In order to promote networking within the global health research community and to make the findings of global health research better known, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiated the German Alliance for Global Health Research, which was launched on February 1, 2020. The Alliance will regularly organize events for scientific exchange, promote interdisciplinary research, and support early-career researchers in global health. The Alliance will be managed by an interdisciplinary steering committee and coordinated by an office at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Membership in the German Alliance for Global Health Research is open to scientists from publicly funded research institutions in Germany with expertise in global health issues. Registration is possible online via the website of the Alliance. Researchers from all disciplines, such as biomedical research, public health, social sciences and humanities, as well as engineering and other sciences, are invited to join.

Antibiotic resistance, mental illness, diabetes and, last but not least, virus pandemics such as the current corona virus SARS-CoV-2 – worldwide challenges in the health sector can be most effectively addressed through cooperative research approaches. The German Alliance for Global Health Research represents such an approach. It bundles the extensive specialist knowledge in Germany from a wide range of research areas in order to jointly solve urgent questions of global health.

“In Germany, excellent scientists are conducting research on very different aspects of global health issues. In order to solve the problems of the future, we need to build bridges between the disciplines,” explains Professor Christian Drosten, Director of the Institute of Virology of Charité, who was involved in preparing the proposal. “In addition to medical expertise, it is also important to understand why people make certain health decisions, such as the use of vaccinations, or how the various actors in the health system cooperate. Only in this way can we master the complex challenges in global health.”

The BMBF is funding the Research Platform for Global Health from 2020 to 2025 with more than three million euros. In addition, the Ministry provides funds for innovative and interdisciplinary pilot or cross-sectional projects of the members and their partners.

Contact:

German Alliance for Global Health Research
Secretariat c/o Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin
Dr. Jörg Heldmann, Nora Anton
Email: secretariat@globalhealth.de