‘For us, GIZ is like an enzyme that speeds up solutions’
Professor Malek Bajbouj from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin talks about Charité's international focus and how the partnership with GIZ puts scientific innovation into practice.
Professor Bajbouj, how long has Charité been working internationally?
Essentially, since its foundation. Charité is more than 300 years old and started out as a plague hospital. However, epidemics have never been a purely local phenomenon. Eminent figures from Charité such as Robert Koch and Rudolf Virchow have therefore always looked beyond Germany. A global perspective on health issues is part of our DNA.
Charité and GIZ have been working together for a long time and have just confirmed that they will continue to do so in the coming years. What makes this cooperation so special?
We work together in the Global South – including in virology, vaccine development and mental health. We complement each other well: Charité contributes its scientific perspective, while GIZ brings extensive experience in local implementation. This results in many synergies.
Can you give an example?
The chatbot for mental health in Ukraine is a good example: without GIZ, it would have remained a pilot project. Today, more than 180,000 people use it. Charité develops evidence-based ideas and innovations. GIZ ensures that these reach people locally – it knows the local structures and is closely networked with ministries and other authorities.
In which priority areas and countries are Charité and GIZ currently working particularly closely together?
In Ukraine, the priority areas are rehabilitation and mental health. In Ghana, the focus is on vaccine development, immunisation capacities and, increasingly, heart health and mental health. Charité also maintains several dozen partnerships worldwide through its hospital partnerships initiative.
It has long ceased to be about one-sided assistance for selected countries; it is about mutual learning. In Ukraine, we can benefit from digital developments, and in Africa innovative solutions and creative start-ups are emerging. In Jordan, medical colleagues are showing us how to build a resilient health system. These are findings from crises and wars that, here in Germany, are being discussed right up to Chancellor level. How can we ensure that Germany can continue to master difficult situations in the future?
So international cooperation is essential?
Absolutely, because all the key challenges are global. Pandemics, conflicts, climate impacts – they do not stop at national borders. International cooperation not only strengthens local health systems, it also bolsters our own security. If actors from science and research in the Global South can react quickly to the next pandemic, this will also benefit people in Germany.
The hospital partnerships support health facilities in exchanging knowledge, boosting expertise and improving global health care. The programme connects hospitals and medical organisations in Germany with partners in over 70 countries. It was commissioned and financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and cofinanced by the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (EKFS). GIZ has been implementing the programme for ten years.
Even beyond health issues?
Yes, international cooperation is also important from a diplomatic and economic perspective. Germany is in dialogue with countries we cooperate with in the health sector. This is how contacts are established and maintained. And in places where scientific cooperation takes place, German companies can also get a foot in the door. We are currently seeing this with medical technology in Ukraine.
With a partner like GIZ, who paves the way and, above all, knows the local conditions, the results are better. For us at Charité, GIZ is like an enzyme that speeds up solutions. And I believe that, conversely, GIZ colleagues see Charité in a similar way with regard to their measures.
Professor Malek Bajbouj is Director of International Affairs at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He has been Clinic Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Campus Charité Mitte since 2025. Originally from Mainz, he focuses on the areas of prevention, digitalisation, personalised medicine and global health. He has received a host of awards for his scientific achievements and international engagement, including the Else Kröner-Fresenius Prize, an honorary doctorate from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, an honorary professorship from the University of Kharkiv and an Einstein Strategic Professorship.
