"Yoga is recognised all over the world": Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava

Addressing reporters, Srivastava said the event was organised in line with the BRICS health agenda, which focuses on promoting healthy lifestyles as well as traditional, complementary and integrative medicine.

"As you know, in our BRICS Health Ministers Meeting, 21 countries are participating. So, their representatives have participated in today's session. And this participation is also important because in our BRICS agenda, there is a track on healthy lifestyles and also a track on traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine. So, moving forward with these two agendas, we have organized this yoga session," she said.

The Union Health Secretary highlighted that yoga has gained worldwide recognition following India's efforts to establish the International Day of Yoga through the United Nations (UN).

"And you already know that due to India's efforts, the UN has declared International Yoga Day. And now yoga is recognized all over the world. The fact that everyone participated today also shows that everyone has a great inclination towards yoga. This can definitely play a major role in preventing our emerging non-communicable diseases and lifestyle diseases," Srivastava added.

Earlier a press conference was held was held in Chandigarh on Tuesday, where Punya, and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, briefed the media on the preparations, agenda and expected outcomes of the Sixteenth BRICS Health Ministers' Meeting.

Addressing the media, the Union Health Secretary highlighted that the meeting reflects India's commitment, under its BRICS Chairship 2026, to advancing collective action on key global health priorities through the guiding theme of "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability."

Srivastava emphasised that discussions during the Ministerial Meeting will focus on strengthening cooperation in areas such as health security, pandemic preparedness, digital health, innovation, access to affordable medicines, traditional, complementary and integrative medicine, tuberculosis, healthy lifestyles, mental wellness and resilient health systems, while furthering the shared objective of achieving Universal Health Coverage and improving health outcomes across BRICS countries.

This marks India's fourth BRICS Chairship, following its earlier tenures in 2012, 2016 and 2021. Guided by the Chairship theme, "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability," India has placed health cooperation among the key pillars of its BRICS agenda, reflecting its commitment to advancing a people-centric and inclusive global health architecture.

The meeting will bring together Health Ministers, senior government officials and technical experts from the eleven BRICS member countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. Together, these countries represent nearly half of the world's population and around 40 per cent of the global GDP, underscoring BRICS' growing role in shaping global health cooperation. (ANI)