Cornelia Betsch contributes to the Science Council's position paper on prevention
The Science Council is calling for a change of course towards more prevention in the healthcare system. Prof. Dr. Cornelia Betsch was involved in drafting the position paper in the ‘Prevention and Health Promotion’ working group.
In a recent position paper, the German Science Council calls for a fundamental change of course in the German healthcare system: instead of primarily treating illness, the focus should shift more towards prevention. Prof. Dr Cornelia Betsch, head of the Health Communication Working Group at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) and the University of Erfurt, was involved in drafting the paper as a member of the ‘Prevention and Health Promotion’ working group, contributing her expertise in health communication, health literacy and behavioural science aspects.
Among other things, the Science Council recommends interdisciplinary prevention research, better access to data, stronger public health structures and the anchoring of health as a goal in all policy areas. Prevention should also be integrated more strongly into education, care and social practice in order to reduce health inequalities and ensure the sustainability of the health system.
The press conference on the new position paper ‘Acting for Prevention’ is available on the Science Council's YouTube channel.
BNITM welcomes the fact that the Science Council is placing greater emphasis on prevention in health policy debates. The position paper refers to the German health system, but addresses issues that extend far beyond national borders. Health is not solely determined by the healthcare system. It is influenced by environmental changes, global mobility, social inequality and climate change. From a tropical medicine perspective, prevention is therefore always a global task.
The Health Communication Working Group at BNITM and the University of Erfurt is investigating how people can be reached under different social, cultural and ecological conditions. In research projects, the team analyses how health and risk information can be communicated in a comprehensible, trustworthy and effective manner, for example in the context of infectious diseases, vaccination decisions or climate-related health risks.
Contact person
Sabine Altwein
Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour (IPB)
Phone : +49 361 737-1639
Email : sabine.altwein@uni-erfurt.de
BNITM Press
Phone : +49 40 285380-264/269
Email : presse@bnitm.de
