Sino-African health diplomacy: The outcomes of the transfer of Traditional Chinese Medicine on local health care systems and population health in Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The globalization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) provides an instructive case study of physical migration and the permeability of political, cultural, and epistemological boundaries, as it is a function of both China's political economy since the mid-twentieth century and the global Chinese diaspora. The transfer of TCM has been formalized as a central component of China's health diplomacy in Africa since the mid-1960's. This research assess the outcomes of China's health diplomacy in three countries in Africa and analyzes if and how the transfer of acupuncture and Chinese herbs have resulted in specific health care outcomes at the local levels of recipient African nations. Specifically, this research determines the outcomes of this transfer on healthcare systems and population health in Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both qualitative research from semi-structured interviews and quantitative research of epidemiological data were used to determine health care outcomes in local communities where TCM has been transferred. Finally, these outcomes on local level health care systems and population health are compared with the outcomes from the transfer of biomedicine at the local level in the communities assessed.