An African perspective on the ethics and politics of foreign medical aid in a pandemic

ABSTRACT

This chapter attempts an interrogation of the political and ethical dimensions of foreign medical aid during a pandemic. One of the moral conundrums that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents to governments of developing countries in the Global South with poor health infrastructure is seeking much needed foreign medical aid without compromising sovereignty, safety, and national integrity, especially from the Global North. In the context of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, medical supplies and personnel were offered by China as emergency philanthropy. This chapter provides a novel ethical evaluation of foreign medical aid in a pandemic, using principles of the African ethic of communion. It exposes the values both at play and absent in choosing foreign medics as a complementary strategy, as opposed to full reliance on the competence and initiatives of local medical personnel in tackling the challenges of COVID-19 in Nigeria. The chapter argues that while the values of transparency, consultation, dialogue, and trust building are lacking in the decision-making process that brought the Chinese foreign medics' aid to Nigeria, the act is morally justified by virtue of its potentials to save lives that would otherwise be lost without it. This chapter posits further, however, that China's politicization of its philanthropy undercuts the moral justification of the gesture. It concludes by explicating how the principles of relationality, equity, and harmony embedded within an African moral worldview can provide moral validation for medical philanthropy at a time of pandemic without compromising China's responsibility and Nigeria's national integrity. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023. All rights reserved.