New Delhi, April 15: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare hosted the first meeting of the BRICS Health Working Group (HWG) in New Delhi on Wednesday. This significant gathering, held under India’s BRICS presidency, saw participation from senior health officials and experts from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia.
India’s guiding theme for 2026 is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Collaboration, and Sustainability.” This theme reflects a people-centered and future-oriented approach. Addressing the meeting, Health Secretary Poonam Salila Srivastava emphasized that the health working group will focus on creating adaptable and resilient health systems through collaboration, mutual learning, and evidence-based policymaking. She praised the cooperation among BRICS nations in the health sector, noting that this platform has played a crucial role in addressing both communicable and non-communicable diseases, strengthening health systems, and improving access to affordable medicines in recent years.
During its presidency, India has introduced two new priority areas: promoting healthy lifestyles and mental health. The healthy lifestyle mission will target risk factors such as unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and harmful use of tobacco and alcohol. The mental health program aims to strengthen services, reduce stigma, and integrate mental health into the broader health framework.
Ongoing priorities, such as the TB Research Network and evidence-based traditional medicine, will also continue under India’s leadership. The meeting discussed a total of nine priority areas, including BRICS medical product regulatory cooperation, an integrated early warning system for infectious diseases, digital health architecture, traditional medicine (TCIM), social determinants of health, and a network of national public health institutions.
Member countries welcomed India’s leadership and the proposed theme, emphasizing the importance of healthy lifestyles, mental health, TB collaboration, digital health, and local production of medicines and vaccines. All nations expressed their commitment to ensuring universal health coverage and equitable access.
At the conclusion of the meeting, there was a consensus on priority deliverables and a roadmap for future technical and ministerial-level meetings. The Ministry of Health reiterated India’s strong commitment to advancing the BRICS health agenda and enhancing global health security.
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