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BRICS Long-Term Strategy

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Given the number of people living with HIV in the BRICS countries, it is 

essential that affordable treatment be made available. Overall, BRICS countries 

had an estimated 11 million people living with HIV and an average prevalence 

of 2.8 per cent in 2012-13, skewed by the very high prevalence of HIV in South 

Africa. In Brazil between 81 per cent and 93 per cent of those eligible to receive 

treatment (based on the 2010 WHO guidelines) were on ART, a figure similar 

to South Africa (81 per cent) but much higher than in India, where only 51 per 

cent were receiving treatment. In China by the end of 2013 the population who 

received HIV/AIDS treatment was 227 thousand. The rate of adult and child who 

met the conditions of treatment reached 86.9%. The Russian Federation did not 

report any numbers on ART (UNAIDS, 2013). As WHO lowers the eligibility 

criteria for ART, BRICS countries will fall far short of the targets. Globally, the goal 

is to reach 15 million HIV-positive people with access to lifesaving ART (ibid.). 

All five BRICS countries are considered high-burden countries for tuberculosis 

(TB) (Stop TB, 2014). According to the WHO, although TB is preventable and 

curable, it is a major killer, with 1.3 million people having died from TB in 2012. 

TB co-infection with HIV is a leading cause of death in HIV-positive people. 

However, there are encouraging signs that the TB death rate has declined by 

about 45 per cent since 1990 (WHO, 2014). Nevertheless, multidrug-resistant 

TB continues to be a problem in Asia and Africa. These regions will not meet the 

2015 MDG target of halting and reversing the incidence of TB and halving 

the number of deaths from TB from the 1990 baseline (WHO, 2013). 

A forum for cooperation by Ministers of Health was established in 2011. 

BRICS leaders also committed in the Sanya Declaration to work together on 

common health challenges (BRICS, 2011). BRICS is also committed to work 

at a national, regional and global level to ensure that universal health coverage is 

achieved (BRICS, 2013a).

In 2014 the BRICS Ministers of Health committed to cooperate and assist global 

health agencies to meet the health needs of the world’s population. They support 

“

Collaboration with and support of international organizations, including WHO 

and UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the 

GAVI alliance, to increase access to affordable, quality, efficacious and safe medicines, 

vaccines and other medical products that serve public health needs”

(Beijing, 2014).

2.4 Migration, urbanisation and infrastructure

There is a need to focus on extracting measurable benefits from the urbanisation process. 

Urbanisation can often form an important part of overall national development 

strategies and impart benefits, particularly in expediting industrialisation and 

increasing productivity and competitiveness. 

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Encouraging and sustaining effective urban/spatial planning and municipal 

governance are essential and have proved to be a challenge across the BRICS 

countries. Insufficient funding for infrastructure programmes such as housing and 

the provision of services such as sanitation and water may challenge sustainability. 

Prioritisation is, therefore, essential. Housing backlogs, which exist in all the BRICS 

countries, mean that there is still considerable work to be done (BRICS, 2013b). 

The inequality that exists between urban infrastructure and rural infrastructure is 

also a central challenge that exists in all member states. It is imperative to recognise 

the inter-dependencies between urban and rural areas. For example, urban areas 

in South Africa rely on rural areas for food and primary industries that make 

significant contributions to the urban and national economies (ibid.). Consequently, 

development in one should not happen at the expense of the other.

Current cooperation among the BRICS countries in the area of urbanisation  

and infrastructure development has been in the form of the annual BRICS  

Urbanisation Forum and the Friendship Cities and Local Government Cooperation 

Forum. These two events provide a platform for member countries to discuss the 

challenges faced by cities due to rapid urbanisation. The conferences aim to coor-

dinate efforts to learn from best practices and access available technologies to better 

manage and plan for the rapid rate of urbanisation. In the Ethekwini Declaration 

member states reaffirmed their commitment to the outcomes contained in The 

Future We Want adopted by the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable 

Development in Rio de Janeiro. (BRICS, 2013c).

On the basis of the 2

nd

 BRICS Urbanisation Forum, member states have 

committed to: 

•  share experiences, policy intentions and lessons from practice, and 

extend dialogue between national, provincial/regional governments 

and major cities; 

•  further the goals of building productive and sustainable urban economies; 
•  share experiences on approaches to local economic development, prioritising 

the provision of expanded social and economic urban infrastructure, 

developing integrated transportation networks, including transit-oriented 

development, mobility planning, and creating a high quality of life for 

urban citizens and an urban environment that attracts and retains skilled 

individuals as a draw for businesses looking to invest; 

•  exchange approaches to integrated spatial planning that address public 

safety and security, accessible housing, efficient public transportation 

and improved access to public services and socio-economic facilities; 

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•  explore ways of planning, financing and delivering urban infrastructure in 

an integrated, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable manner; 

•  build collaborative links between each level of government and the people 

of the BRICS countries, academia and business to assist in understanding 

urbanisation dynamics and shaping new urban forms, through engagement 

and liaison with the various BRICS structures, such as the BRICS 

Business Council and the BRICS Think-Tanks Council; and

•  develop mechanisms for peer-to-peer partnerships, comparative studies, 

evidence-based policymaking and networking among BRICS member 

states and their research institutions to promote more successful urban 

development policy and practice. 

2.5 Climate change, ecological degradation and food insecurity

The BRICS member states are heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Over 50 per cent of 

the total fuel sources in BRICS are based on fossil fuel energy (World Bank, 2015). 

The move to adopt cleaner energy sources must be encouraged. Clean energy 

fuel sources are based on fuels that use non-carbohydrate energy that does not 

produce or emit carbon dioxide. This includes hydropower and nuclear, 

geothermal and solar power, among others. As at 2008, Brazil had done the most to 

adopt cleaner energy, as approximately 15 per cent of its energy was derived from 

these sources. The worst performer of the group is South Africa, deriving only 2.7 

per cent of its fuel from such energy sources. The other nations performed only 

slightly better than South Africa, with India at 3 per cent, China at 3.8 per cent 

and Russia at 8.2 per cent.

BRICS members have formed sub-groups such as the BASIC group (Brazil, South 

Africa, India and China) to discuss positions on climate change in preparation for 

the Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting under the United Nations Framework 

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Although the Russian Federation is not 

part of this group, the group has expanded into BASIC-Plus with official representation 

from key organisations of developing countries, including the G77+China. The 19th 

BASIC ministerial meeting took place on 10 October 2014 in South Africa.

3 RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 General recommendations

•  Investment in social infrastructure, including in health, education 

and science, should be considered by the national development banks and 

other regional development banks. Governments should also collaborate 

to attract private investors into these sectors.

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•  BRICS should develop cross-sectoral platforms that allow for experience-

sharing and exchange of best practices in social policies. These platforms 
must also engage multiple stakeholders, including from the informal 
sector and civil society.

•  BRICS is acutely aware of the lack of comparable data across the member 

countries that could assist in evidence-based policymaking. To remedy this 
situation, it is suggested that a social policy research centre be established 
and tasked with generating and collating primary and secondary data 
that could assist governments, civil society and the research community. 
Such data would also be useful in mapping successes and failures of 
policy interventions across BRICS and would allow member countries 
to learn from each other. 

3.2 Social protection safety net programmes for all

To reduce poverty in all its forms, to ensure full and productive employment and 
decent work for all, and to reduce inequality among and within BRICS countries, 
it is recommended that:

•  BRICS member states create and support policy frameworks and 

gender-sensitive development strategies that are pro-poor, to ensure 
that marginalised groups, unemployed youth, child-headed households 
and women are protected adequately; 

•  member states share best practices around successful institutional responses 

to the needs and interests of people living in extreme poverty, such as 

Bolsa Familia

 in Brazil; 

•  BRICS members participate in international discussions and actions 

through UN institutions such as the International Labour Organization 
(ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 
to cooperate in the development of common standards and indicators 
to measure progress in achieving targets to address poverty, inequality 
and unemployment;

•  furthermore, BRICS must continue to cooperate on a ministerial level 

in the area of social protection, to standardise the target indicators across 
BRICS and achieve the SDGs by 2030; and

•  BRICS should conduct research to determine how the national development 

banks should target financing to strengthen social protection measures in 
BRICS and the respective regions of member states.

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3.3 Education

To ensure that education goals are attained, ensure inclusive, equal and 

equitable education, and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, it 

is recommended that: 

•  BRICS should continue to support the UN and its related institutions 

such as UNESCO and to participate in the finalisation of the formulation 

of the SDGs, which are still under discussion; 

•  BRICS must continue to cooperate on a ministerial level in the area of edu-

cation to discuss standardising the target indicators across BRICS countries;

•  furthermore, member states should develop relevant performance monitoring 

and evaluation systems to ensure that progress on education is documented;

•  BRICS member states should conduct research to determine how 

the national development banks should target financing to address 

educational and vocational needs in BRICS and the respective regions 

of member states; 

•  the BRICS nations should develop a centralised approach for the sharing 

and collection of data regarding areas of development cooperation in the 

field of education. BRICS nations should work together to improve the 

quality of data collected, and to ensure that it is comparable; 

•  member countries need to respond to the dual needs of providing basic 

education and capabilities and skilling its workforces for the modern 

economy and technical sectors;

•  In order to promote social justice and improve national competitiveness 

in the future, BRICS countries should place preschool education 

development in a more important strategic position. Governments of 

member states should continue to increase investment in preschool 

education to improve the level of its popularization and the quality of care 

and education so that all school-age children can enjoy good preschool 

education on a just base.

•  members may promote and encourage the establishment of BRICS 

university networks, which could include innovative scholarship models. 

It is suggested that research forums are established in universities and 

centres across the BRICS countries to allow for greater cooperation in 

the education and research sector; and 

•  there is also a greater need to enhance cultural exchanges and mutual 

knowledge of the contemporary and traditional practices across BRICS 

nations. Innovative programmes should be instituted to allow for the 

dissemination of art forms.