Brasilia, Brazil, 17 June 2025 (PAHO) – The Pan American Well being Group Director (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, has known as for joint efforts and new partnerships to handle the priorities outlined within the BRICS well being agenda, together with innovation, fairness, meals techniques for wholesome diets, and pandemic preparedness.
“The BRICS nations aren’t solely financial and political powers but in addition public well being leaders,” mentioned Dr. Barbos through the opening ceremony of the fifteenth BRICS Ministers of Well being Assembly, in Brasilia, Brazil at this time. “Collectively, your nations symbolize over 40% of the world’s inhabitants, and your advances in well being protection, epidemic response, and native innovation have world relevance.”
For the PAHO Director, the nations of the Americas – significantly in Latin America and the Caribbean – face comparable structural challenges as BRICS nations and are working in the direction of aligned well being priorities, together with by addressing the burden of noncommunicable illnesses, modernizing well being techniques, making ready for the impacts of local weather change on well being, selling digital well being and innovation, eliminating communicable illnesses and selling more healthy diets.
“These shared objectives current a transparent alternative for BRICS and nations of the Americas to be taught from each other, collaborate extra deeply, and co-develop the instruments and options wanted to guard well being and advance growth,” he mentioned.
“PAHO is totally dedicated to supporting regional and world initiatives that elevate well being as a driver of financial alternative and social inclusion,” the Director added, underscoring the function of the Group as a strategic companion.
The fifteenth BRICS Ministers of Well being Assembly, held on 17 June, introduced collectively Ministers of Well being and different high-level authorities from the next nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
In the course of the Assembly, the BRICS delegates additionally permitted a Declaration to strengthen cooperation in well being. Below the Declaration, the nations will work collectively to handle world well being challenges, includeg by World South collaboration.
Different areas of focus embody strengthening native and regional manufacturing of medicines, vaccines and well being provides; accelerating well being fairness by the elimination of socially decided illnesses; making certain equitable entry to tuberculosis-related improvements; advancing voluntary regulatory convergence; increasing well being analysis; selling vaccine analysis and growth; strengthening Synthetic Intelligence in healthcare; and selling sustainable and resilient well being infrastructure.
“I might particularly like thank [for their support to BRICS] the World Well being Group (WHO) and PAHO, represented right here by Dr. Jarbas Barbosa”, mentioned the Minister of Well being of Brazil, Alexandre Padilha, following approval of the Declaration.
Addressing non-communicable illnesses
In the course of the Ministerial Assembly, Dr. Barbosa additionally participated in a Excessive-Stage occasion on the Promotion of satisfactory and wholesome consuming practices and their contributions to the prevention of Noncommunicable Persistent Circumstances.
Globally, NCDs, together with cardiovascular illnesses, most cancers, persistent respiratory illnesses, and diabetes, are accountable for roughly 71% of all deaths, lots of that are preventable. But whereas the world has seen a dramatic and sustained rise within the burden of NCDs “lower than 2% of official growth help is allotted to NCDs,” mentioned the PAHO Director.
“Unhealthy diets – wealthy in trans fat, saturated fat, free sugars, and sodium, and poor in complete grain, fruits, legumes, and greens – are a central driver of the NCD epidemic,” he added.
These diets are pushed by the worldwide rise in ultra-processed meals, the aggressive advertising of which has “fueled a speedy dietary transmission throughout each high- and low-income nations,” mentioned Dr. Barbosa.
To handle these points the PAHO Director and the BRICS nations shared key experiences and classes discovered to stop noncommunicable illnesses, comparable to front-of-package warning labels, taxation of sugar-sweetened drinks and regulation of unhealthy meals advertising.
