There are at least four reasons why the subject of health policy in Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa—so-called BRICS—is important. First, since BRICS represent 40% of the world's population, global health status is strongly affected by population health in these nations. Second, although their rate of economic growth has slowed in recent years, the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of BRICS still accounts for one quarter of world GDP (almost the size of US GDP). Third, BRICS play an increasingly important role in funding cooperative health projects in developing countries (Fan et al. 2014). Finally, BRICS have proclaimed a commitment to achieve what the World Health Report 2010 calls universal health coverage (UHC).
Eduardo Gómez has produced five valuable case studies on the evolution and significant determinants of health policy in BRICS with special attention to HIV/AIDS as well as several other conditions. In Russia...
