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To the participants of the EFS Congress "For a Millennium of Sexual Health"
It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to Berlin, the birthplace of sexology. The German federal health ministry takes particular pride in the fact that one of ist research institutions, the Robert Koch Institute, has been instrumental in bringing this international congress to its new capital city, thus reviving a tradition that began right here with the pioneering work of a few reform-minded physicians early in our century.
When the World Health Organization, in 1975, for the first time defined sexual health and made recommendations on how to promote it throughout the world, it could not be foreseen that, a quarter century later, participants from all continents would be able to congregate in a united Germany and a united Berlin and exchange ideas of how to achieve sexual health for all women and men in the new millennium.
This interdisciplinary goal of general prevention stands in welcome contrast to traditional efforts to cure diseases. However, it is also very difficult to achieve, and it will certainly take some time before sexual health is seen as a necessary component of public health everywhere. Being convinced that the future belongs to this shift in emphasis away from curing disease to preserving health, I wish all of you a fruitful scientific dialogue and renewed confidence in the merits of your cause.
Andrea Fischer
Minister of Health
Federal Republic of Germany
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