As Dr Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine in the US, noted, chronic disease may cost China, India and Russia $200 billion to $500 billion (138 billion euros to 345 billion euros) in national income from 2005 to 2015. In India alone, chronic disease pushes 40 million people below the poverty line each year.

The United Nations General Assembly will hold a meeting on noncommunicable diseases in September. But there is little evidence to suggest that there is a paradigm shift in disease prevention and control. According to a senior American government official, Washington has no plan to shift from the existing Millennium Development Goals, which include a commitment to reducing infectious diseases. And the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation seems to have little interest in shifting its funding priorities from infectious to noncommunicable diseases. So far, no heads of state from BRICS have made commitments to attending the UN meeting.

BRICS must place a strong emphasis on tobacco control and shared risk factors like salt reduction. But these countries are further hamstrung by a health crisis on two fronts: the sharp rise in noncommunicable diseases and the tremendous challenges of infectious disease.

India and China lead the world in the incidence of tuberculosis. In handling the threat of infectious diseases, they tend to rely on disease-specific programs financed by international donors. This has distracted governments from strengthening overall health systems, which is essential to reversing the chronic disease epidemic.

Systemwide public health interventions are indeed costly, but the price of inaction is even more staggering.

Ensuring access for all to affordable, quality health services is an indispensable and cost-effective approach for BRICS to move the chronic disease agenda forward.

While the growing economies in these countries can provide sufficient funding to give everyone access to healthcare, improved coverage would stimulate domestic demand by freeing more money that would otherwise be spent on footing expensive medical bills.

Brazil and Russia have made significant strides in achieving universal healthcare, and China has pumped in massive funding to ensure universal access to primary medical care by 2020.

The South African government recently announced its proposal for a universal healthcare system to start next April, while a movement is under way to push India to follow suit.

Now is the time for BRICS to elevate universal health coverage in the fight against noncommunicable diseases. BRICS should tap into the power of their robust biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and form a partnership on the development and production of affordable drugs that can truly benefit people in the developing world.

Yanzhong Huang is a senior fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations and associate professor at the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, New Jersey. The opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.