[Cooperation in health from the bioethical perspective]

This study considers the scenario of international relations in the transition to the twenty-first century as a backdrop for reflection on the bioethical perspective of international cooperation in health. It presents an exploratory analysis of the interdisciplinary scientific production in bioethics and public health in the international context, revealing that the focus and confluence of both issues has scant coverage in terms of diplomatic relations. It describes the methodology used to select publications cataloged in this interdisciplinary area from two bibliographic sources available on the web (93 articles in BVS/BIREME and 161 in PubMed), pointing to difficulties in locating this literature. The potential of the epistemological approach that flourished in Latin America under the guise of the Bioethics of Intervention in addressing the challenges that confront the international cooperation system, identified as the benchmark for analysis of South-South cooperation in health, is recommended. It concludes by proposing systematization and broadening of knowledge at the intersection of bioethics, public health and diplomacy, whose projection in the political and institutional field can contribute to reducing inequalities in health conditions among nations.