‘BRICS without straw’? A systematic literature review of newly emerging economies’ influence in global health

Abstract

BackgroundSince 2010, five newly emerging economies collectively known as ‘BRICS’ (Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa) have caught the imagination, and scholarly attention, of political scientists, economists and development specialists. The prospect of a unified geopolitical bloc, consciously seeking to re-frame international (and global) health development with a new set of ideas and values, has also, if belatedly, begun to attract the attention of the global health community. But what influence, if any, do the BRICS wield in global health, and, if they do wield influence, how has that influence been conceptualized and recorded in the literature?MethodsWe conducted a systematic literature review in (March-December 2012) of documents retrieved from the databases EMBASE, PubMed/Medline, Global Health, and Google Scholar, and the websites of relevant international organisations, research institutions and philanthropic organisations. The results were synthesised using a framework of influence developed for the review from the political science literature.ResultsOur initial search of databases and websites yielded 887 documents. Exclusion criteria narrowed the number of documents to 71 journal articles and 23 reports. Two researchers using an agreed set of inclusion criteria independently screened the 94 documents, leaving just 7 documents. We found just one document that provided sustained analysis of the BRICS’ collective influence; the overwhelming tendency was to describe individual BRICS countries influence. Although influence was predominantly framed by BRICS countries’ material capability, there were examples of institutional and ideational influence - particularly from Brazil. Individual BRICS countries were primarily ‘opportunity seekers’ and region mobilisers but with potential to become ‘issue leaders’ and region organisers.ConclusionThough small in number, the written output on BRICS influence in global health has increased significantly since a similar review conducted in 2010 found just one study. Whilst it may still be ‘early days’ for newly-emerging economies influence in global health to have matured, we argue that there is scope to further develop the concept of influence in global health, but also to better understand the ontology of groups of countries such as BRICS. The BRICS have made a number of important commitments towards reforming global health, but if they are to be more than a memorable acronym they need to start putting those collective commitments into action. Keywords BRICS, global health, influence, newly emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa.

Socioeconomic inequalities and mortality trends in BRICS, 1990–2010

“…Two concepts -"health as a human right" and "health in all policies" -permeate much of BRICS' engagement in global health. 10, 11 It seems possible that BRICS could leverage their unique resources and expertise in support of the global elimination of health inequities. We were therefore interested in assessing the economic and health inequalities that existed between and within these countries and following the temporal trends in such inequalities since 1990.…”

BRICS health and tuberculosis control collaborations during an era of global health

“…First, BRICS collaborations can be partial, temporally limited, multifaceted, and flexible. While at times BRICS works as a coherent unit with a singular voice, each of the BRICS countries individually engages in bi-, tri-, and multilateral or plurilateral efforts to improve health (Harmer et al 2013;Buss, Ferreira, and Hoirisch 2014). The temporal instability of these collaborations and the lack of uniformity of positions provides an ambiguity that can, and has, been read as evidence that these are not true 'collaborations'.…”

The key role of the leading emerging BRIC markets in the future of global health care

“…Cutting edge medical technologies were previously reserved almost exclusively for wealthy societies and the rather small 'elite' segments of low-and middle-income communities across the globe. Based on all of the developments discussed above, multiple additional waves of consumer demand for medical services are likely to occur throughout BRIC countries in the future (28).…”