Germany's role in global health at a critical juncture.

In 2017, we set out-along with a larger group of authors-to assess Germany's contribution and potential leadership role in global health. We considered the ambitions and manifold efforts of Chancellor Angela Merkel's administration to become a trusted leader in global health governance and a reliable supporter of multilateral institutions, especially WHO. Based on the recommendations of our 2017 paper, in this Review we determine whether the country has indeed lived up to its vision and ambitions expressed in the Global Health Strategy adopted by the cabinet in 2020. Also, we outline what challenges Germany is now facing in a more complex global health environment and geopolitical situation, where leadership in the field is being redefined following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid broader shifts in the international order.

Global health diplomacy-reconstructing power and governance.

Over the past two decades, global health diplomacy, foreign policy for health, and global health policy have changed substantially. Diplomacy is a constitutive part of the system of global health governance. COVID-19 hit the world when multilateral cooperation was subject to major challenges, and global health has since become integral to geopolitics. The importance of global health diplomacy, especially at WHO, in keeping countries jointly committed to improving health for everyone, has once again been shown. Through a systematic review, this Series paper explores how international relations concepts and theories have been applied to better understand the role of power in shaping positions, negotiations, and outcomes in global health diplomacy. We apply an international relations perspective to reflect on the effect that those concepts and theories have had on global health diplomacy over the past two decades. This Series paper argues that a more central role of international relations concepts and theories in analysing global health diplomacy would help develop a more nuanced understanding of global health policy making. However, the world has changed to an extent that was not envisioned in academic discourse. This shift calls for new international relations concepts and theories to inform global health diplomacy.

Views on Using Social Robots in Professional Caregiving: Content Analysis of a Scenario Method Workshop.

BACKGROUND: Interest in digital technologies in the health care sector is growing and can be a way to reduce the burden on professional caregivers while helping people to become more independent. Social robots are regarded as a special form of technology that can be usefully applied in professional caregiving with the potential to focus on interpersonal contact. While implementation is progressing slowly, a debate on the concepts and applications of social robots in future care is necessary. OBJECTIVE: In addition to existing studies with a focus on societal attitudes toward social robots, there is a need to understand the views of professional caregivers and patients. This study used desired future scenarios to collate the perspectives of experts and analyze the significance for developing the place of social robots in care. METHODS: In February 2020, an expert workshop was held with 88 participants (health professionals and educators; [PhD] students of medicine, health care, professional care, and technology; patient advocates; software developers; government representatives; and research fellows) from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Using the scenario methodology, the possibilities of analog professional care (Analog Care), fully robotic professional care (Robotic Care), teams of robots and professional caregivers (Deep Care), and professional caregivers supported by robots (Smart Care) were discussed. The scenarios were used as a stimulus for the development of ideas about future professional caregiving. The discussion was evaluated using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The majority of the experts were in favor of care in which people are supported by technology (Deep Care) and developed similar scenarios with a focus on dignity-centeredness. The discussions then focused on the steps necessary for its implementation, highlighting a strong need for the development of eHealth competence in society, a change in the training of professional caregivers, and cross-sectoral concepts. The experts also saw user acceptance as crucial to the use of robotics. This involves the acceptance of both professional caregivers and care recipients. CONCLUSIONS: The literature review and subsequent workshop revealed how decision-making about the value of social robots depends on personal characteristics related to experience and values. There is therefore a strong need to recognize individual perspectives of care before social robots become an integrated part of care in the future.

Germany's expanding role in global health.

Germany has become a visible actor in global health in the past 10 years. In this Series paper, we describe how this development complements a broad change in perspective in German foreign policy. Catalysts for this shift have been strong governmental leadership, opportunities through G7 and G20 presidencies, and Germany's involvement in managing the Ebola virus disease outbreak. German global health engagement has four main characteristics that are congruent with the health agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals; it is rooted in human rights, multilateralism, the Bismarck model of social protection, and a link between development and investment on the basis of its own development trajectory after World War 2. The combination of momentum and specific characteristics makes Germany well equipped to become a leader in global health, yet the country needs to accept additional financial responsibility for global health, expand its domestic global health competencies, reduce fragmentation of global health policy making, and solve major incoherencies in its policies both nationally and internationally.