National Identities in Global Health: Kenya’s Vaccine Diplomacy During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract How do national identities matter in global health? Our paper addresses this question through a study of Kenya’s vaccine diplomacy during the Covid-19 pandemic. It combines critical perspectives, challenging neglect African agency international relations (IR), with constructivist approaches highlighting importance discourse exercise agency. The insight that identity is an important resource realization foreign policy goals confirmed by our review interventions senior Kenyan leaders, as well ministries and official bodies, concerned procurement Moreover, material shows not pre-given, but rather performed discourse, being adapted renewed speeches, briefings, documents, so on. Identities are plural, singular, drawing on historic cultural resources proper to individual states. This allows us link range pandemic earlier moments diplomatic history, noting continued pertinence its image, variously, ‘an island stability’, ‘a good health citizen’, member pan-African community states’, active contributor IR’.