Experts from around the world meet in Berlin at the leading global health forum
On Sunday morning, the 16th annual World Health Summit started in Berlin. For three days, the event will focus on the future of global health under the motto: "Building Trust for a Healthier World". 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 organisations.
The official WHS Opening Night with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Heyo K. Kroemer, CEO of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Axel R. Pries, World Health Summit President, and others takes place at 6:00 PM CEST.
The central event of the WHS 2024 is on Monday, 14., at 6:00 PM CEST. The presentation of the WHO Investment Round "All for Health, Health for All: Signature Event for the WHO Investment Round", the largest international pledging moment so far for the WHO Investment Round. Among the confirmed speakers are 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 is on topics like health crises.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach emphasised 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."
Further WHS 2024 speakers include Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany
- Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Health, Norway
- Geneviève Darrieussecq, Minister of Health, France
- Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, Minister of Health, Malawi
- Spyridon-Adonis Georgiadis, Minister of Health, Greece
- Sania Nishtar, CEO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- Elhadj As Sy, Chair, Kofi Annan Foundation
- Christian Drosten, Director, Institute of Virology, Charite - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- Victor J. Dzau, President, National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
- Karen DeSalvo, Chief Health Officer, Google
- Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lance
Source & Image Credit: World Health Summit 2024