WS 11 - Research Cooperations for Improving Global Health

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a common framework for a better future for people and the planet. A key Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) focuses on global health and well-being. Achieving the ambitious goals is inconceivable without global partnerships - especially in research, which is crucial for exploring innovations, evaluating interventions and providing evidence for quality and meaningfulness of activities. Research partnerships between institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe are essential for sharing knowledge, building capacity and focusing on the major burdens of infectious diseases and threats to global health. The German Leibniz Association is a research network of nearly 100 research institutes with a diverse portfolio and numerous long-standing research collaborations with institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. Against this background, the partners are determined to work together strategically and in the long term to develop a common vision for relations in science in a globalised world. The experience of long-standing institutional collaborations between Leibniz institutes and partners from sub-Saharan Africa serves as a basis for a discussion on best practices, strengths, weaknesses, barriers and risks - and enables the development of a vision and exploration of the way forward.