T20 concludes its work with Fiocruz’s participation in health discussions

The T20 Summit – a G20 engagement group formed by think tanks, research centers, and high-level experts from participating and invited countries – met on November 11-12, 2024, in Rio de Janeiro to conclude the work carried out throughout the year, with more than 300 policy briefs produced and disseminated, presenting proposals to leaders at the Rio 2024 Summit, which took place on November 19-20.

Fiocruz submitted between 15 and 20 policy briefs to the T20 and was the primary driver of discussions related to health, particularly in two of the six task forces where the texts were grouped: Task Force 1 (Fighting inequality, poverty, and hunger), in Subtopic 1.4 (Promoting universal health coverage, digital health, and innovation to combat health inequalities); and Task Force 6 (strengthening multilateralism and global governance), in Subtopic 6.3 (Global health issues and the One Health approach), through the Antonio Ivo de Carvalho Strategic Studies Center (CEE/Fiocruz) and the Fiocruz Global Health Center (CRIS/Fiocruz). The coordinator of CEE/Fiocruz, Marco Nascimento, and the deputy coordinator of CRIS/Fiocruz, leading the G20 research group, Pedro Burger, served as leaders (co-chairs) in these subtopics, integrating the National Council of the T20, and participated in the Summit of the engagement group.

Marco Nascimento, coordinator of CEE/Fiocruz, and Pedro Burger, deputy-coordinator of CRIS/Fiocruz, members of the National Council of the T20, participate in the G20 think tank group's Summit 

The policy briefs, alongside discussions held in dozens of parallel events and the T20 Brazil Inception Conference held in March, guided the creation of the T20 Brazil Communiqué – Let’s rethink the world, released in July 2024, which brings together ten recommendations from the T20 to the G20 – to be incorporated into the joint declaration produced by heads of state and government. Health is addressed in the recommendations, especially in Recommendation 9 (see below).

“We welcome the recommendations and the roadmap for a coalition focused on innovation and local and regional production in health,” said Marco Nascimento at the T20 Summit. “However, we must warn that unless health becomes a global priority, we will not avoid the terrible new asymmetries in access to healthcare between the Global North and South, something that the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, called a catastrophic moral failure during the COVID-19 pandemic,” emphasized the coordinator of CEE/Fiocruz.

As Marco pointed out, global coordination needs to be “greatly improved” and health systems better prepared. “Diseases don’t recognize borders, but access to health does,” he observed, advocating for health as a guiding principle for policies that protect life and also promote development and innovation.

Marco highlighted the ongoing demographic and epidemiological transformations and the looming threat of other pandemics, defending health as a priority. “Non-communicable diseases do not only impact wealthy countries, and communicable diseases do not only impact poor countries,” he reminded.

The importance of health was also emphasized by Pedro Burger and Marco Nascimento at the T20 Summit in discussions with representatives from South Africa, which will assume the presidency of the G20 starting December 1st, and with authorities such as ambassador Antonio Patriota and former Chilean president Michele Bachelet, who were also participants. “We discussed the need to give greater relevance to the health sector, possibly with a specific task force in the next T20, and not just in subtopics,” said Pedro.

Think tanks and task forces

The policy briefs received by the T20 were grouped into six task forces: 1. Combat inequality, poverty, and hunger; 2. Sustainable climate action and just and inclusive energy transitions; 3. Reform of the international financial architecture; 4. Trade and investment for sustainable and inclusive growth; 5. Inclusive digital transformation; and 6. strengthening multilateralism and global governance.

Each task force was divided into subtopics, totaling 36, defined based on suggestions received from over 100 think tanks and research centers, as well as priorities outlined by the Brazilian G20 presidency – combating hunger, poverty, and inequality; energy transition and sustainable development in its three dimensions (economic, social, and environmental); and reform of the international governance system.

T20 Brazil Communiqué

In order to offer a strategic vision for the world, where challenges are increasingly interconnected, the document T20 Brazil Communiqué – Let’s rethink the world gathers ten recommendations aimed at promoting joint action for sustainable development and balanced economic growth, considering issues such as climate change, food security, digital transformation, and reducing inequalities. Health is addressed in the recommendations, particularly in Recommendation 9.

1. Global alliance against hunger and poverty – The G20 should ensure political support and commitment to the Global alliance against hunger and poverty, which will be launched at the end of Brazil’s G20 presidency. This alliance should mobilize financing, facilitate access to existing funds, and share knowledge and technology transfer to support countries.

2. Progressive fiscal policy and reorientation of fossil fuel subsidies to promote climate justice – G20 supports for creating a global minimum tax on high-income individuals and highly polluting corporations, and mechanisms to combat tax evasion. These resources and those obtained from reorienting fossil fuel subsidies should be used to strengthen redistributive policies, universal social protection systems, decent job creation, and climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives.

3. Affordable financing for climate, sustainable development, and just energy transitions – The G20 should support the reform of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) proposed by the Brazilian presidency and optimize access for low-income countries to Multilateral Climate Funds.

4. Technology and financing for energy transition plans – The G20 should provide institutional and financial support for each country to develop and implement transition plans for climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource use, and universal access to clean, affordable energy.

5. IMF Reform – G20 countries should support reforming debt restructuring rules and IMF lending policies to expand fiscal space for inclusive and sustainable development investments.

6. Data20, a platform for cooperation on data governance – Data20 should be a multilateral platform for policy-making that leverages benefits, promotes accountability, and reduces harms associated with data production and use. Issues such as information integrity, climate justice, health, the future of work, non-discriminatory AI systems, Digital Public Infrastructure, regulatory parity, and data justice are priorities.

7. Cooperation and inclusion in the use of Artificial Intelligence – The G20 should develop standards and leverage resources to promote participatory governance and co-design of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPIs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), fostering accountability and an inclusive, impartial, and self-determined approach to digital data development. It is necessary to prioritize inclusive digitalization of public services and use AI to improve resource efficiency in energy, transportation, health, etc., to achieve the SDGs and address the North-South digital divide.

8. World Trade Organization reform – The G20 should work to increase the WTO’s capacity to safeguard an open, fair, equitable, and sustainable trading system. It should address the proliferation of neo-protectionist and burdensome barriers, developing common standards for digital transformation and the sustainability of global supply chains. This process should include renewing the WTO mandate, revitalizing the dispute resolution system, and supporting multilateral negotiations.

9. Access to health – The G20 should prioritize universal health coverage and health system organization, expanding accessible services for vulnerable populations, communities, and regions, as well as increasing financing, technology transfer, and digital inclusion. The G20 should also support the creation of a global vaccination fund.

10. Turning G20 commitments into actions on gender, racial, and ethnic equality – The G20 should request support from the United Nations (UN) for designing and implementing policies to address gender, race, and ethnicity inequalities and discrimination. To do so, it is essential to carry out long-overdue reforms in the governance structure of multilateral organizations and international financial institutions.

G20

Created in 2010, the G20 brings together the 19 largest economies in the world, plus the European Union and, starting in 2024, the African Union. The group annually discusses cooperation initiatives in economic-financial areas and development. It is considered one of the main forums for international economic cooperation. G20 governance occurs through a troika, composed of the country holding the rotating presidency, the country that held the previous presidency, and the country that will assume the presidency next. Currently, the troika consists solely of developing countries – India, Brazil, and South Africa, respectively – prompting the T20 Brazil to emphasize issues relevant to the Global South, with a focus on sustainable development challenges.

Read more: Fiocruz participates in bilateral meetings of the Ministry of Health with G20 leaders