On April 7, World Health Day focuses on a central topic: global healthcare. This year, particular attention is being paid to the health of mothers and newborns. High-quality medical care during pregnancy and early life lays the foundation for a healthy life. Bayern Innovativ is pushing ahead with innovations at full speed in order to improve this care in the long term.

This is achieved, for example, through close cooperation with relevant players in the sector as well as networking and knowledge transfer. The Bavarian Ministry of Health already supports numerous innovative projects that enable optimized medical care for women and newborns. One example of this is the "AI-supported multimodal diagnostics and stratified therapy for endometriosis" (EndoKI) project supported by Bayern Innovativ. Endometriosis affects millions of women worldwide and can also affect fertility and pregnancy health. With the help of artificial intelligence, EndoKI ensures more precise diagnostics and individually tailored therapies. This not only improves the health of the women affected, but also the conditions for a healthy pregnancy and birth.

Other partners are based in research and the healthcare industry, for example. This collaboration makes it possible to transfer innovative solutions into practice in a targeted manner and ensure better healthcare for mothers and newborns. Our partner AOK Bayern is also heavily involved in prevention and health promotion. With programs such as "JolinchenKids" for the youngest children or company health initiatives, AOK Bayern reaches hundreds of thousands of people every year and thus strengthens healthcare in Bavaria in the long term. Katharina Seuz, Head of Living Environments at AOK Bayern, emphasizes:

"All citizens should receive medical care at the highest level; to achieve this, the range of care on offer must be continuously developed and adapted to the latest scientific findings. The development and promotion of innovative services in the healthcare sector are essential for this. Promoting innovation also enables better treatment options, can contribute to a longer life expectancy and reduce the burden on the health and care system."

Bavaria as a driver of innovation in the healthcare sector

Bavaria is focusing on the close integration of science, business and medicine in order to bring health innovations into practice more quickly. Bavarian Health Minister Judith Gerlach emphasizes the importance of this development:

"Health is our most important asset. World Health Day on April 7 focuses in particular on the 'health of mothers and newborns'. The Bavarian Ministry of Health is already promoting innovations that improve and safeguard medical care during pregnancy. [...] Bavaria is also laying important foundations throughout the state for the further development and support of young companies in order to bring innovations into healthcare practice more quickly. In March, together with the Venture Labs of the Technical University of Munich and representatives of start-ups and self-government, we signed a joint agreement to promote healthcare start-ups. This will strengthen Bavaria as a healthcare location in the long term. Everyone benefits from the new research results and insights gained in this way."

The role of Bayern Innovativ for global health

Innovations from Bavaria are not only highly relevant regionally, but also worldwide. Julia Ott, an expert at Bayern Innovativ, emphasizes the global significance of these developments:

"Health is a global issue and innovations from Bavaria make an important contribution to this. Bayern Innovativ brings together players from science, business and medicine to develop solutions for current health challenges - from early diagnosis to individualized therapy. The healthcare of mothers and newborns in particular shows how crucial new technologies and interdisciplinary cooperation are. Projects such as 'EndoKI' illustrate how innovations such as artificial intelligence can help to detect diseases earlier and provide more targeted treatment. In this way, we are not only improving medical care in Bavaria, but also providing impetus for better healthcare worldwide."

World Health Day is a reminder of how essential effective healthcare is - especially for mothers and newborns. With our mission to turn every viable idea into an innovation, we at Bayern Innovativ show how medical care can be optimized through targeted funding and technological advances. Through interdisciplinary cooperation with partners such as the AOK Bayern or the Bavarian State Ministry of Health, Care and Prevention as well as innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, Bayern is making a decisive contribution to the health of women and their children - in Bavaria and beyond.