G20 scientists identify hygiene as key issue for global health

Posted by Charlotte Salter, on March 24, 2017.

A meeting of the leaders of science academies from the G20 nations has identified hygiene and clean water as being among the most important issues facing global health.

The prominent scientists, including President of the Royal Society Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, were meeting at at the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina in Halle, Germany, and made their recommendations to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

They included the need to promote “health literacy and knowledge about risk factors and adequate hygiene”, as well as the importance of of ensuring “clean air and water (including wastewater treatment and waste management)”. 

The document was published in preparation of the G20 Summit in July, and it contains strategies and tools to improve global health. This is the first time the G20 science academies have contributed to the summit preparations with jointly developed recommendations.

The recommendations include strategies and tools to combat diseases and to strengthen global health. A particular emphasis lies on the correlation between communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases, for example virus-related cancer.

The G20 summit will be held 7-8 July in Hamburg.

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