On 6 October 2020, Nature, the premier science journal, broke with its tradition of strictly separating science and politics. It argued in an editorial that, “science and politics have always depended on each other… At the same time, science and research inform and shape a spectrum of public policies, from environmental protection to data ethics”.

The outbreak and spread of Covid-19 has witnessed the rise of health diplomacy, wherein matters of medical science are increasingly influencing and shaping the conduct of diplomacy as well as the field of international relations. The US and China’s geopolitical tug-of-war has intensified lately, entering an arena most sensitive to Africa and the rest of the developing world – health. Africa looks to both the US and China as major strategic partners in its quest to find a comprehensive strategy to combat Covid-19.

Shockingly, Washington and Beijing have embraced different approaches, attitudes and strategies towards Covid-19 that appear to be at odds with Africa’s needs. This race for a Covid-19 vaccine, in particular, has taken a nationalistic tone at home and geostrategic calculus abroad.

On the home front, the US continues to lack a coherent national strategy to arrest the spread of coronavirus. Political calculations seem to be driving the approach that the current US administration has assumed. Indeed, the example set by President Donald Trump is baffling and could lull his devout supporters into taking a casual stance on Covid-19. Even leaders who are presumed to be close to Trump, such as the United Kingdom’s Boris Johnson, have been strict in imposing stringent measures to stem the spread of the pandemic.

The Republicans in the US are largely silent on Trump’s reckless attitude. In recent days, coronavirus infection figures in the US have reached an alarming 7 million and caused 214,844 deaths. As the country goes to the polls in the next 20 days, coronavirus has become one of the major issues to determine the outcome of elections on 3 November 2020.

President Trump’s attitude towards Covid-19, despite his being personally infected by the virus, appears irrational and unaware of its impact on the ordinary people in America and the world. For Africa, the 214,844 death figure in America is not just a sheer number. The bulk of those adversely affected by Covid-19 and who end up dying from it are none other than African-Americans whose ancestral roots are deeply anchored in Africa.

Globally, Trump continues to wreak havoc, undermining the post-World War 2 institutions designed to shield the most vulnerable nations from pandemics such as Covid-19. The US abandoned the WHO, a premier global institution that Africa relies upon heavily to combat Covid-19. If this was not enough, the Trump administration has heightened tension with China, turning healthcare matters pertaining to Covid-19 into geopolitical instruments with geo-economic benefits.  

China, on the other hand, appears to have arrested the spread of Covid-19 on the home front and it is witnessing a gradual resumption of normalcy in its economy. Unlike the US, it embarked upon draconian measures and strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols, which have brought resoundingly positive results through low numbers of infections and deaths. More importantly, China has strengthened its position within the WHO by increasing its funding of the institution. While the US shuns global initiatives such as the Covax facility, China has joined, becoming a major power (Covax is the WHO-led global scheme to ensure fair distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, with 156 countries having joined so far).

Worryingly, Africa, with the largest number of poor countries in the world, does neither have the capacity nor resources to either produce its own vaccines or effectively manage the impact of Covid-19. It has, however, tapped into its strategic partners across the world to alleviate the situation. Africa has attracted China’s attention far beyond its extractive industries and infrastructure development. A rising scientific leader in the field of medicine, Beijing entered this competitive arena – in its response to Africa’s call for assistance in handling the pandemic, Beijing held a successful China-Africa Extraordinary Summit on Solidarity Against Covid-19 in June 2020.

A recently released World Bank report projected that economies in sub-Saharan Africa would fall by 3.3% due to Covid-19. It estimates that 40 million Africans will be forced to live below the poverty line. The African Development Bank was compelled to revise its 2020 Economic Outlook in order to reflect the dire impact that the coronavirus will have on Africa. This has prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa as African Union chair to appeal to the world for $1-billion to alleviate the situation.

President Xi Jinping specifically pledged that “once the development and deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine is completed in China, African countries will be among the first to benefit”. China has, furthermore, committed to build up Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Its close relations with Africa, particularly in healthcare and specifically on the prospective coronavirus candidate vaccines, have become another arena for conflict with the US. The US signalled its discomfort about what it perceives to be China’s encroachment on its sphere of influence.

Meanwhile, Egypt has signed an agreement with China to be the main African centre to distribute prospective Chinese Covid-19 vaccines. This is in line with President Xi’s desire to make Chinese Covid-19 vaccines public goods. Equally important, it will be key for China as a new global player in vaccine production and distribution to be subject to WHO pharmaceutical standards and approvals.   

Africa is watching in shock this rise of health as an instrument for geopolitics and geo-economics. For instance, Russia’s prospective coronavirus vaccine is named Sputnik V, a name that conjures up the Cold War. It was Sputnik I that became the first to successfully orbit into space, triggering the Space Race with the US in 1957.

Further afield, in Tokyo, the four nations of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the US, Japan, Australia and India, held a meeting of foreign ministers recently. Among things discussed was the development of a Covid-19 vaccine aimed at countering China. These developments are quite disturbing for the most vulnerable nations affected by Covid-19. They pose a potential threat to poorer nations as they could be forced to endorse diplomatic initiatives against their own national interests.       

There is no doubt that at this particular juncture the priority is finding a vaccine for Covid-19. The long-held people-centred solidarity in tackling global pandemics is being replaced by inward solutions such as Trump’s “America First”. The heightened tension between the US and China is undermining cooperation among scholars and students across the world. There have been endless cases of Chinese students in American universities perceived as being spies of the Chinese government.

The US is the main anchor in global vaccine research and production, but Trump’s attempts to interfere in the Covid-19 vaccines have the potential to undermine US leadership in this global arena.  

A recently released World Bank report projected that economies in sub-Saharan Africa would fall by 3.3% due to Covid-19. It estimates that 40 million Africans will be forced to live below the poverty line. The African Development Bank was compelled to revise its 2020 Economic Outlook in order to reflect the dire impact that the coronavirus will have on Africa. This has prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa as African Union chair to appeal to the world for $1-billion to alleviate the situation.

It is hoped that Africa will make good use of all the help that it can get as a response to the coronavirus. The temperament of significant partners, such as the current US administration, demonstrates just how erratic the international system is. The continent will have to relook at the depth of its interactions with other parts of the world and how less emphasis on intra-African synergy could expose the continent to the fickle nature of international politics. DM