42 percent of the world economy consists of four countries that presently sit in very similar fiscal and overall economic positions. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, often referred to collectively as the BRICS nations, are all emerging markets, each with a trouble economic past but a massive potential for future growth. Individually, each nation is growing in its influence.
For example, Brazil has just overtaken the UK as the sixth largest world economy. But their greatest strength is in their collaboration and connectivity. Together, the four nations are stepping methodically toward the economic lead in the global marketplace with advances in manufacturing, entrepreneurship, science and technology and now the healthcare industry.
The BRICS are all injecting new resources, momentum and innovation into efforts to improve health in the world’s poorest nations according to a report by the Global Health Strategies Initiative (GHSI). While all five have invested resource in global health before, their efforts have expanded more than 10 times between 2005 and 2010. President Obama would likely use his favorite boxing metaphor to describe the four countries role in fighting preventable diseases and third world epidemics by saying that BRICS is, “punching above their weight.”
The GHSI report described the contributions made by the BRICS to multilateral health initiatives including Brazil’s role in founding UNITAID, China’s pledge to increase research and development expenditures, Russia’s part as a founding donor to the GAVI Alliance which is focused on pneumococcal vaccines and cites that India is the largest producer of low-cost drugs and vaccines. All five nations are leaders in public health, having successful public health models that are being followed by other nations around the world.
Anjali Nayyar, co-executive director of GHSI had this to say about the BRICS: “The BRICS are increasingly focused on health and development as part of their global assistance efforts and pioneering the new models of cooperation and collaboration.”
Edited by
Jennifer Russell
