Without focused measurement and decisive policies to build trust, resilient health systems will remain out of reach” “
became available, western countries were reluctant to share vaccines with the Global South. As the United Nations described the situation, “as many high-income countries begin to contemplate post-vaccination life, the future in low-income countries appears quite bleak”. Both China and India stepped up and generously shared their vaccines. Prior to June 2021, when the G7 members finally pledged to share 870 million doses of vaccines, China, the European Union, India and Russia had provided the majority of global vaccine exports. However, the EU doses had largely gone to developed countries such as Canada, Japan and the UK. By contrast, China, India and Russia’s exports went mainly to developing countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred high honours by several African and Caribbean countries for India’s timely Covid aid. China and India can now build on their generous responses to Covid by taking the torch of global leadership on health issues from the West. As we move steadily into the Asian 21st century, it is inevitable that the world will expect more global leadership from Asia. Health is the easiest place for global cooperation and leadership, since all human beings share a common desire for good health. And there are at least three additional reasons why China and India should step up their leadership in global health. First, as a result of the spectacular success of western medicine in both extending and saving human lives, we have forgotten that China and India have also developed their own medical traditions over millennia: China with Traditional Chinese Medicine and India with Ayurveda. Indeed, these Chinese and Indian practices spread far and wide to Central Asia and Southeast Asia. Another little-known fact is that Chinese and Indian medicine (along with ancient Greek medicine) travelled to the West in medieval times (through the Islamic A NEW DIRECTION FOR HEALTH LEADERSHIP civilisation), thereby helping to spark the advent of modern western medicine during the Renaissance. As both Chinese and Indian civilisations are going to experience a massive cultural renaissance in the 21st century, they can carry out modern scientific research on their ancient medical knowledge and traditions and share this with the world.
HARNESSING INNOVATION FOR ALL The second reason is that both China and India, which are pharmaceutical giants, are also developing innovative new practices in public health at lower cost, which could be applicable to other developing countries. Their use of digital technologies and big data could enable leap-frogging initiatives that can advance public health in large populations that are distributed over wide geographical areas, including remote and rural settings, and far away from conventional healthcare facilities. In so doing, both will be joining other developing countries, such as Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which have stepped up their health assistance significantly. The third reason is a political one. Despite good bilateral relations on the surface, there is a significant lack of trust between China and Indian leaders, especially after the border clashes in Galwan in June 2020. Yet China and India, two of the greatest civilisations, have coexisted in peace through millennia. Coming together to strengthen global public health cooperation and deliver global public health goods will help to build bridges of trust between these two ancient civilisations. The return of China and India as economic giants is perfectly natural, since they always were the two largest economies of the world from the year 1 to 1820. Yet with great power comes great responsibility. The best way for China and India to show great global responsibility is to cooperate and lead on global health. Then the rest of humanity, who are now sailing on the same ship, will breathe a huge sigh of relief that new global leaders are emerging to guide the small interdependent world that we have become. The torch of leadership will be slowly passed on, from West to East. ▪
KISHORE MAHBUBANI Kishore Mahbubani is a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, where he was the founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy from 2004 to 2017. His 33 years as a Sin- gapore diplomat included serving in Cambodia during the civil war, two stints as ambassador to the United Nations and permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has published many books, including The Asian 21st Century and his memoir, Living the Asian Century .
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Health: A Political Choice – The Future of Health in a Fractured World
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