???aural:Bildanfang???Keynote address by Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan at the World Health Summit in Berlin. © World Health Summit/Jens Jeske???aural:Bildende???

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Federal Research Minister Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan described the international medical congress "World Health Summit" held at the Charité in Berlin last November as an "important impulse for world health". Speaking on behalf of the Federal Government, she welcomed more than 1,000 doctors and physicians from about 70 countries. At the same time, Schavan took the opportunity to pass on the Federal Government's words of congratulation to the Charité on the occasion of its 300th anniversary.

The participants spent four days discussing the most pressing topics in the field of medicine and public health systems. The discussion addressed how health research can contribute to improving medical care and health services worldwide. "I was more than pleased to be able to take on the patronage for this day, because individualised medicine is a matter that I am particularly interested in," Schavan stated. "Its goal is to ensure that each and every patient receives the therapy that is most effective for them.

Taking individualised medicine as an example, it is possible to demonstrate how results from the field of molecular basic research and applied health care research can lead to successful treatments. To ensure that the research findings are made available to patients as quickly as possible, the transfer between research and application must be as efficient as possible. The German Federal Government is creating a good infrastructure to achieve this goal, for example by establishing German health research centres, in particular the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Health research is one of the future fields of Germany’s high-tech strategy which was launched in 2006.

More information: http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/