G20 Academies Statement on Improving Global Health

On 22 March 2017 the national academies of the G20 nations handed over their statement "Improving Global Health: Strategies and Tools to combat Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases" to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel at the German National Academy of Sciences Leopldina in Halle, Germany.

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. Under the leadership of the Leopoldina, the national science academies of the G20 states have drawn up recommendations on improving global health. Since more than ten years, the science academies also contribute to the G7/G8 Summits.