Brazil–China relations in health: historical context, industrial challenges, and future opportunities

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Abstract

This article analyzes the evolving health cooperation between Brazil and China as a strategic frontier in South-South collaboration. At a time of global health insecurity and technological inequality, the partnership between these two continental powers offers a transformative alternative to traditional donor-recipient models. The analysis traces a shift from commodity-based trade to a potential alliance in co-innovation, encompassing vaccines, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and digital health. Brazil’s deep dependency on imported medical inputs and its fragmented industrial base stand in contrast to China’s stateled model of technological scaling and global health outreach. Yet, this asymmetry also reveals opportunities: Brazil’s universal health system, research institutions, and regional leadership can be aligned with China’s production capacity, digital infrastructure, and development finance to build shared technological sovereignty. The paper examines how Brazil’s renewed industrial policy under Lula’s administration opens new pathways for joint research and development, regional pharmaceutical production, and equitable technology transfer. It also confronts persistent challenges – technological imbalances, intellectual property constraints, institutional volatility, and geopolitical pressures aimed at curtailing South-South alignment. A successful partnership, the article argues, must be grounded in transparent governance, mutual benefit, and a commitment to health as a public good. It concludes with a proposal for a decentralized health innovation ecosystem in Brazil, inspired by China’s special economic zones, to overcome the historical concentration of technological power and promote equitable development across the North, Northeast, and Center-West. In doing so, the Brazil–China relationship can become a model for a more just, resilient, and multipolar global health order.

About the authors

W. P. dos Santos

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center of Biosciences, Federal University of Pernambuco

Email: wellington.santos@ufpe.br
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2558-6602
Av. da Arquitetura, SN, Cidade Universitária, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, 50740-550

E. M. de Carvalho

Getúlio Vargas Foundation

Email: wellington.santos@ufpe.br
ORCID iD: 0009-0000-2262-0575
Botafogo Beach, 190, 7th floor, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 22250-145

L. V. Sobrinho

Faculty of Medicine of Bahia, Federal University of Bahia

Email: wellington.santos@ufpe.br
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9725-8862
Av. Ondina, SN, Vale do Canela, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 40110-100

L. M. Paschoalotte

State University of Campinas

Email: wellington.santos@ufpe.br
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0071-4850
Barão Geraldo, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, 13083-970

R. J. Bittencourt

Medical School, Ceilândia Campus

Email: wellington.santos@ufpe.br
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6482-5840
QNN 31, Catholic Ceilândia, Brasília, Brazil, 71966-700

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