Newsletter 07/2022: WHS 2022 High Patrons & Global Health: A Key Political Issue

Dear friends,

Large parts of the northern globe are currently witnessing an incredible heat wave, droughts, and fires. Scientists from all over the world intensify their calls to radically change our ways of life to fight the climate crisis. The exposure to extreme heat has significant effects on health, leading to premature deaths and disability. But also famines, lack of access to clean water and the spread of infectious diseases are real consequences of climate change that are on the rise. 

Here, we face a typical problem of societies vis-à-vis global challenges: The call for measures against climate change often is blocked by the statement "We cannot afford this!" The rich countries claim that measures might affect living standards, the poor ones simply lack the means. However, the laws of physics don’t respect our concerns. We will have to do many painful things to avoid catastrophic developments - "mission unthinkable". This includes policy making, research, business and everyday living and "Climate Change and Planetary Health" will thus be a central topic at WHS 2022.

As the preparations for WHS 2022 progress, I am pleased to announce this year’s high patrons: Olaf Scholz, Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany, Emmanuel Macron, President, Republic of France, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO). We are thankful for the support and look forward to welcoming Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, and Dr Tedros at the opening ceremony of WHS 2022. Registration to participate on-site is open and all sessions of the World Health Summit will be available online. 

Stay healthy and safe!

Keynote Sessions

KEY 01 - Opening Ceremony
Oct. 16, CEST: 18:00 - 19:30 
with Scholz, Macron, Sall, Tedros, Pries, Kroemer and others 

KEY 02 - Game Changer: Architecture for Pandemic Preparedness
Oct. 17, CEST: 11:00 - 12:30 

KEY 03 - Game Changer: A New Lens on Investment in Health and Well-Being
Oct. 17, CEST: 16:00 - 17:30 

KEY 04 - Game Changer: Digital Transformation for Health
Oct. 18, CEST: 11:00 - 12:30 

KEY 05 - Investing in a Polio-free Future for More Resilient Health Systems
Oct. 18, 2022, CEST: 12:30 - 14:00 

KEY 06 - Moving Forward: Making the Political Choice for Health
Oct. 18, CEST: 16:00 - 17:30 

See WHS 2022 central topics 
See all sessions and details in the online program

WHS 2022 High Patrons

Thank you to the WHS 2022 high patrons: Olaf Scholz, Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany, Emmanuel Macron, President, Republic of France, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO). 

Join the first WHS together with WHO in person and click below to register.

If you need to apply for a visa to attend the World Health Summit 2022, please register as soon as possible to have sufficient time for the visa application process.

More speakers

If you are a World Health Summit partner or speaker at WHS 2022 and are interested in receiving the World Health Summit 2022 Communication Package, please send us an email.

"Until other global issues such as the climate crisis and economic inequality are addressed in parallel, pandemic control will make little headway," is World Health Summit president Axel Pries' call for holistic action for global health in an interview for Die Zeit (advertorial). Read the full interview and more on the joint WHS 2022 with WHO.

"Bringing together international bodies for investment in global health is more critical than ever before," claims World Health Summit president Axel R. Pries in his contribution for the Global Governance Project. In "Global health: a key political issue", he highlights the importance of international cooperation and how the World Health Summit is increasing its role in bringing multisectoral stakeholders together for global health by jointly hosting WHS 2022 with WHO. 

At the first WHO Hub Speaker Series event in Berlin, Chikwe Ihekweazu, Assistant Director-General for Emergency Health Intelligence, World Health Organization (WHO), discussed with keynote speaker Marion Koopmans, Head of the Department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC, the complexity of pandemics, existing gaps in current health care and surveillance systems and how to build a collaborative approach for pandemic and epidemic intelligence. 

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022

In times of many interrelated, cascading crises, years of progress in eradicating poverty and hunger, improving health and education, and providing basic services have been reversed and threaten reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Using the latest available data and estimates, the newly released SDG Report 2022 provides in-depth analyses on the progress made towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the past year, including SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being. 

Global Health Matters Podcast: Episode on Diversity and Dignity

The Global Health Matters (GHM) podcast hosted by Garry Aslanyan provides an insight to understanding behavior through the lens of diversity and dignity when working with colleagues in the workplace and to adapt programs to be more inclusive. Guests in the episode The future of global health is through diversity and dignity are Marie Ba of Ouagadougou Partnership, an advocate for reproductive health and development across West and Central Africa, and Tom Wein, who is based in Kenya, where he leads research on dignity in development with IDinsight. 

Together with WHO 

October 16-18

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

Updated on August 3, 2022