Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe attends the 68th World Health Assembly in Geneva

20 May 2015. Together with Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Federal Minister of Health, Hermann Gröhe, met with WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, for talks on 18th May 2015. In addition, the program included meetings with the Health Ministers of the USA, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

20. May 2015
Meeting with the Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan
Meeting with the Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan (Source: BPA)
Meeting with the Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan
Meeting with the Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan (Source: BPA)

Moreover, on 18th May, the Federal Minister of Health, Hermann Gröhe, held a welcoming statement within the framework of a side event on childhood cancer. The event underlined the important health policy goal of intensifying the fight against cancer in childhood and thereby reducing the avoidable deaths that result.

On 19th May, the Federal Minister of Health, Hermann Gröhe, participated in a panel discussion on the topic "the global fight against antibiotic resistance". Health ministers from 11 countries, including Norway, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Thailand, were also present at the panel dis-cussion. The question under debate was how international co-operation could be improved even more, so as to hinder the spread of antibiotic resistance across borders.

Already today, 700,000 people die worldwide, every year, as a result of antibiotic resistance. If antibiotics were no longer to work, one of the supporting pillars of our health care system would collapse. The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Johanna Wanka and the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, agree with me that what we need is the joint effort on the part of the medical, animal husbandry and research communities. Thanks to the German Antibiotic Resistance Strategy, we are making progress in this field and are simultaneously putting the topic on the international agenda. At the World Health Assembly in Geneva, we will be adopting a Global Action Plan. Furthermore, we are supporting partner countries in implementing the appropriate use of antibiotics.

Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe

This year's World Health Assembly also dealt with topics that Germany has specified as priorities for the field of health within the framework of its G7 Presidency. These include: learning the lessons from the Ebola epidemic in west Africa, combating antibiotic resistance and neglected tropical diseases.

World Health Assembly (WHA)

As the highest decision-making body of WHO, the World Health Assembly convenes regularly with the participation of all Member States. Every year, the key priorities are adopted by the Assembly in the form of resolutions. This year, the WHA is to be held from 18th to 20th May 2015. A total of more than 3,000 delegates from the 194 WHO Member States, as well as numerous non-governmental actors, are expected to attend.

After the experiences with the Ebola outbreak, one of the priorities of this year's WHA will be how WHO can be better organised to effectively prevent and respond to health emergencies of all types, that is, outbreaks of epidemics and other emergencies that have a health impact. Other important topics will be, among other things, the adoption of a Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, improvements in the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR), air pollution as well as the adoption of a long-term malaria strategy.

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