The right to public health is universal and its availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality needs to be protected. This is one of the reasons why organisations from all over the world come together annually at the Humanitarian Networking and Partnership week(s) in Geneva. Professor Dr Johanna Hanefeld, Chair of the WHO Emergency Medical Team (‘EMT) Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) and acting Vice President of the Robert Koch Institute, Katrin Reichau, National Focal Point NFP for Germany’s Emergency Medical Team and team lead of the supporting RKI unit, and Silva Lauffer, representative of the German chapter of UNOCHA’s United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination UNDAC team and Head of the Preparedness and Operations Support Unit at RKI hit the ground running in Geneva last week to support RKI’s and Germany’s partners in their decision-making, celebrations and strategic planning.

2025 is also the 10 Year Anniversary of the EMT classification system, which set minimum standards for medical organisations to abide by when deploying to support others. Ensuring quality standards for effective responses was therefore also the topic of a joint EMT and INSARAG (International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) meeting.

The German Ministry of Health as well as the German Federal Foreign Office have worked hand-in-hand with RKI and our staff to help protect this universal right to public health – everywhere.