Thursday, October 8, 2026
FUNKE’s family media brand ELTERN has become the media partner of Initiative Gesunde Bildung. The cooperation is intended to bring reliable knowledge about the body, sexuality, health and prevention closer to families and to increase the visibility of educational work in schools.
The partnership was announced on 6 October in Hamburg and Essen. For healthcare communications, the move is notable because it links editorial reach with a prevention-focused initiative aimed at children, adolescents and parents. The partners are addressing a communications challenge that is increasingly relevant for the sector: young people often look for answers on YouTube and social media, where reliable information can appear alongside misleading advice.
Health education for families and schools
ELTERN plans to cover the initiative’s topics through articles and interviews tailored to its audience. The aim is to give parents guidance when they support their children through sensitive questions about health and the body. According to the partners, the media partnership will also help raise awareness of the initiative’s school-based work among potential supporters.
Claudia Weingärtner, editor-in-chief of ELTERN, points to the growing importance of early education. Children are confronted with complex questions about the body and sexuality at a young age, while parents need well-founded information to respond openly and confidently at home.
Angela Hemme, managing director of Ärztliche Gesellschaft zur Gesundheitsförderung and strategic adviser to Initiative Gesunde Bildung, describes the cooperation as a way to strengthen health education where it can have a particularly strong effect: among children, adolescents and within families. ELTERN’s editorial support is expected to provide visibility and reach for the initiative’s work.
ÄGGF reaches more than 100,000 students each year
Initiative Gesunde Bildung was founded in 2025. Its stated goal is to expand health education in schools and support equal health opportunities. It does so by supporting the non-profit Ärztliche Gesellschaft zur Gesundheitsförderung, known as ÄGGF.
ÄGGF physicians provide workshops on body knowledge, health and prevention. According to the organisation, these programmes reach more than 100,000 students each year. The workshops are offered across Germany from fourth grade through vocational schools and are free of charge for schools.
The programmes are financed in part through partnerships with companies. The economic sponsor of the initiative is GaBe GmbH, the administrative company of ÄGGF. The organisation states that ÄGGF remains fully independent in the content, design and delivery of its services.
Recognition through the HanseMerkur child protection award
On the same day the media partnership was announced, ÄGGF’s work was recognised with the HanseMerkur Prize for Child Protection. Julia Becker, publisher and chairwoman of the supervisory board of FUNKE Mediengruppe, serves as patron of the award.
In connection with the cooperation, Becker emphasised that children should receive reliable knowledge about their bodies, health and personal boundaries at an early stage. FUNKE intends to use its reach to make evidence-based health education more visible.
ELTERN expands its brand ecosystem
ELTERN has been published since October 1966 and supports families through pregnancy, birth and different stages of childhood. In the year of its 60th anniversary, the brand includes the monthly magazine, special issues, eltern.de, the Urbia community, vorname.com, the ELTERNgespräch podcast, newsletters, apps, social media channels and the ELTERN Akademie with online courses.
For pharma and healthcare marketing, the cooperation illustrates how media brands, non-profit organisations and supporting companies can bring prevention topics into family-oriented channels. A clear distinction between funding, reach and independent expert delivery remains central to such models.