Cold wave 2025: Lower Saxony is fighting against an increase in days of absence!

Cold wave 2025: Lower Saxony is fighting against an increase in days of absence!

In Lower Saxony, everything currently revolves around the topic of health and the increased number of sick reports. The strong wave of colds at the beginning of 2025 has the region firmly under control. According to a recent report by NDR The number of days missed due to respiratory diseases increased by a whopping 16% compared to the previous year. It's no wonder that employees in Lower Saxony are suffering from poor health during this time.

DAK-Gesundheit also found that sick leave was 5.7% in the first half of 2025, slightly below the previous year's figure of 5.8%. What is particularly notable is that the average duration of illness per case fell from 9.8 days to 9.3 days. Respiratory diseases continue to be the most common reason for absences from work, accounting for 21% of sick leave, followed by musculoskeletal diseases (18%) and mental illnesses (17%).

Health situation and company health promotion

Dirk Vennekold, the regional head of the DAK, pointed out the importance of workplace health promotion. In this context, the challenges posed by respiratory diseases and their high infection rates are particularly addressed. However, the low level of days missed due to mental illnesses and musculoskeletal problems suggests a positive development. The decline in absences due to back pain and depression is a good sign for the health of Lower Saxony.

But the health situation is not only an issue in business. The Lower Saxony Pharmacists' Association has also identified technical infrastructural challenges that could lead to more disruptions in healthcare. In addition, Marco Beeken from the University of Osnabrück calls for better recycling of plastic because of health concerns.

The role of healthcare organizations

These health developments are in the context of global challenges. Organizations such as the WHO and the OECD are working hard to improve healthcare worldwide. The WHO, a specialized agency of the United Nations with 193 member states, is particularly committed to the correlation between poverty and health. Its goal is to promote global health and create the conditions for everyone to have access to adequate health care, such as Destatis reports.

In addition to these international efforts, health monitoring in Germany, which is supported by the Robert Koch Institute, is an important part of the system. The data collected here is used to continuously analyze the health status and health risks of the population and to make it transparent the Federal Ministry of Health represents.

In summary, it can be seen that the health challenges in Lower Saxony are serious, but are being addressed through a number of measures at both an operational and global level. Above all, strengthening health care could help to further reduce the number of illnesses and improve the quality of life of citizens.