The Corona pandemic has once again exposed the shortcomings in nursing care. Far-reaching reforms are needed if these are to be permanently overcome. Adequate staffing must be one of the most important projects in this context. With various legislative initiatives in recent years and the Concerted Action on Nursing (KAP), initial steps have been taken to increase the number of nursing staff and thus improve working conditions. The study commissioned by the legislature to develop scientific criteria for determining personnel requirements in long-term care was also an important step in this direction. On the basis of this calculation, it was determined that there is a considerable need for additional personnel in long-term care, which is to be addressed with initial measures. However, these initiatives are not enough to remedy the shortage of nursing staff. What is still missing is a clear signal that tangible relief can be expected for nurses at the bedside. A uniform nationwide staffing system must be introduced for the hospital sector that makes it possible to derive staffing requirements from the nursing needs of the people to be cared for and standardizes the patchwork quilt that currently prevails in Germany. Only by increasing staffing levels in all sectors can the workload of nursing staff be reduced and sufficient time spent on nursing care. This can also counteract the migration of nurses to other professions and win back nurses who have left the profession. In addition, better pay for nurses is needed, which can contribute to more young people deciding to train as nurses. This is the only way to improve the situation of caregivers and the people they care for in the long term.

For further reading and discussion:

https://deutscher-pflegerat.de/2018/11/09/deutscher-pflegerat-wir-brauchen-personalbemessung-fuer-pflegende-in-allen-arbeitsfeldern-auch-im-krankenhaus/

https://gesundheit-soziales.verdi.de/mein-arbeitsplatz/altenpflege/++co++1414c116-58ac-11ea-90d7-001a4a160100

Reconciling care and work is becoming an increasing social challenge. Of the 3.4 million people currently in need of care in Germany, around three quarters are cared for at home, mainly by relatives. An increasing proportion of these caregivers are of working age. The current arrangements for reconciling work and care, in which care and family care leave are limited in time far too narrowly, do not provide sufficient financial security and are rarely taken up. Working relatives of people in need of care are thus often left to fend for themselves. It is urgently time to provide better financial and social security coverage for care-related reductions in working hours or temporary career breaks. The "Independent Advisory Council for the Compatibility of Care and Work" set up by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth has drawn up proposals for good framework conditions for working caregivers. The central proposal is for leave of absence for up to 36 months - with a minimum working time of 15 hours per week. During this period, it should also be possible to take up to six months off from gainful employment, either completely or with a minimum working time of less than 15 hours per week. Working private caregivers are to receive financial support in the form of a wage replacement benefit similar to parental allowance, which can be claimed for up to 36 months.

For further reading and discussion:

https://www.zukunftsforum-familie.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/infocenter/zeitschrift_vielfalt_familie/zff_vf_ausgabe30.pdf

https://www.wege-zur-pflege.de/fileadmin/daten/Beirat/Erster_Bericht_des_unabhaengigen_Beirats_2019.pdf

Many chemicals used in the production of plastics are extremely toxic. Since the chemicals are not firmly bound in the plastic, they can escape over time. They pass into the environment and are also absorbed by the human body. Hormonally active substances have a particularly far-reaching impact. These include, above all, plasticizers (phthalates), bisphenol A (BPA), brominated flame retardants and organotin compounds. These and others are suspected of causing diseases such as diabetes, obesity, infertility, cancer and heart disease. The use of these substances and their substitutes, if they are the same in terms of composition and/or effect, must be prohibited by law so that environmental and health protection can be guaranteed along the entire life cycle of a product. Particular attention must be paid to the protection of vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children, who are overexposed to hazardous substances in plastic products. In principle, there must be a full declaration and disclosure of the substances contained in the products/packaging and used in processing.

For further reading and discussion:

https://www.bund.net/fileadmin/user_upload_bund/publikationen/chemie/chemie_achtung_plastik_broschuere.pdf

https://www.wecf.org/de/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/wege_aus_der_plastikkrise_forderungen.pdf

https://hej-support.org/hormongifte-stoppen/

Manufacturers and traders from Germany export pesticides to countries outside the EU that are not allowed to be used in the EU because they are dangerous to humans and the environment. This double standard in the pesticide trade is at the expense of the health, livelihoods and rights of millions of people in the importing countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa. In France, a law has already been passed (Law No. 2018-938 - (EGalim Law), which bans the production, storage and trade of pesticides containing active ingredients that are not approved in the EU for environmental or health protection reasons from 01.01.2022. The Swiss Federal Council also decided on Oct. 14, 2020, to ban the export of five pesticide active ingredients banned in Switzerland. The European Commission's planned chemicals strategy includes a commitment to prevent the export of hazardous chemicals banned in the EU in the future and, if necessary, to amend the relevant legislation for this purpose. In addition, a March 2020 report by the Bundestag's Scientific Service concludes that the conditions for restrictions similar to those in France are in place in Germany. For example, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is authorized to prohibit the export of pesticides to third countries outside the EU under certain conditions on the basis of Section 25 (3) Sentence 2 of the Plant Protection Act. On this legal basis, a regulation should be issued prohibiting the export of such pesticides that do not have a permit or authorization in the EU and/or Germany due to environmental and health risks.

For further reading and discussion:

https://pan-germany.org/download/giftige-exporte-ausfuhr-hochgefaehrlicher-pestizide-von-deutschland-in-die-welt/

www.inkota.de/studie-bayer-basf

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26063&LangID=E

https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ToxicWaste/Communications/OL-DEU-09-02-21.pdf

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/chemicals/2020/10/Strategy.pdf

Donating blood saves lives. And yet it is still not allowed for certain groups in Germany. The Transfusion Act and the guidelines of the German Medical Association on the collection of blood and blood components and the use of blood products must be amended and discrimination abolished so that every healthy person in Germany who wants to help is allowed to do so. Sexual orientation should no longer be asked when donating blood. To ensure the safety of the recipients of the blood donation, they could be asked about the frequency of changing sexual contacts and sexual risk behavior - because that determines whether the person belongs to a risk group. In many other countries, such as Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Spain, this is already the case.

For further reading and discussion:

https://weact.campact.de/petitions/knappheit-der-blutreserven-durch-covid-19-diskriminierung-beim-blutspenden-stoppen?utm_source=post-twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=20-10-16%20%2F%20blutspenden-marcel-twitter

https://www.lsvd.de/de/ct/1321-Ausschluss-schwuler-und-bisexueller-Maenner-von-der-Blutspende

Patents guarantee the pharmaceutical industry high prices and corresponding profits worldwide via temporary monopolies. However, the research incentives that are supposed to be set by this are very unequally distributed: Health problems of people in the Global South are neglected by the patent-driven research system due to their lower purchasing power. The same applies to important but less lucrative research areas such as vaccinations or antiobiotics research. Especially for people in the Global South, patents prevent access to research results and new technologies and often make medicines unaffordable. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), one third of all patients worldwide do not have access to necessary medicines due to high prices and other structural barriers. A legislated removal of patent protection on all essential medicines could counteract this.

For further reading and discussion:

https://www.patents-kill.org/deutsch/

http://med4all.org/images/downloads/Leitfaden-sozialvertrgliche-Verwertung-2018.pdf