Tianjin Communique of BRICS Health Ministers Meeting

(en.nhfpc.gov.cn)

Updated: 2017-07-17

1. Ministers of Health and heads of delegation from the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa, met at the 7th BRICS Health Ministers' Meeting on 6 July 2017 in Tianjin, China.

2. Committed to strengthen the intra-BRICS cooperation to protect and to promote people’s health and achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, reiterated the renewed commitment to health by the BRICS leaders as expressed in the Goa Declaration in October 2016, noted the progress made since the first BRICS Health Ministers Meeting and resolved to continue cooperation in the sphere of health through the Technical Working Groups and the BRICS Framework for Collaboration on Strategic Projects in Health, including the TB Cooperation Plan and other action plans adopted on 16 December 2016 in New Delhi on specific areas of cooperation.

3. Stated that they will offer full support to the ninth BRICS Summit in September 2017 in Xiamen, China.

4. Committed to enhance cooperation with WHO, UNAIDS, UNITAID, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, GAVI and other international organizations, to increase the accessibility of affordable, quality, effective and safe drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other medical products, to improve the health care service and satisfy the public health demands. In this context, welcomed the report and recommendations of the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines and reiterated their resolve to promote access to drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other medical products including through the full use of TRIPS flexibilities. They agreed to protect their policy space against TRIPS plus provisions and other measures that impede or restrict such access.

5. Committed to support and extensively carry out global cooperation projects on public health, and strengthen the role of BRICS countries in global health governance by supporting the coordination and cooperation with international health organizations and institutions through South-South Cooperation, trilateral cooperation, etc.

6. Agreed to promote dialogue among BRICS countries to jointly assess issues of common interest for convergence participation in multilateral fora, and strengthen the role of BRICS countries in global health governance, especially at the World Health Organization and United Nations Organization.

7. Expressed appreciation to Dr. Margaret Chan for her excellent leadership in the past two terms as Director-General of WHO, welcomed the appointment of  Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, newly-elected Director-General of WHO and expressed trust in his leadership of WHO in the global health arena and in addressing global health challenges. Reiterated the commitment to the inter-governmental nature of WHO and to maintaining the integrity, objectivity, supremacy and leadership of WHO in the global health arena.

8. Recognized the value and importance of traditional medicine, reaffirmed the support for the WHA resolution on Traditional Medicine (WHA62.13 and WHA67.18) and the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023, and supported the traditional medicine development initiative proposed in the Joint Declaration of BRICS Countries on Strengthening Cooperation in Traditional Medicine on 6th, July 2017. They agreed that the traditional medicine shall be gradually integrated into national health system as appropriate with relevant regulations and policies. They also agreed that research expert communication, seminars and traditional medicine course promotion shall be supported to safely and effectively apply traditional medicine.

9. Noted that in order to effectively address the existing global health challenges and achieve the health-related SDGs, BRICS countries held a side event on integrated health care delivery system on May 24, 2017 during the 70th World Health Assembly, wherein BRICS’ health representatives shared their helpful experience in promoting health equity, strengthening health system and enhancing quality of health services, and showed their willingness to support the progress towards universal health coverage.

10. Agreed to expand BRICS technical cooperation on health including traditional medicine.

11. Agreed to support the collaboration among BRICS regulatory authorities with a view to improving the regulatory standards, and certification systems for medical products to realize their collective potential for enhancing access to quality medicines and ensuring their affordability.

12. Agreed to jointly promote research and development of innovative medical products (drugs, vaccines diagnostics and medical technologies), including through the creation of a research and development consortium on TB, HIV and Malaria. Agreed to prioritize specific R&D needs of developing countries relating to Type I diseases, while upholding the guiding principle of the de-linkage of the cost of research and development and the price of health products.

13. Agreed to set up the TB research network in the framework of the BRICS TB Cooperation Plan approved in the 6th BRICS Health Ministers Meeting, to be presented at the First WHO Global Ministerial Conference Ending Tuberculosis in the Sustainable Development Era: A Multisectoral Response, Moscow, Russian Federation, 16-17 November 2017.

14. Emphasized the importance of child survival through progressive reduction in the maternal mortality, neo-natal mortality, infant mortality, and under-5 mortality, with the aim of achieving the SDGs. Confirmed the endeavors made in this area and to enhance collaboration through exchange of best practices.

15. Recognized the importance of constantly monitoring the outbreak of diseases and the need to further enhance the cooperation of institutions and networks under the mechanism of Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) in light of the guidance of International Health Regulations (2005), to address global threats from possible epidemic of emerging and re-emerging diseases.

16. Reinforced willingness to strengthen their surveillance capacity and health care services to fight infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and non-communicable diseases addressing their risk factors.

17. Recognized that Antimicrobial Resistance including in diseases such as TB and HIV/AIDS, seriously threatens public health, and economic growth, reiterated to support the suggestions of United Nations high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance by carrying out extensive collaboration on advocacy and education, monitoring of antimicrobial resistance, infection prevention and control, and best application, development and investment of antibiotics, consistent with the balanced approach to addressing the five objectives of the WHO Global Action Plan on AMR. Also re-iterated the need to address issues of equity, affordability and sustainable access to and rational use of existing and new antimicrobials, as well of mobilizing necessary technical and financial resources for implementation.

18. Noted that while significant progress has been made in the global AIDS response, the epidemic is not over yet and therefore committed to collective actions and sustained leadership to fully implement the 2016 UN Political Declaration to achieve the 90-90-90 targets and Ending AIDS by 2030.

19. Acknowledged the need of greater use of Information and Communications Technology to improve accessibility of health services to promote cost-effective diagnostic approach and treatment as well as achieve better maintenance and use of data for surveillance and policy formulation. Encouraged the sharing of best practices on e-Health, m-health and e-governance among BRICS countries.

20. Reiterated their willingness to deepen coordination, cooperation and consultation among BRICS countries on the important issues related to the global health agenda and Traditional Medicine.

21. Expressed support for the First WHO Global Ministerial Conference Ending Tuberculosis in the Sustainable Development Era: A Multisectoral Response, Moscow, Russian Federation, 16-17 November 2017 and the first United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis in 2018.

22. Supported the proposal to hold the 8th BRICS Health Ministers Meeting in South Africa in 2018.