Latest news with #healthcareequity
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bio Usawa Biotechnology and ServareGMP Form Strategic Partnership to Advance Accessible Biotherapeutic Manufacturing in Africa
Strategic alliance brings advanced first-of-its-kind biotherapeutic production, workforce training, and rapid response capabilities to low- and middle-income countries to address healthcare equity gaps KIGALI, Rwanda and SAN FRANCISCO and SAN DIEGO, July 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bio Usawa Biotechnology Ltd. (Bio Usawa) and ServareGMP (Servare) today announced a strategic partnership to establish advanced monoclonal antibody manufacturing capabilities in Africa, directly addressing the critical healthcare access gap affecting patients in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This transformative collaboration spans four core pillars: Local Biomanufacturing Infrastructure: Building and operating advanced GMP manufacturing facilities in Africa for the production of high-quality monoclonal antibodies. Workforce Development & Training: Implementing industry-leading training programs to cultivate a skilled biopharma workforce across the continent. Process Innovation: Deploying next-generation process optimization and cost-reduction technologies to make antibody therapies more affordable. Emergency Response Capability: Establishing rapid development and deployment protocols for mAbs to respond to pandemics and regional health crises. Leveraging Industry-Leading Expertise for Healthcare Transformation The partnership combines Bio Usawa's deep understanding of African healthcare markets with Servare's extensive biopharmaceutical development expertise. Together, the organizations bring decades of proven experience across biotherapeutic development, clinical testing, current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP), regulatory approvals, and global commercialization of breakthrough biomedicines, including many of the leading blockbuster therapies on the market today. This collaboration is grounded in a shared commitment to addressing the growing therapeutic access disparity in LMICs. The partnership's strategic focus aligns with recent initiatives by both organizations: Servare's collaboration with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop countermeasures against the Nipah virus, and Bio Usawa's partnership with Bioeq AG for BioUcenta, a biosimilar of Lucentis® targeting retinopathies in Sub-Saharan Africa. 'ServareGMP was founded on the belief that world-class biomanufacturing should be globally distributed,' said Gary Pierce, Executive Director of ServareGMP. "Through this collaboration, we are not only addressing immediate healthcare needs but also building sustainable infrastructure that will benefit future generations of African patients. Together, we will impact African healthcare by empowering communities and saving lives.' 'This initiative is about more than medicine—it's about building self-reliance, equity, and resilience,' said Richard Chin, M.D., Bio Usawa's co-founder and Chair of the Board of Directors. 'We are proud to co-create a future in which life-saving therapies are widely available at an affordable price for patients in Africa and in other LMICs. We are building the foundation for a more just and resilient global healthcare system.' A Model for Global Health Equity The partnership extends beyond cost reduction to fundamentally restructure how biotherapeutics are developed, produced, and delivered in LMICs. By investing in local talent, infrastructure, and innovation, the partnership seeks to ensure that patients in Africa can access the same life-saving therapies as those in high-income countries—both during crises and for ongoing care. About Biotherapeutic Access in LMICs Monoclonal antibodies are a cornerstone of modern medicine. However, cost and access barriers prevent their widespread use in many LMICs. This partnership will change that by enabling local production and distribution—cutting costs, reducing reliance on imports, and improving response times in health emergencies. About Bio Usawa Biotechnology Bio Usawa is a leading African biotechnology company dedicated to expanding access to affordable, high-quality biosimilars across the continent. Through strategic industry partnerships and deep regional expertise, Bio Usawa is pioneering a future where life-saving biomedicines are developed, manufactured, and distributed by Africans, for Africans—and beyond. For more information, visit About ServareGMP ServareGMP is a specialized non-profit biotechnology organization founded by industry veterans with extensive experience across the biopharmaceutical value chain. The organization's leadership team brings proven expertise spanning discovery, development, manufacturing, regulatory approval, and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. For more information, visit Media Contacts:For Bio Usawa: Daniel LevineLevine Media Group+1 510-280-5405danny@ For ServareGMP:Enrique Cowenecowen@
Harvard Business Review
03-07-2025
- Health
- Harvard Business Review
A New Framework for Reducing Healthcare Disparities
Despite decades of efforts to address healthcare inequities in the United States through programs and policies targeting social determinants of health, disparities persist across racial, gender, socioeconomic, and geographic lines. Systematic reviews of hospital systems' initiatives and programs to address social determinants of health (SDOH) have revealed unsatisfactory progress. Some attribute the slow progress to insufficient standardization and sharing of learnings across communities, or the underinvestment in SDOH data and measurement. We posit that the core problem may be an overreliance on importing solutions from other communities and healthcare settings without adequately accounting for the specific needs and realities of local patient populations. Health inequities are rooted in the unique social, structural, and cultural fabric of each community, and context-blind interventions risk wasting resources, eroding trust, and perpetuating the very inequities they aim to fix. To help healthcare organizations tailor their approaches to the needs and contexts of individual communities, we created our Strategic Fingerprint Framework for Health Equity, which we describe in this article. We developed it by studying the innovative, ground-level decisions made by the Health Equity Accelerator at Boston Medical Center in its approach to advancing health equity. The accelerator has already achieved promising results, including eliminating racial disparities in the decision-to-incision time to perform urgent cesarean sections and narrowing gaps in diabetes-related outcomes. Given that all fingerprints are unique, we use the term 'fingerprint' in the name of our framework to emphasize the need to tailor health equity initiatives to the target population's unique characteristics and the healthcare institution's capabilities. That said, a hyper-local approach does not preclude learning from or replicating solutions developed elsewhere. Instead, it calls for leaders to deliberately decide which solutions to adopt, adapt, or create anew to ensure the best fit for their specific context. Underlying Principles Four foundational principles comprise the philosophical underpinning of the framework and articulate the core values and assumptions guiding each strategic decision: Hyper-Locality Solutions to health inequities must address specific neighborhood or community contexts. Generic interventions often fail to resonate with local needs and structural barriers. For example, providing nutritional guidance for specific health conditions needs to take into account the ethnic makeup of the local population. A guideline for patients with diabetes to avoid rice may be difficult to follow in a predominantly Hispanic community, where rice is a core ingredient in the culinary tradition. Community Co-Creation Traditional top-down approaches often perpetuate paternalism in healthcare systems. Our framework emphasizes involving community members in the design and implementation of solutions. Meaningful co-creation ensures solutions reflect lived experiences and foster trust. Condition Specificity Moving beyond a broad focus on social determinants of health, this principle emphasizes condition-specific health-related social needs (HRSNs). For instance, food scarcity and limited transportation options challenge patients with diabetes in different ways than those with asthma. In contrast to traditional approaches aiming to reduce food scarcity or bolster transportation options in the community, our framework proposes that healthcare organizations center on the condition and explore ways to address the unique challenges that SDOHs present for patients with that condition (i.e., HRSN-focused interventions). Internal Consistency Choices made within the framework must align with one another. A lack of coherence can lead to fragmented efforts and diminished impact. Each decision should build on prior ones to create a logical and reinforcing path. Strategic choices also need to account for specific constraints affecting the autonomy of the organization, such as regulatory requirements and limitations, economic constraints (e.g., funding and payment models), and availability of appropriate skills and resources. Essential Pillars Two pillars support the framework and represent the implementation methodology in our approach. They focus on how to make each choice in the framework effective and impactful: Data-Driven Decision-Making Robust analytics should drive every decision. Leveraging detailed data on patients' health needs, social determinants of health, and patient-reported outcomes, will ensure that the initiatives have a targeted and measurable impact. Metrics are vital for tracking progress and refining strategies. Prioritization Strategy guru Michael Porter wrote: 'The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.' Prioritization prevents overextension and focuses resources on a manageable number of high-impact initiatives. Prioritization also applies when examining the set of choices for each strategic decision outlined in our framework. Other viable initiatives and choice-set options may be deferred rather than dismissed. Strategic Choices Healthcare organizations must make deliberate choices in six key areas. The Health Equity Accelerator at Boston Medical Center (BMC) is an example of an innovative approach to health equity consistent with our framework. We briefly describe its choices in each area. Medical Conditions Identify priority health conditions by analyzing data on inequities and prevalence within the community. For example, if cardiovascular disease has a high prevalence and shows the largest disparity in outcomes by race or socioeconomic status in the community served by the healthcare organization, it should be a candidate for intervention. Based on an extensive data analysis, the accelerator team at BMC decided to focus on pregnancy and perinatal conditions (e.g., pre-eclampsia); diabetes, including the integration of behavioral health in primary care for patients with diabetes; Covid-19; and prostate cancer. These were conditions for which there were significant health disparities across racial groups in the community the hospital serves. Approach Depending on organizational expertise and resources, interventions may take an operational/clinical approach (e.g., redesigning care-delivery models) or an academic approach (e.g., conducting clinical research and publishing findings). Implications of these choices include several tradeoffs, such as prioritizing speed over comprehensiveness, a narrow over a broader focus, or short-term over long-term benefits for the patients. For example, in its Equity in Pregnancy and Equity in Diabetes initiatives, BMC chose to adopt an operational/clinical approach to reduce inequities by redesigning the care-delivery model. 'Had the data driven us to focus on inequities associated with gender identity and gender dysphoria,' said one executive, 'we might have chosen an academic route, as we have some of the leading research scholars on these issues among our staff.' Intervention Design Design targeted interventions tailored to the chosen condition and approach. Each intervention requires: Metrics to Track Progress For example, BMC decided to measure the decision-to-incision time for pre-eclampsia patients. In its Equity in Diabetes initiative, it measured HbA1c and time in range for glucose control, as well as patient-reported outcomes (PROs) including PHQ2/PHQ9 and, in some cases, PAID-5 to measure diabetes-related stress. Deciding Where to Standardize and Personalize Standardization can be necessary to reduce systemic or unconscious bias. Personalization is necessary to address individual needs. The challenge is choosing a point on the continuum between the two that achieves the best of both worlds. One BMC executive stated: 'We standardize the parts where we are more likely to observe bias, which is oftentimes subconscious and cannot be completely rooted out with training and education. Where it makes sense to personalize, we allow for flexibility in the implementation of the solution.' A key choice in BMC's Equity in Pregnancy initiative was to standardize the decision-to-incision time expectations for urgent, unplanned C-sections. In contrast, in its Equity in Diabetes initiative, BMC chose to develop patient education and nutritional guidance materials accounting for the variation in cultural preferences within its patient population and the availability of food items at local food stores. Relation with the Rest of the Organization Determine if the initiative will function as a stand-alone project or be integrated into the hospital's standard care model. Integration ensures sustainability and scalability, but stand-alone projects may allow for faster implementation. BMC leaned toward the integration approach. It decided that each initiative would be housed in the relevant clinical department or services line. Referring to the Equity in Pregnancy initiative, one hospital executive said, 'The accelerator does not deliver babies; OBGYN delivers them. The work is done where the work is done.' Departments and service lines involved in each initiative receive resources from the accelerator in the form of project management, data analytics, and administrative support. Financial Sustainability The economic viability of each initiative needs to be clear from the design phase. The financial strategy for the initiative includes the choice of individual funding sources or combinations thereof along the initiative's lifespan. Examples include: Soliciting grants or donations. Leveraging existing billing codes and payment models. Reinvesting savings from cost-reduction initiatives. Flexibility is key as funding mechanisms may vary by intervention, by community, and over time. BMC leveraged combinations of funding sources in each initiative. It predominantly relied on donations and grants to fund the pilot stage of each initiative, but when applying to have their envisioned initiative accepted by the accelerator, the people pitching it had to submit a financial plan for sustaining it beyond the pilot stage. Additional Choices Our framework allows for the inclusion of other strategic decisions specific to the hospital or community context. While BMC made choices along the areas we've described, another organization may need or want to add other areas and key decision points to tailor its approaches to the hyper-local features and needs of the community it serves. Early Results at BMC's Health Equity Accelerator Early results from the BMC Health Equity Accelerator demonstrate the potential of our framework to drive measurable and equitable improvements in care. In the Equity in Pregnancy Initiative, the team significantly reduced decision-to-incision times for urgent, unplanned C-sections (from 88 to 50 minutes overall) with even more substantial reductions for Black patients (from 98 to 50 minutes) and Hispanic patients (from 84 to 49 minutes), effectively eliminating the disparity with white patients. Similarly, the Equity in Diabetes Initiative showed promising early outcomes, with the percentage of diabetic patients with HbA1C levels greater than nine dropping from 13.7% to 11.8%. Notably, the racial disparity in poor glycemic control between Black and Hispanic patients and white patients was cut in half, highlighting the framework's ability to reduce inequities while improving overall outcomes. Potential Implementation Challenges and Failure Modes While our framework provides a structured approach, it is not free from implementation challenges. Some of them include the following: Inadequate data quality and completeness may reduce the value of the information used to identify disparities, select prioritized conditions, and measure success. Community engagement requires a persistent and consistent commitment and interaction over time. It does not happen overnight. Healthcare resources are limited and may not be available in the future, especially for community healthcare and safety-net institutions, which are reimbursed at lower price levels and rely on donations to a large extent. The benefits of immediate actions may not manifest themselves until far in the future (e.g., savings emerging from having fewer patients with prostate cancer may materialize many years after the hospital investment in equitable prevention and screening processes). This delay may compress the ROI of the investment, potentially discouraging valuable initiatives from being funded. Scalability may challenge the personalization of the solutions. . . . In the quest for health equity, prioritization is not a compromise; it is a necessity. The scarcity of resources and the organizational benefits of focused operations demand that organizations lead their efforts strategically and direct their limited funds, staff, and operational capacity to the areas of greatest need and impact. Our framework can help them choose priorities, build momentum, achieve meaningful results, and create a pathway to broader equity over time. In healthcare, context is not just a detail; it is the foundation on which equitable solutions are built. If we embrace this truth, we stand a far better chance of achieving the health equity that has long been elusive.
Fox News
02-07-2025
- Health
- Fox News
MAGA law group fights to expose how Biden's DEI agenda may have tainted life-saving organ transplants
A conservative legal group is trying to uncover whether the former Biden administration's focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives seeped into the nation's organ transplant system and led to prioritizing patients based on race. MAGA law group America First Legal is suing a number of federal health agencies to obtain documents related to the nation's organ transplant system. Specifically, they're targeting the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Health Resources Services Administration, in an attempt to compel them to turn over documents related to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). In April 2023, AFL filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking documents relevant to the Biden administration's efforts to infuse DEI into the organ transplant system. However, to date, AFL says it has not received any of the requested information and, as a result, decided to sue in an effort to compel the release of it. "The Biden Administration infected the federal government with 'equity,' replacing traditional principles of fairness and need with race-conscious criteria," said America First Legal Counsel Will Scolinos. "AFL is determined to uncover the complete scope of Biden-era DEI policies and will continue to take decisive action to restore colorblind healthcare." Just days after taking office in 2021, former President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 13985, directing all federal agencies to conduct "Equity Assessments" to determine whether "underserved communities and their members" faced systemic barriers to accessing federal programs. The order also required each agency to develop an action plan to address those barriers. As part of this effort, in December 2021, CMS issued a request to the public for comments on how the agency could "Advance Equity and Reduce Disparities in Organ Transplantation." "CMS is focused on identifying potential system-wide improvements that would increase organ donations, improve transplants, enhance the quality of care in dialysis facilities, increase access to dialysis services, and advance equity in organ donation and transplantation," the agency said at the time. "Communities of color have much higher rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, all of which increase the risk for kidney disease. Black Americans are almost four times more likely, and Latinos are 1.3 times more likely, to have kidney failure compared to White Americans. Despite the higher risk, data shows that Black and Latino patients on dialysis are less likely to be placed on the transplant waitlist and have a lower likelihood of transplantation. Because of these stark inequities, CMS' [Request For Information] asks the public for specific ideas on advancing equity within the organ transplantation system." Meanwhile, several weeks later, the HRSA announced that the "labeling of race and ethnicity information for organ donors" would "change on a number of data reports available on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) website." According to the HRSA, the move made the data "clearer, more consistent and easier for users to interpret," and did not impact the manner in which data is collected. OPTN collects and manages data pertaining to the patient waiting list, organ donation, matching and transplantation in the U.S. HRSA also announced a "modernization initiative" for OPTN around the same time, which included plans to strengthen "equity, and performance in the organ donation and transplantation system." In its lawsuit, AFL chronicled a series of delays, non-responses and incomplete communications following its April 2023 FOIA request. AFL is hoping to obtain a judge's order requiring the release of the records it is seeking, as well as an index of any withheld material and explanations for why it could not be provided. "The last administration's pervasive directives requiring consideration of immutable characteristics like race, color, and ethnicity — to make healthcare more 'equitable' — should concern all Americans," Scolinos said Tuesday. "AFL is determined to uncover the complete scope of Biden-era DEI policies and will continue to take decisive action to restore colorblind healthcare." HHS declined to comment on AFL's lawsuit.
Medscape
25-06-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Shifting the Narrative in Women's Health
Petra Simic, PhD AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands — When it comes to women's health, many people still think of 'breasts, uteruses, and hormones,' Petra Simic, PhD, a medical director at Bupa Health Clinics, said at HLTH Europe 2025 conference. But as clinicians, investors, and advocates made clear at the gathering, it is vastly more than that. The tide is slowly changing, fueled by data, technology, and a growing chorus of women's voices. Yet from diagnostics and research to clinical training and policy, systemic gaps remain. Acknowledging and actively closing these gaps is not just a matter of equality, it's a step toward better health outcomes for everyone, Anna Coates, PhD, a senior gender technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO), told Medscape Medical News . Here Are Some Numbers The statistics around women's health remain shockingly grim, and their repetition might be a necessary reminder of the scale of the problem. Here are some numbers reported at the conference: Although women live longer than men, they spend 25% of their lives in greater illness and disability than men, which equates to an average of 9 years of poor health. Women are seven times more likely to be discriminated against by a healthcare provider. A woman is three times more likely than a man to be dismissed during a doctor's consultation. For the same disease, it can take a woman four times longer to receive a diagnosis. It takes an average of 6-10 years to diagnose a condition like endometriosis. A woman having a heart attack is seven times more likely to be dismissed and misdiagnosed in the emergency room and twice as likely to die as a result. While women constitute 70% of patients with chronic pain, 80% of pain medication research is conducted on men or male animals. Geography and income drastically alter outcomes. A woman diagnosed with breast cancer in a high-income country like Denmark has a 85%-90% 5-year survival rate. In India, that drops to around 60%, and in Nigeria, it is < 50%. In the US, a woman is now twice as likely to die in childbirth as her own mother was. Only 4% of venture capital investment in healthcare is directed toward women's health. Kristen Cerf Kristen Cerf, president and CEO at Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan (PHP), pointed out that 'these statistics — every single one of them — worsen when talking about women of color.' These issues result in 75 million years of life lost due to poor health or early death annually. Closing the women's health gap could inject $1 trillion into the global economy by 2040. A Societal Problem Reflected in Healthcare These disparities are not solely a healthcare problem. Coates said that healthcare systems reflect broader society. 'If women are not generally valued, then we're going to see that replicated in the health system.' This isn't an external problem for medicine to point to, but rather one that it is an integral part of, she said. 'It's a societal problem, and you are part of that big society problem. So if the health system doesn't change, it's not playing its own role in that bigger societal change.' Moz Siddiqui 'It is a system's failure because mostly men have created that system," said Moz Siddiqui, a senior gender technical lead at the WHO Foundation. This systemic failure requires systemic stimuli to change. 'Systems don't change unless there are external stimuli,' said Cerf. But while moral arguments persist, many panelists agreed that financial and economic arguments are often more potent drivers. 'If the clinical and the patient perspective doesn't move governments, certainly the economics should move governments,' argued Tisha Boatman, who is responsible for external affairs and healthcare access at Siemens Healthineers. When the cost of misdiagnosis, lost productivity, and delayed treatment is quantified, the imperative to invest in women's health becomes undeniable, she said. Sleep: The Overlooked Pillar of Women's Health Tisha Boatman 'Sleep is really a core pillar of health, and it's just as important as nutrition, exercise, and stress resilience,' said Jennifer Kanady, PhD, director of sleep health technology at Samsung Electronics. Yet it is often the first thing to be sacrificed and the last to be addressed in clinical settings. Poor sleep is linked to increased risks for diabetes, heart disease, and dementia, and its patterns change significantly across a woman's life, influenced by menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause. Insomnia, for example, might increase during pregnancy or the menopausal transition, but the causes and treatments might differ significantly depending on which of those phases a woman is in. This is where the diagnostic challenge becomes critical. A woman in perimenopause may visit her doctor complaining of fatigue and poor sleep. 'It might be diagnosed as insomnia, and the pattern is completely different,' said Ines Ramos Barreiras, EMEA regional medical advisor at Bayer. The root cause isn't a primary sleep disorder but a hormonal shift, meaning that a standard prescription for insomnia won't target the problem at its source. 'It's not only a problem of sleep, but how sleep is impacted,' she said. 'In menopause, women can go to sleep, but sleep is not as restoring as it needs to be.' Not a Smaller Man's Heart Cardiovascular disease is another space where a knowledge and awareness gap persists, both in the public domain and among healthcare practitioners. The public may not know the risks — Simic noted that a woman aged 45-65 years is 17 times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than breast cancer — but the more critical gap is often with clinicians. 'We should stop treating the women's heart as a variation of the male heart,' said Michiel Winter, MD, a cardiologist at the Amsterdam University Medical Center who specializes in digital health. 'There's a very distinct difference. Risk factors like hypertension are much more harmful in women than in men, and it also means that they get different heart diseases, and that means different diagnostics and different therapy.' Even as technology advances, these old biases are being coded into new systems. 'Most algorithms are made for more male-specific cardiovascular disease,' Winter noted. For example, because the ST elevation in a female myocardial infarction is often less pronounced, 'the AI [artificial intelligence] algorithm picks up male STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction) much more easily than it does for female.' Similarly, algorithms for interpreting ultrasounds are often better at identifying systolic heart failure (more common in men) than diastolic heart failure (more common in women). The Inevitable Transition Jocalyn Clark For too long, the narrative around menopause has been one of cessation and decline — a silent, private struggle marking the end of a woman's reproductive value. However, panelists at the HLTH Europe 2025 conference made clear that the story is being rewritten forcefully. What was once a taboo topic is now a 'menopause boom,' a global conversation fueled by a new generation of women demanding better information, care, and visibility, said Jocalyn Clark, the international editor at the British Medical Journal . 'When I came out of medical school, women disappeared from view of the health service at the age of 50 because they were postreproductive,' said Dame Lesley Regan, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Imperial College London, London, England, and England's first Women's Health Ambassador. This perspective is dangerously outdated. With increasing lifespans, many women will now spend more of their lives postmenopausal than reproductive, she said. Dame Lesley Regan, MD The health risks that accelerate after menopause, such as cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, are often overlooked in clinical consultations, often because healthcare professionals lack comprehensive menopause training, Regan said. In the UK, for example, general practitioners are no longer required to complete mandatory training in obstetrics and gynecology. Regan proposed that every healthcare professional — from orthopedic surgeons to cardiologists — should ask their female patients a simple question: 'Do you still have periods?' This, she argued, is a simple but important step to identifying women in the menopausal transition and ensuring their holistic health is considered. A New Narrative Bayo Curry-Winchell, MD The challenges are systemic, rooted in societal norms, and reflected in every corner of the healthcare industry. However, the collaboration between innovators, the commitment from advocates, and the increasing demand from patients are creating momentum, said Bayo Curry-Winchell, MD, a general practitioner in Reno, Nevada, and content creator. The solution lies in changing the narrative, she said. It requires normalizing conversations about menstruation, menopause, and every aspect of women's health. It means designing systems, products, and policies with women at the center. Most importantly, it involves listening to women from diverse backgrounds. As Ramos Barreiras said, there is a cultural expectation for women to be quiet. 'We don't complain. We were taught to be strong and to endure. And this is the shift we are seeking: to empower women to be vocal about what we want and the quality of life we deserve.' Simic is a medical director at Bupa Health Clinics; Cerf is the president and CEO at Blue Shield of California PHP; Boatman is responsible for external affairs and healthcare access at Siemens Healthineers; Kanady is the director of sleep health technology at Samsung Electronics; Ramos Barreiras is a EMEA Regional Medical Advisor at Bayer.
Zawya
19-06-2025
- Health
- Zawya
DISD students speak at H20 Global Health Summit in Geneva
Dubai – A group of six students from the German International School Dubai (DISD) were honored today at the prestigious H20 Summit at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. Launched in 2018 by the G20 Health and Development Partnership, the H20 Summit is a global platform supporting the agendas of the G20 and G7, bringing together leaders and stakeholders to advance health and development priorities. DISD students were invited on stage this morning to present gifts to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. In a deeply moving moment the students Lara Gutmann and Luca Erkol then delivered speeches that captured the urgency and passion of a new generation calling for global health equity. 'Listening to the voices of the future generation is vital to achieve health for all,' said Lara, reflecting on the DISD-hosted G20 youth simulation. 'We all deserve to live in good health, no matter the economic status of the country we call home.' Luca reinforced this message with a compelling appeal to G20 leaders: 'If global challenges are youth challenges, then global solutions must also be youth solutions,' he said. 'Global health – and youth health – is not just an agenda item; it is a commitment to all of the people not represented here… securing their future generations' right to dream.' The DISD student delegation was publicly commended in the opening keynote by South Africa's Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, who thanked them for their commitment and for hosting a Model G20 simulation on public health earlier this year in Dubai. 'I would also like to thank the students from the German International School Dubai… for their commitment in discussing and elevating the importance of global and public health for our future generations,' Dr. Motsoaledi said, highlighting their contribution in a video address to summit delegates. On May 8, DISD students took part in a G20 Simulation Workshop on Post-Pandemic Global Health, led by Hatice Küçük Beton, Executive Director of the G20 & G7 Health and Development Partnership. Organized by their teachers Sitem Kolburan and Louisa Willgrass, the workshop allowed students to assume the roles of world leaders, debate pressing health challenges, and explore the complexity of global diplomacy. Key topics included pandemic preparedness, the marketing of unhealthy food to children, and sustainable healthcare. A video documenting the simulation, including student reflections and a statement from Hatice Beton on the importance of youth engagement, was selected for presentation at the H20 Summit. Hatice Beton said in the video 'I was surprised very positively. They were so energized and really had concrete ideas, … and I think they can really drive some impact with some of the ideas they came up with today.' In a remarkable development, the Health Minister expressed interest in reviewing the students' recommendations for potential inclusion in the official G20 agenda when world leaders gather in Johannesburg in November 2025. The students' proposal – presented as a Model G20 Leaders' Declaration - included initiatives such as: A Global Youth Health Fund to support education and healthy lifestyle campaigns. A youth for health program integrating health education into school systems, and mobile health clinics in underserved regions across Africa and Southeast Asia. 'This moment shows the true impact of youth-led dialogue,' said Sitem Kolburan, the students' class and English teacher of the German International School Dubai. 'We are incredibly proud of our students for representing DISD and the youth of the world with such clarity, courage, and conviction.' With this international recognition, DISD is eager to further amplify youth voices and expand engagement with local and global partners. The school welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with media to share this inspiring milestone in student-led leadership and diplomacy. Media Contact: Corinna Rösner Head of Marketing and Communications DISD - German International School Dubai |
