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Review
. 2023 Aug 28;8(1):36.
doi: 10.1186/s41256-023-00318-x.

The priority areas and possible pathways for health cooperation in BRICS countries

Zuokun Liu  1 , Zongbin Wang  1 , Ming Xu  1 , Jiyan Ma  1 , Yinuo Sun  1 , Yangmu Huang  2
Affiliations
Review

The priority areas and possible pathways for health cooperation in BRICS countries

Zuokun Liu et al. Glob Health Res Policy. .

Abstract

As one of the largest alliances of middle-income countries, the BRICS, known as an acronym for five countries including "Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa", represents half of the global population. The health cooperation among BRICS countries will benefit their populations and other middle- and low-income countries. This study aims to summarize the current status of health cooperation in BRICS countries and identify opportunities to strengthen BRICS participation in global health governance. A literature review was conducted to analyze the status, progress, and challenges of BRICS' health cooperation. Content analysis was used to review the 2011-2021 annual joint declarations of the BRICS Health Ministers Meetings. The priority health areas were identified through segmental frequency analysis. Our research suggested that communicable diseases, access to medicine, and universal health coverage appeared most frequently in the content of declarations, indicating the possible top health priorities among BRICS' health collaboration. These priority areas align with the primary health challenges of each country, including the threats of double burden of diseases, as well as the need for improving health systems and access to medicines. Respective external cooperation, inter-BRICS health cooperation, and unified external cooperation are the main forms of health cooperation among BRICS countries. However, challenges such as the lack of a unified image and precise position, lack of practical impact, and weak discourse power have impeded the impact of BRICS on health governance. This study suggests that the BRICS countries should recognize their positioning, improve their unified image, and establish cooperative entities; at the same time, they should increase their practical strength, promote non-governmental cooperation, and expand the cooperation space through the "BRICS Plus" mechanism with countries with similar interests to join.

Keywords: Access to medicine; BRICS countries; Communicable disease; Health cooperation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing Interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The total frequency of the top 10 concern areas appears in the joint Declaration
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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