projects, which, based on the professional nature of the projects, appoints relevant departments to serve as the “general delivery systems”.
- 2.
The “contractor department responsible system” refers to a management system in which the contractor is involved in the whole process from the start of a project to the acceptance and delivery of the project.
- 3.
The “investment contract system” refers to an operation and management system combining responsibility, power and interest, in which relevant departments and units guarantee the scale of construction, total investment, construction period, project quality and material consumption of state-determined construction projects under specified conditions.
- 4.
The “contract responsibility system” refers to an operation and management system whereby, on the basis of socialist public ownership and in accordance with the principle of proper separation of ownership and management rights, the relationship of responsibility, power and interest between the state and the enterprise is determined through a contract so that the enterprise can implement independent operations and be responsible for its own profits and losses.
- 5.
The Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC ), established in 2000, is a mechanism for collective dialogue between the People’s Republic of China and African countries within the framework of South-South cooperation. Its members include the People’s Republic of China, the 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, and the African Union Commission.
- 6.
Information on the number of Chinese medical projects in Africa was retrieved and summarised from the website of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation: https://www.focac.org/chn/.
- 7.
A total of 20 people from the Zimbabwe Investment Authority, Environmental Management Agency, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and the Mahusekwa Rural District Council, were selected as interviewees to explore the social impact mechanism of Mahusekwa Hospital through semi-structured interviews.
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Acknowledgements
The research presented in this chapter was part of a study supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, project No. 51778403, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, project No. 51778406.
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Tang, S., Li, Z., Amos, K. (2022). Chinese Medical Projects in Africa: A Case Study of Mahusekwa Hospital in Zimbabwe. In: Xue, C.Q., Ding, G. (eds) Exporting Chinese Architecture. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2786-7_6
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