The spread of infectious diseases is on the one hand due to changes in human behaviour such as increased trade and travel, globalized food distribution and inappropriate use of antibiotics. On the other hand, mutations, gene transfer and recombination are responsible for pathogen variability. Continuing progress in the treatment of many infections is also threatened by the increasing number and expanded distribution of antibiotic resistant pathogens. In 2013, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina together with the Academy of Science in Hamburg published the report “Antibiotics research: problems and perspectives”. It declares that the policy makers in the field of science, politics, society and industry need to cooperate and act on a national and international level. Special emphasis should be placed on research and development. And in 2015, the G7 science academies prepared statements on resistance to antibiotics and neglected tropical diseases to advise heads of the state and government at their annual summit. In conclusion, the fight against infectious diseases stands as an example for the globalization of science and that policy and science need to establish new models of collaboration and interaction.

Prof. Dr. Jörg Hacker is president of the Leopoldina. Leopoldina and INSA have cooperated closely over many years, e.g. by jointly organizing scientific conferences in India and Germany. Prof. Hacker’s talk is both part of the Leopoldina-INSA lecture series, in which high-ranking members of both academies present their work to the general public in order to promote the visibility of Indian and German science, and of the “Science Circle Lecture”, jointly organized by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to India and the German House for Research and Innovation in New Delhi.