BRICS nations commit to enhance cooperation on health matters

India and other BRICS members today praised the establishment of a "long-term mechanism" for traditional medicine exchanges and committed themselves to enhance cooperation on health issues at international fora, including at the G20.

The BRICS nations decided to boost their role in global health governance, especially through the World Health Organisation and other such United Nations agencies, said the Xiamen Declaration issued at the end of the BRICS Summit's plenary session here.

The member countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - agreed to improve surveillance capacity and medical services to fight infectious diseases - ebola, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria - and non-communicable diseases.

They emphasised on a larger application of Information and Communication Technologies to improve the level of health service provision.

The nations also agreed to "foster the development and improve the availability of innovative medical products through promotion of research and development and access to affordable, quality, effective and safe drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other medical products and technologies".

"We welcome the outcomes of the BRICS Health Ministers Meeting and High-level Meeting on Traditional Medicine, and commend the establishment of a long-term mechanism for traditional medicine exchanges and cooperation, to promote mutual learning of traditional medicines and pass them down to future generations," the Xiamen Declaration said.

The nations also welcomed the decision to set up a tuberculosis research network and expressed support for the First United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis in 2018.