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This week in PLoS Medicine we continue our series on Global Health Diplomacy with a case study examining whether the SARS epidemic was a "watershed" for China's engagement in global health diplomacy. The case study, by Lai-Ha Chan from the University of Technology Sydney and colleagues from Peking University, is the third in six articles in the series.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was the first global epidemic of the 21st Century, causing mass panic but also generating a discourse on health insecurity around the world. Dr. Chan and colleagues argue that the SARS epidemic exposed a fundamental shortcoming of China's public health surveillance system and forced China to realize that public health is not merely a domestic issue that can be isolated from foreign policy concerns. The authors caution, however, that China's reframing of health as a global public good has been tempered by its sensitivity to foreign interference to its internal affairs, a standpoint that will no doubt be tested further in a globalizing world where infectious diseases and public health concerns cross borders.
The PLoS Medicine Global Health Diplomacy series began with the publication on 20 April 2010 of an introductory article by Harley Feldbaum and Joshua Michaud, and a case study of Brazil's growing leadership in international relations by Kelley Lee and colleagues. The series continues next week with a case study examining the controversies surrounding equitable access to vaccines for avian influenza A (H5N1) and pandemic influenza A (H1N1). The PLoS Medicine series concludes on 11 May 2010 with commentary from high-level diplomats providing critical insights into the challenges of engaging in global health diplomacy.
The guest editor of the Global Health Diplomacy Series is Kelley Lee.
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this paper.
Competing Interests:The authors have declared no competing interests exist.
Citation: Chan L-H, Chen L, Xu J (2010) China's Engagement with Global Health Diplomacy: Was SARS a Watershed? PLoS Med 7 (4): e1000266. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000266
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CONTACTS:
Author:
Lai-Ha Chan
University of Technology, Sydney
UTS China Research Centre
PO Box 123
Broadway
Sydney, NSW 2007
Australia
+61 2 9514 1619
Lai-Ha.Chan@uts.edu.au
Guest Editor:
Kelley Lee
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Centre on Global Change and Health
Keppel Street
London, WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom
44 20 7927 2037
44 20 7927 2946 (fax)
kelley.lee@lshtm.ac.uk
Journal
PLoS Medicine