China’s Role in Global Health: HIV/AIDS Traditional Chinese Medicine Research and Treatment in Tanzania from 1987 to 2014

Abstract

This paper discusses the manner and the extent to which countries of the Global South have engaged in the fight against pandemics. It shows how Southern countries, like their brothers in the North, played a significant role in the fight against diseases such as AIDS. It unveils that despite its multilateral engagement in global health from the 2000s following its domestic health crisis, the Chinese government engaged in several bilateral health projects to fight pandemics in Southern countries. Using the Chinese-funded HIV/AIDS Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) research and treatment project in Tanzania as its focal point, the paper examines the history of the project from its inception in 1987 to its decline in 2014, and shows the contexts that influenced its establishment, practice, and perceptions by patients. The paper argues that although the Sino-Tanzanian HIV/AIDS TCM research and treatment project was less impactful in addressing the disease and transmitting medical knowledge to local researchers and practitioners, it realized the contribution of countries of the Global South to global health. More importantly, the use of TCM in fighting HIV/AIDS demonstrated the prospects of traditional medicine in addressing global health challenges.