Health Affairs Blog: China’s Grand Idea For The 21st Century: Will The New Silk Road Transform Global Health Assistance?
In this essay, Lawrence O. Gostin, O’Neill professor of global health law and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, and colleagues discuss China’s One Belt, One Road, or Belt and Road, initiative, which “pledges a massive $1 trillion infrastructure investment in roads, ports, energy, and telecommunications” to connect Asia, Africa, and Europe. The authors aim to answer the questions, “Will the benefits of One Belt, One Road be widely shared or flow mostly to China? Will this unprecedented influx of development financing improve health for all who travel along the New Silk Road?” (4/3).