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Health Initiative Recommendations

The B20 Health Initiative has published its final policy paper. The paper is the outcome of five months of intense discussions and hard work among 92 taskforce members from over 24 countries and diverse economic sectors. Under the leadership of Chair Kemal Malik, Member of the Board of Management at Bayer AG, and Chair Stefan Oschmann, Chairman of the Executive Board & CEO of Merck, the Health Initiative developed five highly relevant recommendations to the G20.

  1. Driving Innovation in Healthcare: The G20 members should adopt policies that ensure that the benefits delivered by research and development for more effective diagnostics and therapies are adequately recognized. They should also adopt policies that improve access to healthcare by establishing a pro-innovation ecosystem that prioritizes self-care and empowerment of individuals.

  2. Combating Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): The G20 members should combat antimicrobial resistance, including multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), by incentivizing R&D of new medicines, advancing preventive measures, and promoting responsible use of antibiotics, as well as supporting capacity building in low- and middle-income countries.

  3. Fighting Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs): The G20 members should fight NTDs by increasing funding for public health interventions, strengthening cooperation with governments of endemic countries and capacity building, as well as agreeing on more financial support for R&D.

  4. Improving Pandemic Preparedness and Response: The G20 members should support ongoing efforts to improve pandemic preparedness and response, including efforts to foster public-private partnerships in a variety of sectors.

  5. Advancing Digital Health: The G20 members should endorse the use of Big Data in health by promoting translational data flows as well as protecting individual data. They should also accelerate the provision of a high performance digital health infrastructure by setting clear targets and deploying broadband and mobile connectivity.

The B20 Health Initiative presented its recommendations to the German Health Minister Hermann Gröhe at the B20 Health Conference May 18, in Berlin.

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