Tianjin to host 7th BRICS Health Ministers Meeting

The 7th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Health Ministers Meeting will be held in Tianjin, China, on July 6 and 7, focusing on international cooperation on the development of traditional medicine, China's National Health and Family Planning Commission announced on Wednesday.

About 300 delegates, including health ministers of BRICS nations and some other countries, international organizations, including the World Health Organization, representatives from Tianjin's sister cities abroad, health experts and company executives, will participate in the meeting, Zhang Yang, director general of the commission's Department of International Cooperation, said at a news conference.

Seminars on the development and application of traditional medicine, and traditional medicine exhibitions and interactive activities on the use of traditional Chinese medicine will be held during the meeting, she said.

This will be the second time China hosts such a meeting. The first BRICS Health Ministers Meeting was held in Beijing in 2011. The five countries have chosen some priority areas for cooperation in the past six meeting, including intensifying health monitoring, research in tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria, and development and research into drugs, according to Zhang.

Exchanges and cooperation among BRICS nations in traditional medicine can promote familiarity and friendship between peoples of the countries and contribute to improved health of all the peoples, Zhu Haidong, deputy director general of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Department of International Cooperation, said.

All the five countries have their own traditional medicine and China has conducted exchanges and cooperation in the area with all the other nations, he said.

Traditional Chinese medicine is in use in 183 countries and regions, and acupuncture has been recognized by 103 members of the World Health Organization, Zhu said. Every year about 13,000 students from overseas come to China to study TCM, and about 200,000 overseas patients receive TCM services in China, he said.

Last year, China exported TCM products with a total value of more than $3.4 billion, according to the administration.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn