Promoting China’s Aid to Benefit Child Health in Africa

Towards a Solution

In March 2016, as a follow up to the meeting of Health Ministers and the December 2015 Summit, UNICEF China, with support from UNICEF Headquarters, Regional and Country Offices in the East Asia and the Pacific, Eastern and Southern Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and West and Central Africa Regions, organized a meeting in Beijing to discuss development cooperation between China and Africa on newborn and child health. The meeting brought together senior representatives from the Ministries of Health and Aid Coordination Ministries of both China and eight African countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Zimbabwe) to further consider commitments to delivering results for children, improving primary health outcomes and strengthening South-South collaboration. The meeting reviewed progress and challenges faced in improving maternal, newborn and child health in the African countries, identified gaps and priorities to support, and explored potential means for cooperation to address the priorities.

As a result of the Beijing meeting, consensus was further built among senior representatives from China and the African countries on how to address maternal, newborn and child health during the next three-year programme cycle. The commitment to invest in human development opened a new field of cooperation between China and Africa, representing a major shift from China’s traditional focus on investing in infrastructure.

In May 2017, a funding agreement was signed between UNICEF and the Government of China, in which China committed to provide USD 8 million to assist 8 African countries in their efforts to address maternal, newborn and child health challenges. With UNICEF’s support from the Country Offices in China and the eight African countries, eight project proposals were developed and shared with the Government of China for review and approval. Following the signing of the implementation agreement for these projects in December 2019, UNICEF and the Government of China are cooperating under the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund (SSCAF) framework to benefit children in the eight African countries in 2020, marking a concrete step of sharing China’s experiences in this area with other countries. Apart from improving access to health facilities and essential medicines for newborns and pregnant women, the project will also include technical trainings for African delegates in China and field missions of Chinese health experts to these African countries for sharing of technical knowhow and experience.

UNICEF is also working closely with the Government of China under SSCAF to provide much-needed humanitarian assistance to children impacted by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

These are innovative models of South-South cooperation in which UNICEF acts as a broker leveraging China’s aid resources for the benefit of children in Africa.

While specific projects in each of the countries differ and are appropriately adapted to the priority needs of the African countries, there is potential to replicate and scale up this good practice in other African countries and beyond. China’s skills, knowledge, and services related to health could also be critical to the improvement of health conditions in many other Southern countries.

Success factors of the projects included high-level political will and commitment as well as local level support, strong advocacy, provision of technical support, and timely sharing of best practices achieved in the pilot programmes.