The Health Silk Road and its role in the sphere of global health governance

Abstract

The Health Silk Road emerges from the “Belt and Road” initiative launched by the current President Xi JinPing in 2015. This project is part of the “Chinese Dream”, motto, which aims for a harmonious society whose development is based on scientific research, innovation and technology. Since 2009, the People’s Republic of China has been reforming its health system in order to tackle any deficiencies and solve internal problems.

Along with these reforms, it has outlined a global governance strategy that also includes global governance for public health, as global challenges in this sphere are constant and evolving. This strategy has emerged, among other things, by means of the Health Silk Road, which gained even more prominence with the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This article is based on the analysis of several topics, namely: i) the internal challenges of the Chinese health system, ii) the actions taken in the framework of the Health Silk Road and its adaptation to the pandemic and post-pandemic phase, and, finally, iii) the Chinese strategy in the context of global health governance, through its foreign policy and the use of its Soft Power.