BRICS senior officials on healthcare meet in Moscow

The BRICS senior officials on healthcare met in Moscow on 29 October 2015, ahead of the BRICS Healthcare Ministers Meeting. Particular attention was given to issues of BRICS countries' cooperation to combat HIV and TB, access to healthcare and medicine supplies.

"The participants should chart future alleys of collaboration, summarise their previous efforts, discuss expert proposals and elaborate common stances on such topical issues as joint research and innovative health-oriented R&D, general accessibility of health services, the development of public health, and efforts to combat contagious and non-contagious diseases," State Secretary, Russian Deputy Healthcare Minister Dmitry Kostennikov, said at the meeting on Thursday.

The meeting was also addressed by Dr Tereza Kasayeva, Deputy Director of the Russian Healthcare Ministry's Department for medical assistance and resort treatment, and Vinay P. Saldanha, UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The meeting finalised the document prioritising the BRICS countries' healthcare cooperation for next year. The ministers are expected to sign it in Moscow on 30 October.