Dear friends, 

The World Health Summit Regional Meeting in Rome, hosted by M8 Alliance member Sapienza University, is quickly approaching.

The central topics (details below) will provide room for important discussions. The sessions targeting Vaccine Development and Policies will tackle some of the issues that we must confront now if we do not wish to become overwhelmed by future waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is no longer the supply of COVID-19 vaccines that is causing low vaccination rates of about 16% in low-income countries (Our World in Data). Rather, we must find solutions to provide lacking infrastructure so the vaccines reach those who need them. And we must combat vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy is not a new problem, but one that has become more visible during this pandemic. I believe that this problem can only be solved with multi-stakeholder contributions, and the World Health Summit is the right platform to foster such collaboration by bringing together stakeholders from politics, science, the private sector, and civil society from around the world.

This year's Regional Meeting in Rome & Digital, from June 15-17, will provide a great stage to create new strategies and solutions to the most pressing challenges in global health.

I look forward to your participation in Rome or online.

Stay healthy and safe!

Get ready for 100+ speakers, 20+ sessions, and 5 central topics in 2.5 days: The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2022, June 15-17 in Rome, Italy is only a short while away. Host and organizer of the meeting is M8 Alliance member Sapienza University of Rome.

Central Topics 

– Vaccine Development and Policies: Challenges and Strategies
– Healthcare Systems
– Metabolic Syndrome and Chronic Diseases
– New Technologies and Personalized Therapies
– New Frontiers in Healthcare Promotion

Keynote Speakers

- John P.A. Ioannidis, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford, USA
- Anna Vassall, Professor of Health Economics, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
- Joseph Loscalzo, Chair, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA
- Heidi J. Larson, Director, The Vaccine Confidence Project, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK

More on speakers, program, host, and venue

Program Book

Read about the Regional Meeting 2022, get the program details in the brochure

Participation

Register now for on-site participation and free digital participation on the registration website 

Meeting Presidents

Prof. Eugenio Gaudio, President of the Roma Sapienza Foundation, and Prof. Luciano Saso, Vice-Rector for European University Networks at Sapienza are the Presidents of the Regional Meeting 2022.

Prof. Eugenio Gaudio: "The tragic period of the Covid pandemic should teach us to face health challenges together. Sapienza is honored and proud to host the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2022 and to debate about science, innovation, and policies related to global health."

Honor and Support from Italy’s Head of State

The President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has conferred a plaque for the World Health Summit Regional Meeting in Rome. "We are very honored", said Prof. Eugenio Gaudio.

See the President's plaque

Partners

The Organizers of the Regional Meeting in Rome are proud to present their partners and thank them for their generous support.

#WHSRome2022

Get latest news for the World Health Summit 2022 taking place October 16-18 and look forward to participating: Registration will open in June.

WHS 2022 will focus on Making the Choice for Health by reflecting on seven central topics:

- Investment for Health and Well-Being
- Climate Change and Planetary Health 
- Architecture for Pandemic Preparedness
- Digital Transformation for Health
- Food Systems for Health
- Health Systems Resilience and Equity
- Global Health for Peace 

Food Systems and Health will discuss how to change the way we think about, produce, distribute, consume, dispose of and value food, for better health outcomes. Access to food is also related to peace. The war in Ukraine shows the impact disruption of peace can have on food security and the nutrition of millions of people.

Global Health for Peace will discuss how health interventions can make a real difference and can serve as a starting point for bringing people together. They also contribute to enable and enhance dialogue, participation, inclusiveness, and trust-building.

Read all detailed descriptions of the central topics
See the World Health Summit website for regular updates
Check the special WHS 2022 event page on the WHO website

The World Health Summit 2022 is the first WHS together with WHO and a kick-off: a joint summit will be taking place every three years from now on. Want to know more about the collaboration? Click here

Venue

Hotel Berlin Central District 
Stauffenbergstraße 26
10785 Berlin, Germany
& Digital

#WHS2022

WHA75: Historic Decision to Sustainably Finance WHO

A landmark decision was made at the World Health Assembly in Geneva: Member states target a gradual increase of their membership dues to represent 50% of WHO’s core budget by 2030-2031 the latest. These contributions currently only stand at 16% of the approved program budget, making this a huge step toward more predictable and sustainable financing of WHO. 

The WHA (22-28 May, theme: "Health for Peace - Peace for Health") also re-elected Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to a second term as Director-General of WHO. The World Health Summit congratulates Dr Tedros, a strong supporter and patron of the WHS for many years. We look forward to continuing the close cooperation and especially the World Health Summit 2022 together with WHO!

More on the World Health Assembly

G7 Health Ministers: Pact for Pandemic Readiness 

The G7 Health Ministers have agreed on a "Pact for Pandemic Readiness". This agreement, reached at the G7 meeting 19-20 May in Berlin, aims to strengthen early warning systems for effective pandemic preparedness with the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin functioning as the central hub. Further important topics of the meeting: financial strengthening of WHO, support for Ukraine, antimicrobial resistance and climate change and health. Additionally, the G7 Development and Health Ministers held a joint working session on "Supporting vaccine equity and pandemic preparedness in developing countries". German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach at the close of the G7 Health Ministers Meeting said: "The G7 have been called to action. Global crises force the leading industrialized countries to act."

More on the G7 Health Ministers Meeting

Second Global COVID-19 Summit: New Financial Pledges

Pledges totaling three billion US dollars - this is one of the outcomes of the second Global COVID-19 Summit, according to the White House. On May 12, the United States hosted the virtual meeting, together with Germany (G7 Presidency), Belize (CARICOM Chair), Indonesia (G20 Presidency), and Senegal (African Union Chair). The main topics of the meeting are also crucial at the WHS 2022: Vaccinating the world, protecting the most vulnerable, global response & prevention.

More on the 2nd Global COVID-19 Summit