[Strengthening Public and Global Health in Germany - an Appraisal of the Statement "Public Health in Germany" by the German Scientific Academies from June 16th 2015].

In June 2015 the scientific academies "Leopoldina" and "acatech" and the union of the German academies of sciences and humanities published a statement on public and global health in Germany. The statement contains many valuable albeit generic and well-known recommendations. The few specific recommendations focus on centralizing research while weakening the role of universities and on the relative increase of research on public health genomics. These recommendations are not based on empirical or theoretical analyses and risk subverting successful developments of the recent past. To actually strengthen public and global health in Germany the existing institutions need to be backed up while designated funding of public and global health needs to be extended.
(© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)