Introduction to the Rome Declaration

The Global Health Summit was held in Rome on 21 May 2021, co-hosted by the European Commission and Italy, as chair of the G20. Leaders, heads of regional and international organizations met to share lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and to define the path ahead.

The present paper analyses the Rome Declaration as the first global health programme shared among the G20 Member States and based on the One-Health approach.

Documents such as preparatory work, official documents and observations from international organizations were analysed in order to provide a comprehensive review of the Rome Declaration.

Core principles of the Rome Declarations have emerged as well as the goal to improve cooperation among existing international organisations and national authorities.

Governments' future decisions will be the key to determine the end of the pandemic. The interconnected impacts on health, the environment, and social and economic dimensions will be a central theme of the overall narrative aiming at bringing the G20 process towards achieving a more inclusive and sustainable society.