– societies and decision makers must thus understand and implement scientific evidence. To allow scientific insight to progress, policymakers and society must protect academic freedom as a public good. ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY Academic freedom is certainly not a licence for scientists to follow their own projects with public money without any responsibility for societal progress. It means freedom from ideological manipulation of results and their interpretation. History gives ample evidence that states that provide such academic freedom and reliable support for research are successful and more resilient to cope with unforeseen challenges. This requires sustained financial support for ambitious science projects as well as for societies and decision makers that translate scientific recommendations into action. In return, academia has the responsibility to improve research quality and uphold scientific protocols and standards. The scientific community relies on trust in its processes, its capacity for self-correction and the integrity of its practitioners. SCIENCE COMMUNICATION Academia and the media should become more invested in bidirectional communication with policymakers and civil society. The media plays a crucial role in making complex issues accessible and providing high-quality, trustworthy information for the public. Fact checking alone is not enough. What is needed is a cultural shift in the communication of scientific approaches and results – including uncertainties, possible mistakes and corrections. Scientists and journalists must work together to develop research communication that reaches beyond academic circles. People sometimes need reminders of the tangible benefits that science delivers for their daily lives. After all, humanity’s greatest achievements have always been built on trusted information and science. SHARED RESPONSIBILITY FOR GLOBAL HEALTH ‘Building Trust for a Healthier World’ was the theme of last year’s World Health Summit. This year’s focus, ‘Taking Responsibility for Health in a Fragmenting World’, builds on that foundation. Both speak to our shared responsibility – as scientists, practitioners and citizens – to remain active and engaged for progress in an increasingly complex world. The World Health Summit is committed to fostering this process by providing the platform for generating and exchanging trustworthy information and by convening all who are engaged in assembling the fragments and laying stronger, more sustainable foundations for global health. ▪ “ Without the willingness of politicians, health providers at all levels and the public to accept evidence provided by trusted sources on a solid factual basis jointly, global health suffers severe consequences”
AXEL RADLACH PRIES Axel Radlach Pries became president of the World Health Summit in 2021. He was the dean of Charité from 2015 to 2022, having been head of the Charité Institute for Physiology from 2001. He has chaired the Council for Basic Cardiovascular Science and the Congress Programme Committee basic section in the European Society of Cardiology, was president of the Biomedical Alliance in Europe and CEO of the Berlin Institute of Health. He has received the Malpighi Award, the Poiseuille Gold Medal and the Silver Medal of the European Society of Cardiology.
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Health: A Political Choice – The Future of Health in a Fractured World 7
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