Health Policy and Planning
Volume 29 Issue 6 September 2014
http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/current

Global health in foreign policy—and foreign policy in health? Evidence from the BRICS
Nicola F Watt1,*, Eduardo J Gomez2 and Martin McKee1
1European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17, Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, UK and 2King’s International Development Institute, King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK
Accepted July 19, 2013.
Abstract
Amidst the growing literature on global health, much has been written recently about the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) countries and their involvement and potential impact in global health, particularly in relation to development assistance. Rather less has been said about countries’ motivations for involvement in global health negotiations, and there is a notable absence of evidence when their motivations are speculated on. This article uses an existing framework linking engagement in global health to foreign policy to explore differing levels of engagement by BRICS countries in the global health arena, with a particular focus on access to medicines. It concludes that countries’ differing and complex motivations reinforce the need for realistic, pragmatic approaches to global health debates and their analysis. It also underlines that these analyses should be informed by analysis from other areas of foreign policy.