"The G-20’s joint responsibility for global health"

On May 19 and 20, Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe will meet his colleagues in Berlin to discuss how the global health crisis management can be improved. By simulating a fictitious crisis to get insights in the response and coordination mechanisms, the participants will see how we could be even better prepared for a real emergency. This will include the testing of communication and reporting channels, a rapid response in the regions in question and the involvement of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and others.

And in order to prevent future crises, under the German G20 presidency a sustainable improvement of healthcare in developing and emerging countries is also going to be a priority. One lesson having been learnt from the Ebola crisis was that healthcare in the affected regions has to be made better, that the system has to be better prepared for future epidemics. This primarily means that health authorities have to be established that are able to report an outbreak much faster and also track infected people’s contacts. We need the capacity to assess a crisis properly and warn others.

Another priority is the fight against resistance to antibiotics. When antibiotics no longer work, the fabric of our healthcare system crumbles. And with its antibiotic resistance strategy, Germany is a pioneer in this fight. Under the German G20 presidency, its efforts – in hospital hygiene, a considered use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine or when developing new active substances – are to be continued at an international scale as well.