Welcome Messages

Welcome Message by João Gabriel Silva Rector, University of Coimbra, Portugal

"Challenge and the responsibility will define this first World Health Summit to take place in Portugal. The challenge for Coimbra is to make a significant contribution to the design of effective mechanisms for increasing the provision of high-quality health services to areas of the world where they’re inadequate or nonexistent. The responsibilities involve confirming Coimbra as a center of creation and disseminating knowledge regarding health.

This event will move beyond just proposing solutions towards a more integrative and inclusive approach. In it, special guests, speakers, experts, participants, social communicators, and figures from civil society will work together to identify sustainable responses that are also widely executable.

History shows that we are capable of finding new paths, uniting people and ideas, and developing new alternatives. Portugal has always had – and will continue to have – the capacity to kickstart new trends, spread good practices and generate new concepts.

In a world shaped by the velocity of change, this event will alert us to an impending need – to find new answers to old problems. Technology and novelty are important allies on this journey.

We are living in a unique era. One in which paradigms are being overturned and new planetary dynamics are being established. Portugal has the opportunity to be part of this history, and to present distinct ways of thinking that will influence healthcare in the future.

Together, we can overcome great challenges!"

"As Co-President of the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2018, it is an honor to welcome you to Coimbra in the same year that the M8 Alliance celebrates its 10th birthday!

The University of Coimbra and the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre are the hosts of this important meeting, which is taking place in Portugal for the first time. We are very committed to playing a major role in Global Health as members of the M8 Alliance, an extensive global network of leaders that promotes the development of innovative solutions and effective approaches to Global Health challenges in a changing world.

The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2018 will provide an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of themes such as the management of infectious diseases, governance for health equity in low- and middle-income countries, opportunities and challenges in translating innovation into healthcare, and adapting biomedical education to a changing world.

The strong representation on the part of nations belonging to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) is explained by the close bonds that tie Coimbra to each of them. At this World Health Summit Regional Meeting, we intend to promote the joint development of new approaches and establish fruitful collaborations with both our CPLP partners and our international partners.

It has been a privilege for us to have the opportunity to organize the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2018 in Coimbra.

We hope to honor the purpose of this global health event by engaging participants and prestigious leaders from a wide range of areas and geographies in a broad, intense and fruitful discussion."