Transformations of Medical and Vaccine Diplomacies in the COVID-19 Era

The pandemic has produced the global COVID-19 vaccine market with various stakeholders acting in their economic self-interest. At the same time, some governments use vaccines for pursuing national interests and expanding their international influence. Using scientific works on the topic and documents from WHO, GAVI, WTO, IMF, government documents and think tank reports, the author analyzes vaccine diplomacy as a branch of medical diplomacy and identifies changes that occur under pandemic impact. The article examines the current policy of China, as it has achieved the most notable success in medical services export, primarily to developing countries, and Chinese pharmaceutical companies play a prominent role in the global vaccine market. It raises serious concerns of the West, which accuses Beijing of using coronacrisis to establish a new (China-centric) world order. It is concluded that government capacity to protect public health and control epidemic spread is among the significant criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of State policy, and its own vaccine industry begins to be regarded as an important element of national security. There is also a considerable increase in the role of healthcare in foreign policy of a number of States using medical and vaccine diplomacies as a means of achieving political goals. COVID-19 vaccines are becoming a strategic asset that affects the country's position on the world stage and generates a new field of geopolitical rivalry. But at the same time, vaccine diplomacy could serve as a dialogue platform in cases when interstate relations are in a deep crisis. And it may lead to awareness of the need to train specialists in the field of medical diplomacy.

Digital Vaccine Passports and digital health diplomacy: an online Model WHO simulation.

In the wake of COVID -19, several nations have sought to implement digital vaccine passports (DVPs) to enable the resumption of international travel. Comprising a minimum dataset for each unique individual, DVPs have the makings of a global electronic health record, broaching key issues involved in building a global digital health ecosystem. Debate simulations offer a safe, interactive space to foster participatory policy discussions for advancing digital health diplomacy. This study used an online simulation of a Model World Health Assembly to critically analyse the sociotechnical issues associated with the global implementation of DVPs, and to generate useful insights and questions about the role of diplomacy in global digital health. The debate arguments addressed and provided insights into the technological, scientific, ethical, legal, policy & societal aspects of DVPs. Reflecting on the simulation, we discuss its opportunities and challenges for the digitalization, decolonization, decentralization, and democratisation of participatory policymaking.

Reimagining diaspora diplomacy during the COVID-19 crisis in India.

Diasporas are organized groups motivated by common cultural, ideological, political and religious values and common concerns for their countries of origin. Diaspora diplomacy has gained prominence worldwide, particularly in India, spurred by harrowing images of deaths and devastation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A new generation of diaspora professionals modeled as social entrepreneurs uses collaborative and non-profit models to establish relationships with their counterparts to facilitate medical services and research. Teleradiology and telepsychiatry facilitate communication between diaspora members and their counterparts. We propose a common telehealth platform to standardize advice given by the Indian diaspora in the Global North as protocols change rapidly in acute pandemics. Consideration should be given to the well-known digital divide in India and other low- and middle-income countries. We advocate for diaspora members to train themselves in the art of global health diplomacy, to promote transparency and accountability in the collection of funds and a mandatory provision of outcome measurement by independent monitors rather than through social media. In the long run, Indian-Americans should play an active role in strengthening the domain of public health, which has historically been neglected in India, by focusing on the country's long-term infrastructure needs. The lessons learned from various diaspora efforts should be independently evaluated and recorded as best practice for future pandemics and humanitarian crises.

THE SILK ROUTE OF HEALTH AND CHINESE SOFT POWER IN THE LIGHT OF SARS-CoV-2

This article aims to explain the use of soft power by the People's Republic of China (PRC) by taking the so-called "panda diplomacy" and glob-al health diplomacy as examples. Using the deductive method and the sup-port of a theoretical apparatus based on the analysis of soft power by Chinese scholars, the authors discuss the strategies Beijing uses to "win the minds and hearts" of the international community and mitigate the perception of the "Chinese threat" generated by multiple factors, including the current pan-demic caused by sARs-Cov-2. The article concludes that through panda diplo-macy and global health diplomacy, the PRC has succeeded in these goals and is likely to continue to use its soft power to position itself as a great power in the 21st century.

A Bibliometric Analysis of COVID-19 Scientific Literature From the English-Speaking Caribbean.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global crisis and has affected the Caribbean islands, leading to significant health and socioeconomic consequences in this region. Efforts to mitigate the burden of this disease have led to an accelerated amount of research in the English-speaking Caribbean (ESC). This bibliometric analysis aimed to evaluate the COVID-19-related scientific literature from the ESC nations. A total of 175 articles were included and analyzed from an initial PubMed search (n = 638) for COVID-19-related scientific literature from the ESC nations published between January 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022. Microsoft Excel 2016 (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington) and the VOSviewer (version 1.6.18) were used to characterize countries, authorship, journals, affiliations, and keywords of the COVID-19-related articles. Trinidad and Tobago (38%), Jamaica (22%), Barbados (20%), and Grenada (15%) contributed to the greatest number of publications. The University of the West Indies (UWI) campuses in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados, and St. George's University in Grenada were the most prolific institutions. Srikanth Umakanthan from the UWI was the most prolific author. Cureus, SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine, and Frontiers in Public Health were the first three most productive journals; 59% of the 175 articles had either the first or last author affiliated with an institution in the ESC, and 19% of the articles were country-focused: Trinidad and Tobago (16/175), Jamaica (9/175), Barbados (5/175), and Antigua and Barbuda (2/175). Among the top themes of research, 27% were outbreak response and rearrangements, epidemiological studies (23%), clinical management (23%), and medical education (13%). Over the last two years, an interest stimulated by the pandemic has expanded the research in ESC countries. However, gaps in the knowledge exist, especially in the epidemiology of COVID-19 complications in the sub-populations of chronic non-communicable diseases, post-COVID syndrome, and the long-COVID syndrome in the region. Hence, there is enormous scope for more research across the region.

Transformations of Medical and Vaccine Diplomacies in the COVID-19 Era

The pandemic has produced the global COVID-19 vaccine market with various stakeholders acting in their economic self-interest. At the same time, some governments use vaccines for pursuing national interests and expanding their international influence. Us-ing scientific works on the topic and documents from WHO, GAVI, WTO, IMF, government documents and think tank reports, the author analyzes vaccine diplomacy as a branch of medical diplomacy and identifies changes that occur under pandemic impact. The article examines the current policy of China, as it has achieved the most notable success in medical services export, primarily to developing countries, and Chinese pharmaceutical companies play a prominent role in the global vaccine market. It raises serious concerns of the West, which accuses Beijing of using coronacrisis to establish a new (China-centric) world order. It is concluded that government capacity to protect public health and control epidemic spread is among the significant criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of State policy, and its own vaccine industry begins to be regarded as an important element of national security. There is also a considerable increase in the role of healthcare in foreign policy of a number of States using medical and vaccine diplomacies as a means of achieving political goals. COVID-19 vaccines are becoming a strategic asset that affects the country’s position on the world stage and generates a new field of geopolitical rivalry. But at the same time, vaccine diplomacy could serve as a dialogue platform in cases when interstate relations are in a deep crisis. And it may lead to awareness of the need to train specialists in the field of medical diplomacy. © 2022, MGIMO Universty Press. All rights reserved.

Analyzing GAVI the Vaccine Alliance as a Global Health Partnership Model: A Constructivist Analysis of the Global Health Crisis

The ongoing debate on the conceptual underpinnings of constructivism and global health partnerships (GHPs) in global health studies has a dimension that deserves closer attention. This paper attempts to draw attention to a few aspects of the debate using Finnemore's constructivist analysis. According to this study, global actors need to rethink their paradoxical notions of pandemic crisis survival in light of the growing demand for mobilizing diverse global health agents and the necessity of constructing complex GNPs to address challenges of international significance. A global response based on solidarity and multilateralism is the only way to effectively combat this pandemic. Against this backdrop, the article analyses this development through an ideational ontological case study of the GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. This article contributes to the debate by explaining how the GAVI Alliance fostered global collaboration and can serve as a template for future GHPs.

A case-based approach to teaching epidemic and pandemic-related global health diplomacy and security in African countries.

A challenging concept to teach, few combined courses on epidemic-related global health diplomacy and security exist, and no known courses are currently available that have been exclusively designed for African nationals. In response, the University of California, San Francisco's Center for Global Health Delivery, Diplomacy and Economics (CGHDDE) developed and delivered a workshop for LMIC learners to better understand how politics, policy, finance, governance and security coalesce to influence global health goals and outcomes.

Global health diplomacy and North Korea in the COVID-19 era

This article uses global health diplomacy to examine the challenges and opportunities of international health aid to North Korea in the COVID-19 era. It finds that vaccine provision is both within the enlightened self-interest of donor states and meets the global responsibility to address unequal access to vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed increasing global inequality in responding to the issues of health. How do we resolve the tension between normative concerns for global responsibility and strategic concerns for national interest in facilitating health aid to vulnerable populations in low-income countries in the COVID-19 era? This article presents global health diplomacy as a conceptual framework that could overcome thedichotomy of humanitarianism and international politics, using health aid to North Korea during COVID-19 as a case-study. Health is a critical component of human dignity and can be a normative motivation for cooperation beyond sovereign borders. However, health is also an important element of national interest and can be a strategic motivation for transnational cooperation. The overlap between the moral and rational spaces in global health diplomacy demonstrates how COVID-19 assistance to North Korea's vulnerable population is in the enlightened self-interest of donors to prevent resurgences of new COVID-19 variants. Moreover, this framework imbues all parties, including aid recipients such as North Korea, with the global cooperative responsibility to address health. In this sense, global health diplomacy can reframe the tensions between humanitarianism and politics, morality and rationality, and cosmopolitanism and nationalism, from antithetical to complementary.

"Digital Health Diplomacy" in Global Digital Health? A call for critique and discourse.

Actualizing the vision of Global Digital Health is a central issue on the Global Health Diplomacy agenda. The COVID-reinforced need for accelerated digital health progress will require political structures and processes to build a foundation for Global Digital Health. Simultaneously, Global Health Diplomacy uses digital technologies in its enactment. Both phenomena have driven interest in the term "Digital Health Diplomacy." A review of the literature revealed 2 emerging but distinct definitions that have been published very recently, each with its associated discourse and practice. This multiplicity of ideas demonstrates the myriad ways in which global digital and political systems are becoming increasingly entangled. Untangling these, this paper proposes and discusses 3 dimensions of Digital Health Diplomacy: "Diplomacy for digital health," "Digital health for diplomacy," and "Digital health in diplomacy." It calls upon digital health professionals, diplomats, political and social scientists, epidemiologists, and clinicians to discuss, critique, and advance this emerging domain.

Challenges and opportunities for Iranian global health diplomacy: lessons learned from action for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.

BACKGROUND: The steady rise in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide has been a key global health challenge. Governments have the primary responsibility for taking action to prevent and control NCDs. Given the growing importance of globalization of healthcare as well as the increasing use of soft power, governments need to identify challenges and opportunities to enhance global health diplomacy (GHD) for NCD prevention and control. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explain the challenges and opportunities of GHD for NCDs in Iran. METHODS: This study was conducted in 2020 using a qualitative approach and through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 21 experts and specialists in related fields such as health policy, healthcare management, epidemiology and other related specialties. The participants were selected from all levels of diplomacy, including global, regional and national levels, with at least 3 years of experience in managerial, executive and scientific activities. Data analysis was performed by content analysis with an inductive approach. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: The identified challenges were categorized into five main themes, including content challenges, structural challenges, process challenges, governance challenges and cultural challenges. Opportunities extracted from the interviews were also categorized into four main themes, including strong political will, utilizing the capacity of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), multisectoral collaborations and a well-developed health system. CONCLUSIONS: NCD prevention and control requires a multilateral collaboration-based solution. Recognition of the challenges and opportunities in GHD can help draw significant lessons for building the necessary capacities and implementing more effective policies to prevent and control NCDs.

COVID-19 Pandemic as an Excellent Opportunity for Global Health Diplomacy.

Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic is not the first and most frightening global pandemic, and it may not be the last. At the very least, this phenomenon has though seriously challenged the health systems of the world; it has created a new perspective on the value of national, regional, and international cooperation during crises. The post-coronavirus world could be a world of intensified nationalist rivalries on the economic revival and political influence. However, strengthening cooperation among nations at different levels will lead to the growth of health, economy, and security. The current situation is a touchstone for international actors in coordinating the efforts in similar future crises. At present, this pandemic crisis cannot be resolved except through joint international cooperation, global cohesion, and multilateralism. This perspective concludes that the pandemic could be an excellent opportunity for the scope of global health diplomacy (GHD) and how it can be applied and practiced for strengthening five global arenas, namely (1) International Cooperation and Global Solidarity, (2) Global Economy, Trade and Development, (3) Global Health Security, (4) Strengthening health systems, and (5) Addressing inequities to achieve the global health targets. GHD proves to be very useful for negotiating better policies, stronger partnerships, and achieving international cooperation in this phase with many geopolitical shifts and nationalist mindset among many nations at this stage of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out.

Rethinking and strengthening the Global Health Diplomacy through triangulated nexus between policy makers, scientists and the community in light of COVID-19 global crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic is considerably the biggest global health challenge of this modern era. Spreading across all regions of the world, this corona virus disease has disrupted even some of the most advanced economies and healthcare systems. With an increasing global death toll and no near end in sight, questions on the efficacy of global response mechanisms, including the role and relevancy of global health institutions, have emerged. Using a reflexive content analytic approach, this study sheds light on some of these questions, underscoring the disconnect between science, policymaking, and society. Global health funding approaches; politicization of the pandemic, including political blame gaming; mistrust of government and other institutions; and a lack of robust accountability measures are some of the pandemic response obstacles. However, COVID-19 has also presented an opportunity for a collaboration that may potentially solidify global solidarity. A pandemic response built on strategic global health diplomacy, vaccine diplomacy, and science diplomacy can spur both political and economic benefits, advancing development, health security, and justice. The virus thrives and flourishes in face of political divisions and lack of cooperation. While the current global crisis has exacerbated the existing social injustices in societies, national unity and global solidarity is essential to winning the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.