World Health Summit 2021

Science · Innovation · Policies

Patrons of the WHS 2021
Central Topics
WHS 2021 Program
Session Recordings

The World Health Summit 2021 brought together stakeholders from politics, science, the private sector, and civil society to address the most pressing global health challenges during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Held in a hybrid format in Berlin and online, it focused on key issues such as vaccine equity, the role of the European Union in global health, pandemic preparedness, mental health, the economics of Health for All, and the potential of digital and AI technologies for stronger health systems.

6000

Participants in total

1100

Participants on site

377

Speakers

120

Nations

Sessions

Impact

Memorandum of Understanding

Signed between Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on Cooperation in Global Health Projects.

The Lancet X Financial Times Commission

launched the Governing Health Futures 2030 Report

Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB)

launched "From Worlds Apart to a World Prepared", its 2021 report

WHO Council on the Economics of Health For All

presented its new brief in presence of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General and Mariana Mazzucato, Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

"At this year’s World Health Summit, let’s move from alarm to action. And let’s deliver the stronger health systems that every person deserves."

António Guterres

Secretary-General, United Nations

"Improving health for the global population requires strengthening supranational bodies."

Axel R. Pries

World Health Summit President

"The future of medicine is data-driven, as we have seen in the corona crisis."

Heyo K. Kroemer

CEO, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

"Viral diversity studies are only the first step in pandemic preparedness research. The focus needs to be on livestock and intermediary hosts."

Christian Drosten

Director of the Institute of Virology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

"Solidarity is the gold standard in overcoming this pandemic."

Charles Michel

President, European Council

Patrons of the WHS 2021

Angela Merkel Chancellor Germany - WHS 2021 Patron

The COVID‑19 pandemic continues to throw up significant challenges, such as new variants of the virus or the syndrome known as long COVID, which we can only overcome together. I am therefore delighted that in 2021 the World Health Summit is once again bringing together experts working in science, politics, nongovernmental organisations and civil society around the world.

Emmanuel Macron President of the French Republic - WHS 2021 Patron

Ursula Von der Leyen President, European Commission President, European Commission - WHS 2021 Patron

President, European Commission

"In these two years, we have experimented a wealth of creative solutions for our public health: on vaccine sharing, on joint procurement of protective equipment and medicines, on ramping up the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, on preparedness, let alone with the creation of the European Health Union. We are willing to share this experience with the world, and to learn from others who have also explored new solutions. The World Health Summit will be the perfect platform for this."

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO) - WHS 2021 Patron

"In the coming months and years, other crises will demand our attention, and distract us from the urgency of taking action now. If the world continues down the same path, it will continue to get the same result, which is a world that is less healthy, less safe and less fair. Although the pandemic has robbed us of so much, it also gives us a unique opportunity to make real and lasting change for a healthier, safer and fairer future. The World Health Summit is an essential forum for the high-level discussions we need to move towards that future."