German Health Minister Hermann Gröhe has opened the seventh World Health Summit in Berlin with the effects of the refugee crisis on health services at the top of the agenda.
The refugee crisis, diseases like Ebola, the joint effort to combat antimicrobial resistance, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, big data, and the effects of climate change on health were central topics at the opening ceremony of the World Health Summit (WHS) in the plenary hall “Weltsaal” of the German Federal Foreign Office. Around 1,400 scientists, politicians, representatives of civil society and business will gather in the German capital during the three day conference to discuss global health issues.
Opening the summit on Sunday, Gröhe said that Germany was prepared to take responsibility in the current refugee crisis but that “every country must help.” The health minister also made reference to the German government’s plans to enlist the help of doctors among asylum seekers and to provide more help for traumatized people. He emphasized Germany’s leadership example in the current refugee crisis and in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. However, in order to achieve sustainable success, greater international coordination is needed – a role that only the World Health Organization (WHO) can fulfill: “WHO must be properly resourced and fundamentally reformed if it wants to re-establish its role as the guardian of global public health.” In particular the current refugee crisis proves the necessity of collaboration across all borders: “We see our presidency as both an opportunity and a responsibility to take an active part in shaping global health policy, together with our partners,” said Gröhe.
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Chan, said migration and poverty were among the greatest challenges currently facing global health care. The quick-spreading resistance to antibiotics was also a growing problem, she said. She stated that current challenges have gone far beyond the traditional scope of health care. Climate change, for example, has become a worldwide threat to health: “WHO’s recent estimate that air pollution kills around 7 million people each year has finally given health a place in debates about the consequences of climate change.” Next to that, chronic non-communicable diseases have overtaken infectious diseases as the world’s biggest killers. Cooperation from all sectors is needed to solve problems like these: “The World Health Summit is truly a unique forum for international leaders to come together, exchange ideas and best practices,” said Chan. The health consequences of climate change will also be addressed in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.
WHS Presidents Detlev Ganten and Shunichi Fukuhara, of Kyoto University, highlighted the importance of a joint effort by academia, policy makers, the private sector, and civil society worldwide to provide solutions for global health care. “Nobody can face this challenge alone. All sectors have to work together – which is the aim of the World Health Summit as well,” said Ganten. “The time for action is now,” added Fukuhara.
Other speakers of the evening included Victor Dzau, President of the US National Academy of Medicine, Birgit König, CEO of Allianz Private Krankenversicherungs-AG, and Axel Radlach Pries, Dean of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
Innovative ideas and novel approaches for healthcare will be presented by international health startups at the World Health Summit: 10 finalists will pitch their business concepts in front of an audience and jury on Monday, October 12, at 13:00 in the “Europasaal” of the Federal Foreign Office.
Ahead of the conference on Sunday President Detlev Ganten said that health services were not prepared for the challenges which have come with the refugee crisis. He added, however, that it had been “foreseeable” that refugees coming to Europe would not remain in Italy or Greece but would instead want to travel further to other countries want.
The German health minister also addressed the Ebola epidemic on Sunday, a subject which was at the center of last year’s conference. “The epidemic has dramatically shown that the world is not adequately prepared for health crises of this scale,” Gröhe said, adding that robust health services are the key prerequisite to cope with such outbreaks.
It was with this in mind that the G7 health ministers last week pledged more aid to the countries affected by the Ebola epidemic.
