2,400 participants at the 10th World Health Summit 2018 in Berlin – Joint conclusion with the Grand Challenges Meeting of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Berlin, 18 October 2018 – The 10th World Health Summit ended on Tuesday evening with an urgent appeal for international cooperation. “Health is an essential prerequisite for prosperity, well-being and a dignified life,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel at the closing event, which was hosted jointly with the Grand Challenges Meeting of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “If we tackle it together, we have a good chance of achieving the United Nations’ health goals in 2030”.
Germany has assumed an important leadership role in recent years, emphasized Microsoft founder Bill Gates. “We need governments, and we need science,” Gates said.
Previously, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) had presented the Global Plan of Action to work together towards the United Nations’ health goals. “It’s about saving lives,” said the WHO chief.
The founder and president of the World Health Summit, Prof. Dr. Detlev Ganten, drew a positive balance of the three-day conference: “We are feeling new energy in the field of global health – in Berlin, in academic institutions, in politics. That is what we need! Science remains a driving force to achieve the common goals.
At the 10th World Health Summit, 2,400 participants from 100 nations discussed new and better strategies for global health care – for example to strengthen health systems worldwide, to protect against pandemics, in the fight against antibiotic resistance or in the digitalization of health care.
Among the 300 speakers were Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, German Health Minister Jens Spahn, Stefan Oschmann, CEO of Merck, and Gayle Smith, head of the international lobby and campaign organization ONE.
The World Health Summit is one of the most important international conferences for Global Health and is traditionally held under the patronage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. The annual meeting was founded in 2009 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Charité.
The next World Health Summit will take place from 27 to 29 October 2019 in Berlin.