IMPROVING GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTIONS AND INSTRUMENTS
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“ The root causes of health inequities – poverty, exclusion and discrimination – must be addressed directly through cooperation, resource mobilisation and innovation”
Diseases. This initiative reflects Brazil’s conviction that the root causes of health inequities – poverty, exclusion and discrimination – must be addressed directly through cooperation, resource mobilisation and innovation. As President Lula da Silva reminded us in his speech at the summit: “In Brazil and around the world, income, education, gender, race, and place of birth determine who gets sick and who dies. Many of the diseases that kill thousands in our countries … would have already been eradicated if they affected the Global North.” This partnership, the Tuberculosis Research Network and the Vaccine R&D Center, among other initiatives, mobilise BRICS countries to act together, not only to treat these diseases, but also to dismantle the social and economic fractures that sustain them. All these initiatives reflect a conviction that cooperation among countries can deliver tangible improvements to people’s lives. Innovation must walk together with equity. Production must be anchored in solidarity. No child and no family should be left behind because of where they were born. As the current holder of the presidency of Mercosur, Brazil’s health priorities encompass strengthening immunisation coverage, promoting local and regional production, combating misinformation, advancing gender equality, and reinforcing health surveillance. In this regard, we have developed a robust agenda to advance these priorities. That belief has also guided Brazil’s active engagement in the negotiation of the Pandemic Agreement and the amendments to the IHR, where we have consistently defended equitable access to health technologies, the strengthening of local production and technology transfer mechanisms, as well as the protection of the health workforce. Brazil also remains committed to advancing the ongoing negotiations of the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing System, which aims to facilitate rapid access, equitable sharing and benefit sharing related to pathogens with pandemic potential. A SHARED AGENDA FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET Yet, our political choice for multilateral- ism goes further. In November, Brazil will host the 30th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Belém. Recognising the profound impacts of the climate emergency on people’s health, Brazil – together with partners from governments,
civil society, international organisations and other stakeholders – is bringing forward the Belém Health Action Plan. Our ambition is to build together and share with the world a global reference document for strengthening climate-resilient health systems, rooted in the principles of climate justice and health equity. Hosting COP30 in the Amazon sends a powerful message: protecting the planet and protecting people’s health are inseparable goals. From BRICS to G20, from the Pandemic Agreement to COP30, the rationale is the same: in a fragmented world, health can be a bridge. It can connect countries that disagree on many issues but still recognise that the well-being of their people depends on shared solutions. It can turn geopolitical competition into practical cooperation. Moreover, it can remind us that, despite our differences, we are bound by the same vulnerabilities and the same hopes. As minister of health, I have learned that the success of global health is measured not only by the agreements we sign, but also by the lives we improve and the trust we build. The initiatives we launch must be designed to deliver concrete benefits for populations and to reinforce the multilateral system that makes such benefits possible. A future with healthier people, animals and the environment will not be shaped by chance, but by political choices. Brazil has chosen to act with solidarity, to lead with equity and to invest in alliances that make a difference. This is the political choice that inspires our support for the WHO and that we have brought to the BRICS, G20, Mercosur and COP30. It is the choice we hope will inspire others, because only through inclusive, cooperative, and sustained multilateralism can we turn today’s fractured world into tomorrow’s cohesion, ensuring health as a right for all, not a privilege for the few. ▪
ALEXANDRE PADILHA Alexandre Padilha was appointed Brazil’s minister of health in March 2025, having previously been health minister from 2011 to 2014 and minister of institutional relations from 2009 to 2010. An infectious disease physician and professor, in 2015 he served as secretary of government relations for São Paulo City Hall and then was municipal health secretary for São Paulo until 2016. He headed the Secretariat for Federative Affairs of the Presidency from 2005 to 2009. From 2004 to 2005, he served as national director of Indigenous health at the Ministry of Health. X-TWITTER @padilhando
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Health: A Political Choice – The Future of Health in a Fractured World
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