Experts from around the world meet in Berlin at the leading global health forum
Berlin, 13 October 2024
On Sunday morning, the 16th annual World Health Summit, under the motto, “Building Trust for a Healthier World” started in Berlin.
The event, 13-15 October, will focus on the future of global health.
More than 350 speakers and over 3,500 participants from around the world are expected to attend, including numerous ministers, government officials and representatives from science, the private sector, civil society and international organizations.
The official World Health Summit (WHS) Opening Night will take place with the participation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Heyo K. Kroemer, CEO of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Axel R. Pries, World Health Summit President.
The central event of the WHS 2024 is scheduled for Monday, 14 October during which the presentation of the WHO Investment Round will take place.
Themed, “All for Health, Health for All: Signature Event for the WHO Investment Round”, will witness the largest international pledging moment so far for the WHO Investment Round.
Among the confirmed speakers at the Signature Event are the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation and John-Arne Røttingen, CEO of Wellcome Trust. Numerous health ministers from various countries, including Germany, Norway, and France, are also expected to attend.
On this first day of WHS 2024, the focus would centre on topics such as health crises.
Federal Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, emphasized the importance of speaking with one voice: “For us, the brokers of scientific knowledge, we have to speak the same language.”
Jeremy Farrar, Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO) called for consistent and sustained efforts to build trust, highlighting its fragile nature: “Trust is also built in years and can be lost in an instant. You don’t build trust on a Tuesday when you want it. You build trust by providing good things for people, every Monday, every Tuesday, every Wednesday and not just in a crisis.”
WHS 2024 has a line-up pf prominent speakers. They include Svenja Schulze, the German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Jan Christian Vestre, the Norwegian Minister of Health, Geneviève Darrieussecq, Minister of Health, from France and Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, Minister of Health, from Malawi.
Other speakers are Spyridon-Adonis Georgiadis, the Greek Minister of Health, Sania Nishtar, CEO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Elhadj As Sy, Chair, Kofi Annan Foundation, Christian Drosten, Director, Institute of Virology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The rest are Victor J. Dzau, President, National Academy of Medicine (NAM), Karen DeSalvo, Chief Health Officer, Google and Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet.
The World Health Summit is the international platform for global health. It brings together stakeholders from politics, science, the private sector, and civil society from around the world to set the agenda for a healthier future and well-being for all.
The Summit strengthens exchange, stimulates innovative solutions to health challenges, fosters global health as a key political issue, and promotes the global health debate in the spirit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The World Health Summit as a conference and strategic forum takes place every year in October in Berlin and was founded in 2009 at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The President of the World Health Summit is Prof. Axel R. Pries, the International Presidents 2024 are Prof. Sophia Zoungas and Prof. Christina Mitchell, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.