RESUMO
In June 2015 the German Academies of Science and Technology published a report on the structures, developments and challenges in the field of public and global health in Germany. Its call for a strengthening of public and global health in Germany was well received among researchers and practitioners in the field. At the same time criticism arose. Key controversies relate to the future institutional set-up of public and global health research in Germany, the consideration of the social determinants of health versus biomedical and technological approaches, the need for further research versus the need for political implementation of what is already known, and the consideration of the political context, such as intellectual property rights. This contribution provides an overview on the debate and lays down the perspective of the German Medical Students' Association (bvmd) and the Globalisation and Health Initiative (GandHI), putting forward demands regarding the role of public and global health in medical education in Germany.