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BRICS originator O'Neill urges health action

By Angus McNeice in London | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2022-06-28 21:12

Jim O'Neill. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Leaders of BRICS nations can defy skeptics by delivering coordinated policies in key areas, including trade and public health, said British economist Jim O'Neill.

O'Neill coined the acronym BRIC two decades ago, before South Africa joined Brazil, Russia, India, and China in the international grouping, and the former Goldman Sachs executive said the bloc is still some way from fulfilling its potential.

"It's no easier for these countries to agree on active policy cooperation than it is any other grouping, whether it be the G7 or the G20," O'Neill told China Daily this week, ahead of the 14th BRICS Summit, while adding they can do more that benefits the group and the world as a whole.

O'Neill said health is a key area where BRICS cooperation could lead to transformative development.

"The one thing they do share is a huge infectious disease burden, particularly tuberculosis, so why can't they do something about trying to find more effective drugs for TB?" O'Neill said.

Together, BRICS nations share approximately half of the world's tuberculosis, or TB, burden, and managing the disease has become increasingly difficult due to drug resistance.

Antibiotic resistance in general is expected to lead to 10 million deaths a year worldwide by 2050, according to a UK government review led by O'Neill, and an estimated third of these deaths will occur in BRICS nations.

[Photo/CHINA DAILY]

"The growth of drug resistance is huge, and if there are no efforts to deal with it, the BRICS countries will never reach their economic potential," O'Neill said.

BRICS health ministries have collaborated on TB in recent years and established the BRICS TB Research Network in 2017. In December, an editorial in the journal Nature praised the network for a "pioneering genomic-surveillance" study into the intersection of TB and COVID-19, although it also noted that TB funding and collaboration "could be at much higher levels" between the BRICS nations.

O'Neill suggested that the New Development Bank, which aims to mobilize resources for development projects in BRICS countries, is currently too focused on infrastructure and should broaden its remit.

"The New Development Bank functions relatively well as an organization, but seems to be slightly obsessed with big, physical infrastructure projects," O'Neill said. "Why isn't it involved in providing finance for new drugs to prevent the spread of drug-resistant TB, or malaria? Why didn't they do something collectively on COVID-19?"

A review of the projects on the New Development Bank website shows that healthcare is indeed underrepresented. There are currently 80 approved and 20 proposed projects listed under 13 categories, with the majority falling under transport, clean energy, urban development, and resource management. Meanwhile, there are currently no approved or proposed projects in the public health category.

O'Neill singled out trade as another area where major progress is needed between the BRICS nations.

China and India, for instance, both have room for making more favorable policies to facilitate bilateral trade, O'Neill said.

"If China and India could actually trade properly with each other, just that alone could potentially transform the whole of Asian – and with them global – trade patterns."

Regarding the possible expansion of BRICS to involve other nations, O'Neill said he would first like to see a clearer articulation of the bloc's objectives.

"None of these things are particularly easy. What global or regional government organization works really well? A lot of people in Europe complain about the EU, but maybe when you look at all the others around the world, it works pretty well," O'Neill said. "If you are going to do it, particularly if you are going to introduce other countries, you have got to define precisely what it is you are trying to achieve."

He said that by defining a clearer goal to achieve together, the BRICS countries would be better understood by other countries and organizations.

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