Newsletter 11/2022: Climate Change & Health, WHS Regional Meeting, WHS 2022 Special Moments

Dear friends,

This month the world watched closely what political leaders were discussing at COP27 to counter climate change and its severe, all-encompassing effects. The climate crisis is a dominating threat of our time, which requires painful actions now to avoid catastrophic developments and irreversible damage to our planet - this "mission unthinkable" needs the cooperation and consolidated efforts by politics, industry, research and the civil society in an unprecedented intensity. We need to save our planet and our children's future and COP27 left many open questions.  

At the World Health Summit 2022, many sessions made it quite clear that the health of humans, but also of animals and the planet as whole is at stake. Now we need to "move from alarm to action", as UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his opening speech.

To achieve that, we need more concerted action on the political level. The upcoming World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2023 in Washington DC, USA will present an optimal opportunity to discuss these issues further.

Please join us and save the date: April 13, 2023.

Stay healthy and safe!

Let's start with some newly evaluated figures on speakers and on-site participants of the World Health Summit 2022 co-hosted with WHO.
Speakers and on-site participants truly joined from all over the world and the number of representatives from low- and middle-income countries was increased significantly:
- Almost 60% of all 404 speakers came from non-G7 countries, 20% from non-OECD countries, 14% from the African continent.
- Almost half (45%) of the speakers were affiliated with politics, followed by civil society with 26%, and 10% of the WHS 2022 speakers came from the private sector.

If you want to know more numbers, e.g., on gender parity (yes, we reached our goal) and missed them in our previous newsletter - here they are.

Three days in 4:30 min: Watch the WHS 2022 movie to see highlights and special moments, enjoy memories, and get global health insights from speakers and participants.

Listen to diverse calls for action and analyses by more than 140 speakers from around the world: all 61 sessions are available on YouTube.
As of end of November, the recordings have been watched more than 21,000 times on the World Health Summit YouTube channel.

"The recent World Health Summit reminded us that better health for all is not just a priority for the health community but is also a societal imperative as a healthy population underpins strong economies and thriving communities."
Read the recent Devex article as well as many other media reports on our In the Media page. 

"At the event, WHO expanded partnerships with civil society and advocates, and formalized strategic engagements with non-traditional stakeholders - relationships critical to reaching global health goals."
Read WHO's article on the first time as the co-host of the World Health Summit.

Get a comprehensive overview of media coverage, social media activities and much more in the World Health Summit Media Report 2022. 

#WHS2022 Takeaways feature some of the many insights gained from this year's diverse speakers on the World Health Summit social media channels. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook to not miss any news.

Find a large selection of photos taken at WHS 2022 in our flickr gallery

Save the Date

World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2023
Washington DC, USA & Digital
April 13, 2023

Hosted and organized by the following US-based M8 Alliance members George Washington University, CUGH, AAHCI
in association with the other US-based M8 Alliance members Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and the United States National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as part of IAP.

Under the theme of "Bridging the Science to Policy Gap – Opportunities for Academia", the Regional Meeting 2023 will highlight the essential role of evidence-based science for the development of global health policy.

The host's website with information on participation, program, and speakers will go live in the next days. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and check our Regional Meeting subpage for updates.

COP27: Loss and Damages Fund 

The COP27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh ended with an agreement to establish a "loss and damages" fund to financially support developing countries in paying for damages attributable to climate change. Its size as well as specific contributions remain unresolved. Hopes of an agreement to end the use of fossil energy sources were also not met during the two-week meeting, yet the "loss and damages" fund could provide valuable support for those countries most affected by the consequences of climate change.

Read the press release

G20: Bali Declaration

In the 16 pages long final declaration of the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Bali, two pages focus on the tasks ahead related to health. Besides the necessary cooperation between Ministries of Health with Ministries of Finance to make sustainable investments in the global health infrastructure, the leaders recognize the importance of strengthening local production capacities for diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines as an important aspect to recovering from the current pandemic and improving preparedness for future pandemics. The G20 presidency is passed on to India in December 1.

Read the declaration

Virchow Prize: Nominate the Next Laureate

The Virchow Prize for Global Health, awarded for the first time in 2022 in the framework of the World Health Summit, has opened the nomination phase to find its 2023 laureate. Nominations can be submitted until the end of March. The Virchow Prize honors significant contributions towards strengthening global health through lifetime achievements and long-standing engagement.

Get more info