The G20 group of countries, currently led by Germany, is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Its members are responsible for 85 percent of global GDP and three-quarters of global exports and represent about two-thirds of the world’s population. The G20 Summit will take place in Hamburg on 7-8 July 2017. The topic of health is becoming more important for the G20.

Interfacing with the G20 is the “B20” business grouping, representing the entire G20 business community. The mission of the B20 is to support the G20 through consolidated representation of interests, concrete policy proposals, and expertise. The B20 has recently released a report on global health which addresses many health issues including innovation, combating antimicrobial resistance, fighting neglected tropical diseases, improving pandemic preparedness, advancing digital health – and self-care. Specifically for Self Care the G20 countries are asked to:

“Policy Action 1.3: Improving Universal Health Coverage and Self Care – The G20 should promote access to essential healthcare services to their citizens by sharing best practices, building improved healthcare policies, incentivizing private sector involvement, and empowering citizens by enabling self-care and health literacy.”

In the main text the following additional details are provided:

“…. patient self-care allows patients to take more responsibility for their health and should be encouraged by the G20 members. Patient self-care can help improve medical outcomes for individual patients and patient populations and is also expected to lower overall costs of treatment, thus having a positive effect on overall healthcare spending for G20 member states.

ISF applauds and endorses the raising of the profile of self-care in this forum.