Support to the German Global Health Policy

Project description

Title: Support to the MOH in German Global Health Policy
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG)
Country: Germany
Overall term: 2017 to 2021

Context

In recent years, the topic of global health has become increasingly relevant both, nationally and internationally. An important reason for this is globalisation and the increasingly connected world. Viruses and bacteria can spread rapidly worldwide, as a result of travel. However, not just infectious diseases are spreading around the world: globalisation is also contributing to the adaptation of lifestyles and thus to converging consumer habits worldwide. This in turn promotes the spread of non-communicable chronic diseases such as diabetes or cancer. Therefore, global and cross-border cooperation in the field of global health is becoming increasingly important.

For several years, Germany has been very actively involved in overcoming these mutual challenges. Through the German government's strong political commitment, the G7 and G20 presidencies and Germany's role in managing the Ebola epidemic, Germany has become one of the most important and visible players in global health policy over the past ten years. In order to be able to react to new health policy challenges and geopolitical changes, Germany's commitment to global health policy needs to be further increased and strengthened in the future.

Objective

Germany is making a visible contribution to global health and is driving the issue forward at national and international levels. The cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder exchange, as well as cooperation on a national and international level in this field has also been improved. This is an important step towards achieving the objectives of Agenda 2030.

Approach

To continue positioning Germany as a pioneer in the field of global health, the GIZ project supports the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) in four areas: 

  • the establishment of an International Advisory Board (IAB) on global health policy;
  • the development of a new strategy of the German government on global health ;
  • strengthening Germany's position in international global health processes and bodies;
  • the establishment of a Global Health Hub Germany (GHHG). 

In addition to the dialogue about the recommendations with the federal ministries, the IAB discussed the recommendations with the Subcommittee on Global Health of the German Bundestag. Afterwards, the results were presented to the public at a special event.

The GIZ was also commissioned to advise the BMG on the development of a strategy on global health. A comprehensive consultation process was carried out where non-state actors had the opportunity to present their priorities in position papers to guide and inform the strategy development process. For Germany's positioning in national and international boards and processes on global health, GIZ supports the BMG with technical and strategic advisory services as well as analyses and concepts.

The Global Health Hub Germany (GHHG) was established as a networking and information platform in Germany for national and international actors in the field of global health in order to close the existing gap of an interdisciplinary forum for dealing with specific topics in global health and support the development of multi-stakeholder initiatives and intersectoral partnerships. As a platform, the Hub aims in particular to bring together different stakeholders in the fields of science, economy, civil society, politics, and in the sectors of health, environment, climate, food, agriculture, education, and research. The Hub promotes cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder exchanges and contributes to an improved coordination between these actors. In addition, it supports the initiation of new and innovative cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder partnerships and enables the creation of new alliances and projects. GIZ provides the secretariat for the GHHG and is responsible for the technical and conceptual planning as well as the implementation of its activities. In this context, several events with high-ranking guests, such as the Global Health Talk in June 2019, have already been conducted.

Additional information