Press Release Following Briefing for BRICS Permanent Members on Sidelines of 154th Session of WHO Executive Board (Geneva, Switzerland, 23 January 2024)

Russian State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Health Oleg Salagay held a briefing for BRICS diplomatic missions located in Geneva on the sidelines of the 154^th session of the World Health Organization’s Executive Board on 23 January 2024.

The event was attended by representatives of Brazil, Egypt, India, Iran, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and South Africa.

The purpose of the Russian briefing was to present areas for cooperation in healthcare as part of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship in 2024.

Salagay discussed traditional BRICS formats (meeting of senior BRICS health officials and BRICS ministers of health) and also presented new Russian initiatives about holding the BRICS International Forum on Nuclear Medicine and the International Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, the creation of the BRICS Scientific Medical Magazine, the formation of the BRICS Medical Association, and the promotion of the Comprehensive Early Warning System for the Risks of Mass Infectious Diseases, and pointed out the need to discuss the further operation of the BRICS Vaccine Centre, continue the activities of the BRICS Tuberculosis Research Network, and launch the BRICS Public Health Network.

BRICS representatives noted the eventful medical agenda of Russia’s BRICS Chairmanship in 2024 in the healthcare sector and expressed their readiness to actively assist in its implementation.

They noted that specialized BRICS mechanisms should play an important role in improving global cooperation in healthcare and their potential needs to be realized to not only assist BRICS member states, but developing nations as well.