BRICS declaration welcomes proposed traditional-medicine expert group

The New Delhi Declaration adopted at the 18th BRICS Summit welcomed the proposed establishment of a BRICS Expert Working Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM), to be set up under the BRICS Health Track as a platform for dialogue, collaboration and evidence-based scientific cooperation among BRICS member states. The Declaration frames the group as a structured mechanism for advancing research and evidence generation in traditional medicine, and separately calls for greater cooperation on research into medicinal plants and herbal preparations used for therapeutic and preventive purposes. BRICS leaders linked the initiative to the growing relevance of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine in strengthening health systems and advancing progress toward universal health coverage (UHC), describing it as bringing together traditional knowledge, scientific research, medicinal-plant resources, pharmacopoeial expertise and regulatory experience from across the bloc.