RKI is Germany’s coordinating institution for the new EU Joint Action “Global Health Impact”

The EU adopted its new Global Health Strategy “Better Health for All in a Changing World” in November 2022. On 13 and 14 October 2023, the kick-off meeting for the subsequent “European Joint Action to maximise the impact of the EU Global Health Strategy” (EU JA GHI) took place in Berlin. More than 50 delegates from 19 EU Member States, Norway and Ukraine, from different EU institutions and from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) took part.

Participants of the kick-off meeting in October 2023 in the conference centre of the German Federal Ministry of Health. Photo: RKI

The EU Joint Action started on 1 October 2023 and will run for 24 months. It aims at strengthening the EU leadership role in Global Health (GH). In particular, the EU Joint Action will 1) dynamically map key measures, programmes and funding to better identify, coordinate and monitor ongoing global health actions of the EU, 2) facilitate information sharing between EU institutions and all EU member states in global health fora, 3) strengthen external communication so that European contributions to global health are better known and understood, and 4) create spaces for strategic discussion on important topics to support the EU positioning in global health.

Conversations during the two-day conference on the European joint action “Global Health Impact”. Photo: RKI

Overall coordination of the EU Joint Action lies with the French Ministry of Health. The RKI has been designated as the implementing institution for this EU Joint Action for Germany. RKI’s Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG) will coordinate the input from German experts across different ministries, including the Federal Foreign Office, and the Federal Ministries of Health, Education and Research, and Economic Cooperation and Development. The RKI is leading two of the eight work packages, one on evaluation and monitoring and one on strategic input.

At the kick-off meeting, global health experts from across the EU got to know each other and further aligned their understanding of the specific aims and tasks under the EU Joint Action. In breakout groups they discussed, firstly, key actors, documents, processes and events in global health, and secondly, the detailed work plans, responsibilities and concrete next steps for the different work packages. Colleagues from Africa CDC joined the group for a discussion on health priorities for the African continent and Africa CDC’s priority activities. The meeting closed with a visit to the RKI.

Colleagues from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) joined the group for a discussion on health priorities for the African continent. Photo: RKI

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