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News | Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Improving Global Health: Statement for the G20 Summit handed over to Angela Merkel

Improving Global Health: Statement for the G20 Summit handed over to Angela Merkel

Handover of the Statement. Image: Markus Scholz for the Leopoldina

At today’s dialogue forum at the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina in Halle (Saale), Germany, the science academies of the G20 states handed over recommendations to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. The document is published in preparation of the G20 Summit consultations in July under the leadership of the Leopoldina and contains strategies and tools to improve global health. For the first time, the G20 science academies contribute to the Summit preparations with jointly developed recommendations.

The recommendations include strategies and tools to combat diseases and to strengthen global health. A particular emphasis lies on the correlation between communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases, for example virus-related cancer. The science academies demand to provide reliable and resilient health systems and to better apply existing knowledge for prevention. Social, environmental and economic factors that affect health should be in the focus. The scientists recommend stronger efforts to ensure access to vaccination and medical devices, to reduce antimicrobial resistance and in the global surveillance of diseases.

The Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Group of Twenty (G20) will be held on 7 and 8 July 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. For the first time, the science community is involved within the newly established “Science20” dialogue forum.

Impressions from the Dialogue Forum

Further Information

Science20 Statement

Speech of Chancellor Angela Merkel (German)

G7 and G20 Policy Advice