Overview
The BRICS Summit 2026 introduced the BRICS Mission for Healthy Lifestyle and a three‑year roadmap (2026‑2029) to promote healthy living across member nations. The initiative arrives as the bloc faces a rapid nutrition transition, where under‑nutrition, anaemia and micronutrient gaps coexist with rising obesity, diabetes and other NCDs.
Key Developments
- Launch of the BRICS Mission for Healthy Lifestyle to integrate diet, physical activity and behavioural change.
- Adoption of the BRICS Roadmap for the Joint Initiative on Healthy Lifestyle Promotion (2026‑2029).
- Publication of a Compendium of Replicable Best Practices for member countries.
- India’s emphasis on extending nutrition focus from the 1,000 days to the next 7,000 days (childhood and adolescence).
Important Facts
BRICS nations are at different stages of the nutrition transition. Ethiopia still battles food insecurity, while India and Indonesia face a double burden of maternal‑child undernutrition and rising obesity. China and Brazil have largely curbed traditional undernutrition but now confront diet‑related chronic diseases. The Gulf region reports high obesity and diabetes rates.
Economic growth and urbanisation are driving dietary shifts: more processed foods, increased meals outside the home, and aggressive food marketing to children. Simultaneously, micronutrient deficiencies and anaemia persist.
India’s current nutrition agenda, shaped by the former FSSAI chief Pawan Agarwal, has traditionally targeted hunger, maternal‑child nutrition and the first 1,000 days.