India-Africa: Development Cooperation in Healthcare

India followed three key principles in offering assistance to other developing nations in partnership programs; partnerships are for mutual benefit, the development partner is to decide the priorities, aim of the partnership is to create high level of capacity and economic opportunity for the partners involved. The partnership should not result in long-term dependency by the recipient on the provider. India’s early investment in medical education and research offered the country an opportunity to send healthcare professionals to other areas overseas. The Government of India financed a number of projects that focused on improving access to potable waters in the regions of Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Niger to name just a few. The development cooperation approaches since the 1990s have changed from fully state funded projects to state facilitated cooperation programs involving private actors. India- Africa interactions ultimately took the shape of a pragmatic relationship that involves economic and political and even security interests and developmental needs of both sides. On the one hand, Africa has emerged as an important market for Indian goods and services and, on the other hand, as a vital element in India’s quest for energy security. The substantial growth of Indian service sector also places it in a position to have mutually beneficial development cooperation initiatives with Africa which has less population but is in need of large service sector.