G7 health ministers' declaration

From May 19 to May 20, 2022, the health ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) met in Berlin, Germany, which concluded with the signing of the G7 Health Ministers’ Declaration. 

The declaration comprised of sections on: 

• the G7 Pact for Pandemic Readiness 
• overcoming the pandemic in 2022 
• tackling the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) 
• climate-neutral health systems

The G7 Pact for Pandemic Readiness will see the UK, USA, Japan, Canada, France, Germany and Italy work more closely together, along with relevant multilateral organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO), by sharing the best of their COVID-inspired initiatives, including those on surveillance and rapid response. The pandemic pact aims to help embed a One Health approach, which considers the connection between people, animals, plants, and the environment, in order to help identity emerging health threats across these groups and improve detection of new variants of concern. This should help strengthen global health security with the aim of better protection against another pandemic. 

Commitments were also made by health ministers to tackle the silent pandemic of AMR, infections caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics, including exploring a range of market incentive options which it is hoped will encourage pharmaceutical companies and others to fund research and trials for new antibiotics. AMR is estimated to cause 1.27 million deaths a year worldwide, with around one-fifth of those being amongst children under five years old, making it a leading cause of death globally. 

Pledges on climate and health were also made, with G7 members committing to build climate-neutral health systems by 2050 at the latest, and the G7 pledged to support countries across the globe in this effort. 

Source: UK Government, 20 May 2022