The recent COVID-19 pandemic served as a stark reminder of the profound and far-reaching consequences that emerging diseases can impose on healthcare systems, economies, and social fabric. The COVID-19 pandemic further elevated the importance of scientific collaboration, innovation, and transdisciplinary approaches to mitigate the effects of infectious diseases. The conference brief “Global Health Approach for Infectious Diseases – A Proposal for the Next Decade” elucidates a blueprint for a global health approach. The conference brief strongly advocates for the advancement of global health research, exemplified by greater societal collaboration in data collection and sharing, as well as equitable access to vaccines.

The authors of the conference brief emphasise the importance of cooperation to achieve the common goal of building a resilient and sustainable future for global health. The urgent need for collaborative efforts and evidence-based policies to address the challenges of current and future infectious disease threats, is highlighted.

The publication is the result of an African-German workshop convened in May 2023. The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the Académie Nationale des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal (ANSTS), and the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS) jointly hosted the workshop on "Infectious Diseases beyond COVID-19" at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, Germany.