New Delhi, Sep 12 (PTI) BRICS leaders on Saturday recognised obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as major global public health challenges and endorsed a joint mission on healthy lifestyles, while calling for greater cooperation in traditional medicine and a stronger focus on mental well-being.
In the Delhi Declaration, adopted after their meeting, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening preventive and promotive healthcare through whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches.
“We recognise that obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have emerged as major global public health challenges and reaffirm our commitment to strengthening preventive and promotive healthcare through whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches,” the declaration said.
In this regard, the leaders endorsed the launch of the BRICS Mission for Healthy Lifestyle and the BRICS Roadmap for the Joint Initiative on Healthy Lifestyle Promotion (2026-2029).
They also welcomed the “Compendium of Replicable Best Practices on Healthy Lifestyle”, which seeks to provide a platform for sharing approaches that can be adopted across BRICS countries.
The declaration also highlighted the growing importance of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) in strengthening health systems and contributing towards universal health coverage.
“We acknowledge the growing relevance of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) to strengthening health systems and contributing towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” the leaders said.
They welcomed the proposed establishment of the BRICS Expert Working Group on TCIM under the BRICS Health Track as a platform for dialogue, collaboration and exchange among member states.
The leaders also called for coordinated research on medicinal plants and herbal preparations, with the aim of developing safe, effective and affordable therapeutic products.
“We underscore the value of coordinated research on medicinal plants and herbal preparations of therapeutic and preventive use, so that the shared traditional pharmacopoeias of member countries may serve as a foundation for developing safe, effective, and affordable therapeutic products,” the declaration said.
At the same time, the BRICS leaders stressed that traditional medicine practices and products must meet appropriate standards of quality, safety and efficacy.
“We reaffirm the importance of ensuring quality, safety and efficacy of TCIM practices and products through evidence-informed approaches and appropriate regulatory frameworks in accordance with the national contexts,” they said.
Mental well-being was identified as another important component of health and sustainable development, with BRICS countries backing greater cooperation in mental health promotion, research and capacity building.
“We recognise the promotion of mental well-being as a vital pillar of health and sustainable development,” the declaration said.
The leaders supported the establishment of a BRICS Training Hub Network and a BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence (CoE), with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) being the coordinating CoE.
The proposed network would facilitate collaborative research, policy dialogue, exchange of best practices and the co-development of evidence-based mental health promotion strategies across BRICS countries, according to the declaration.
“The network of CoEs could also serve as a platform to facilitate collaborative research, policy dialogue, exchange of best practices, and the co-development of evidence-based mental health promotion strategies across BRICS countries,” it said.
The network is also envisaged as a mechanism for deeper scientific and technical cooperation and for the sustainable and scalable integration of mental well-being into primary healthcare.
The declaration said a designated group of representatives from each BRICS member state would jointly govern the coordination of the centre of excellence/network of CoEs, ensuring balanced decision-making and shared accountability.
The leaders further underlined the need to address the mental health consequences of crises and ensure support for people in vulnerable situations, particularly children and adolescents.
“We emphasise the importance of addressing the mental health consequences of crises and are committed to providing timely, accessible, and sustained mental health and psychosocial (MHPSS) interventions to affected populations, particularly people in vulnerable situations, including children and adolescents,” they said.
The declaration also linked these health priorities to the broader need for stronger health systems and workforces in developing countries and least developed countries.
“We emphasise the importance of strengthening the health workforce to ensure the resilient and advanced health system in developing countries and LDCs,” the leaders said, calling for expanded BRICS cooperation in capacity building, training and research.
The leaders also emphasised the importance of strengthening health infrastructure and local production of medical products, alongside stronger surveillance systems, laboratory networks and the use of digital health technologies and artificial intelligence.
They called for the integration of traditional medicine into health systems, technical cooperation among public health institutes, robust regulatory frameworks, skilled health workforces and collaborative research and development.
These measures, they said, were important to ensure “timely, affordable, and equitable access to healthcare services, vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics”. PTI PLB MPL MPL
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