WHO Bulletin on 'BRICS and Global Health' launched in Delhi

In his message, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan congratulated the World Health Organization for this important initiative.

In his opening address, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare C.K. Mishra said, “We have declared health collaboration as a priority to collectively enhance our partnerships among each other and other countries we are engaged with through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms.”

He pointed out that the production of high-quality, affordable medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and other health technologies by the BRICS is improving access in resource-poor countries.

“In the endeavour to address the double burden of disease we face due to combination of rapid emergence of noncommunicable and persistence of communicable diseases, we are seeking to reform our health systems, advance universal health coverage and focus on social determinants of health,” Mishra added.

In her message, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region said, “BRICS are becoming more important protagonists in international cooperation and have been contributing to reshaping health cooperation in recent years. They have a stated intent to undertake inclusive global public health cooperation projects, including through South-South and triangular cooperation.”

“Importantly, the BRICS emphasis on ‘South-South’ cooperation derives from their domestic development experience. Their capacity building and infrastructure development ‘partnerships’ draw directly from lessons learned in addressing their own internal challenges,” she added.

Outlining the importance of the initiative, Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India said that the launch of the WHO Bulletin on ‘BRICS and global health’ and the policy seminar is an acknowledgement of the unique position of BRICS to influence health at global level.

“It is well understood that proper implementation of policies and timely delivery of concrete results can help in uplifting the health and wellbeing of millions of citizens in the BRICS countries. This will significantly contribute to the improvement of global health indicators. The policy seminar provides a unique opportunity to deliberate on these issues,” she added.

Present at the launch of the WHO Bulletin were WHO Representatives from Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa. In addition, senior officials from BRICS countries, experts from health and development institutes and academia, from overseas and India were a part of the event.

In conjunction with the launch, the high-level policy seminar being organized by the WHO Country Office for India in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India on June 24 will address selected key thematic issues on the current and future role of BRICS in global health.

The forum will also reflect on the outcome of the BRICS countries’ side meeting at the 67th World Health Assembly in May 2014.

In addition, it will contribute to the next BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting, which will take place in Brazil later in the year.

The WHO Bulletin is ranked within the top 10 public and environmental health journals. It is peer-reviewed on a monthly basis and has a special focus on the developing countries.