German Engagement in Global Health

Global health is a central topic during Germany’s G20 presi­dency. In this context, the Lancet Series “Germany and health” is launched at the Robert Koch Institute on July 4th . This special issue examines both the health system within Ger­many and Ger­many’s growing engage­ment with the wider world by em­bracing global health.

When there are health emergencies across the world, such as disease outbreaks, the Robert Koch Institute’s expertise is in ever greater demand. RKI staff are involved in various inter­national research projects and pro­grammes. They help, amongst other things, with the sur­veil­lance of pathogens, to fight disease out­breaks, pro­vide diag­nostics capacities in partner countries and to collect comparable health data in EU member states. Thus, the RKI helps to tackle urgent public health problems and improve people’s health. People in Germany also profit from this inter­national com­mit­ment, e.g. if disease outbreaks are stopped in time.