The BRICS Health JournalThe BRICS Health JournalThe BRICS Health Journal3034-47003034-471938839510.47093/3034-4700.2025.2.3.27-40ArticlesСтатьиReview ArticleBrazil–China relations in health: historical context, industrial challenges, and future opportunitiesBrazil–China relations in health: historical context, industrial challenges, and future opportunitieshttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2558-6602dos SantosW. P.wellington.santos@ufpe.brhttps://orcid.org/0009-0000-2262-0575de CarvalhoE. M.wellington.santos@ufpe.brhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9725-8862SobrinhoL. V.wellington.santos@ufpe.brhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0071-4850PaschoalotteL. M.wellington.santos@ufpe.brhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6482-5840BittencourtR. J.wellington.santos@ufpe.brDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Center of Biosciences, Federal University of PernambucoGetúlio Vargas FoundationFaculty of Medicine of Bahia, Federal University of BahiaState University of CampinasMedical School, Ceilândia Campus1912202523NO3 (2025)№3 (2025)274002032026Copyright ©; 2025, dos Santos W.P., de Carvalho E.M., Sobrinho L.V., Paschoalotte L.M., Bittencourt R.J.Copyright ©; 2025, dos Santos W.P., de Carvalho E.M., Sobrinho L.V., Paschoalotte L.M., Bittencourt R.J.2025dos Santos W.P., de Carvalho E.M., Sobrinho L.V., Paschoalotte L.M., Bittencourt R.J.dos Santos W.P., de Carvalho E.M., Sobrinho L.V., Paschoalotte L.M., Bittencourt R.J.https://journals.rcsi.science/3034-4700/article/view/388395

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.

Brazil–China relationsglobal health diplomacySouth-South cooperationtechnological sovereigntyeconomy of healthProf. Wellington Pinheiro dos Santos was funded by Conselho Nacionalde Desenvolvimento Científicoe Tecnológico – CNPq. The authors are grateful to the Brazilian research agency Conselho Nacionalde Desenvolvimento Científicoe Tecnológico – CNPq for partial support of this work.Профессор Веллингтон Пинейро дос Сантос был профинансирован Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq. Авторы благодарят бразильское исследовательское агентство Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq за частичную поддержку работы.Augusto PDVB, Macedo FGC, Sousa CET, Barbosa FM, Sanson MZ, Guanabarino MA, Borges FT. A atenção primária em saúde brasileira é para pobres? In: Borges FT, ed. O longo amanhecer do Sistema Único de Saúde: Reflexões para o SUS reexistir. [Is primary healthcare in Brazil for the poor? In: Borges FT, ed. 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