Development and Background

The importance of global health for security and development in the world is beyond question. Improving health worldwide is a precondition, indicator and outcome of sustainable development, as well as a requisite for stability and prosperity of a society. Ensuring a healthy life for all people regardless of age and promoting their well-being, as formulated in SDG No. 3 of the 2030 Agenda, is a joint task that requires global efforts and the coordination of national measures. In recent years, Germany has increasingly fostered its international commitment in the field of global health and is working at the multilateral level to reform the global health architecture.

Global health is highly interconnected with other policy areas and sectors. To constructively accompany and shape global health policy, it is therefore instrumental to bring together various actors: from politics, science, civil society and the private sector, as well as from health organizations. For this reason, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung established a working group in May 2019, consisting of experts from the aforementioned sectors who are dealing with health-related topics. The members of the working group meet 3-4 times a year to discuss current issues and challenges in the realm of global health. The inaugural meeting was held on May 2, 2019.

Themes and Objective

The aim of the working group is to further manifest the dialogue on current global health issues and to provide a platform for knowledge sharing and opinion exchanges from a Christian-democratic perspective. Furthermore, by connecting relevant actors in the area of global health, a contribution towards elevating this political field is going to be made, which is still relatively new in the German political landscape. For this reason, the working group regularly invites relevant experts from ministries, international health organizations, politics, academia, the private sector and private foundations to its meetings. The discussed topics in the working group meetings are included in publications and events of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

At their meetings, the members of the working group discussed, among others, the following topics:

• The nexus between health and democracy
• The outcomes of the 73rd World Health Assembly, May 18-19, 2020.
• Global health in Germany’s development cooperation
• The German government's new strategy on global health
• Philanthropy in global health
• Current status of WHO reform and an analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic

Members

The approximately 20 members of the working group come from politics, the private sector, academia and civil society and deal with global health issues in their respective areas of responsibility. The patron of the working group is the deputy chairman of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Hermann Gröhe, MP. If you have any questions, please contact the Programme Officer.