How the US lost Africa to China over new disease control centre in Addis Ababa
- Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Addis Ababa was once a US-China collaboration project
- Loss of US CDC-inspired facility to Chinese influence a tragic error and own goal, says analyst in Washington
Hu Changchun, China’s newly appointed head of mission to the African Union, inspected the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention construction site last month. The facility, being built by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), will be completed at the end of the year.
“This flagship project between China and the AU will significantly improve the capacity for disease prevention and control in Africa,” Hu said.
The site covers an area of 90,000 square metres, with a total construction area of nearly 40,000 square metres.
When finished, the Africa CDC building will include an emergency operation centre, a data centre and a laboratory, resource, training and conference centres and briefing rooms, as well as offices and expatriate flats – all to be built, furnished and equipped by the Chinese government.
The second phase would involve the construction of the Africa CDC’s five regional collaborating centres in Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia.
Wu Peng, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry’s African affairs department, said the Africa CDC headquarters was “a major project of China-Africa cooperation” which would “further enhance Africa’s public health capacities and become a new portrayal of China-Africa solidarity”.