World Health Assembly 2026 Side Event

May 20, 2026

From Crisis to Resilience: Innovating for Health

Side Event at the 79th World Health Assembly

Key Takeaways
Speakers
Moderators
Program
Media Partner

During the World Health Assembly 79, the World Health Summit brought together leaders and experts from government, multilateral institutions, civil society, academia, and the private sector for a timely exchange on how innovation can strengthen health systems and resilience.

Under the World Health Summit 2026 leitmotif, “From Crisis to Resilience: Innovating for Health,” the side event focused on shared challenges, the exchange of experiences, and approaches to strengthening resilience in global health.

Official Media Partner: Foreign Policy

Key Takeaways

Several speakers described the current moment in global health as a period of transition and systemic change rather than a temporary crisis. Discussions focused on rethinking the global health architecture, partnerships, and financing models to build more adaptive and equitable systems for the future. Key takeaways included:

Health resilience requires long-term investment, not emergency-only responses. Speakers emphasized strengthening health systems before crises escalate, including through primary health care, workforce, surveillance, and local manufacturing capacity.
This includes financing for resilience. Speakers called for more coordinated and sustainable financing. Development banks and global health financing institutions highlighted the need for catalytic funding models, co-financing approaches, and investments that strengthen preparedness and prevention rather than reacting only after crises occur.
Trust in the community and authorities emerged as a central theme across discussions on pandemic preparedness, vaccination campaigns, and community health. Panelists stressed that trust cannot be built sufficiently during a crisis; it depends on sustained engagement with communities and strong local health systems.
Primary health care was consistently identified as the foundation of resilient systems. Speakers shared experiences showing that strong primary care networks improve emergency response, vaccination rollout, continuity of care, and community trust. As one example, community health workers were highlighted as essential to resilient health systems. Examples from Liberia and other countries showed how locally embedded health workers improve outbreak detection, maintain essential services, and strengthen health equity.
African leadership in global health innovation and policy was repeatedly emphasized. Speakers noted that African countries are increasingly shaping health agendas through investments in domestic financing, regional manufacturing, digital innovation, and research capacity.
The discussions underscored the importance of health sovereignty and locally driven solutions. Panelists called for financing models and partnerships that support country ownership, long-term sustainability, and equitable participation in global health governance.
Innovation was framed as a tool to improve equity and access. Participants stressed that digital health, artificial intelligence, and new technologies must respond to local realities and reduce disparities, particularly in low-resource settings.
Artificial intelligence in health care offers major opportunities, particularly in supporting overstretched health systems, improving diagnostics, and increasing efficiency. At the same time, speakers highlighted the need for responsible governance, diverse datasets, transparency, and safeguards against bias.
Collaboration across sectors was presented as essential for future resilience. Governments, academia, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector were encouraged to work together to strengthen preparedness, financing, innovation, and implementation.

“We often talk about resilience as something built before disaster strikes. But when you have not seen a dry day in years, you build the ship while navigating the flood.“

Hanan Balkhy

WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region

“We believe innovation should not remain confined to pilot projects but needs to be scaled.”

Hon. Aden Duale

Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health, Kenya

“We are in a transition period and at a crossroads in our international system.”

Axel R. Pries

President, World Health Summit

“We are in a period of rupture and rupture can bring crisis. It means to clearly rethink what you are doing.”

Ilona Kickbusch

Co-Chair, WHS Council

“We are seeing a divergent pattern in the use of artificial intelligence for health across low- and middle-income countries, compared to high-income countries.”

Jay Rajda

Physician Executive for Global Healthcare, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Speakers

Ximena Aguilera

Director, Health Observatory

Universidad Diego Portales, Chile

Dr. Ximena Aguilera Sanhueza is a Chilean physician and public health expert who served as Minister of Health of Chile from September 2022 to 2026. She is a specialist in epidemiology and public health and has been a leading figure in Chilean health policy for decades. She is a founding member and former co-director of the Center for Epidemiology and Health Policies (CEPS) at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago. Earlier in her career, she served as Director of Public Health at Chile's Ministry of Health and has held academic appointments in epidemiology. She brings a strong country-level and political voice to discussions on health system resilience and equitable innovation. Dr. Aguilera now works as Director of the Health Observatory, at the Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile.

Hanan Balkhy

Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region

World Health Organization (WHO)

Dr. Hanan Balkhy Dr. Hanan Balkhy was appointed WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) in February 2024. She is the first woman in this position and serves a five-year term leading WHO's work across the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Before this appointment, she served as Assistant Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. She is a Saudi Arabian physician and infectious disease specialist with extensive experience in infection prevention, control, and antimicrobial stewardship. Earlier in her career, she founded and led the Infection Prevention and Control Programme at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh.

Priya Basu

Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund

The World Bank

Priya Basu is the founding Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund at the World Bank, where she leads global efforts to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response financing. Under her leadership, the Fund has mobilized $3 billion in seed capital and catalyzed more than $6 billion in co-financing for over 75 low- and middle-income countries. Previously, she led the World Bank’s engagement on pandemic preparedness with the G20 and G7 and coordinated the Multilateral Leaders Task Force on COVID-19 with the IMF, WHO, and WTO. Priya has also held senior leadership roles across global health financing, women’s economic empowerment, and development finance, including work on IFFIm, Gavi, CEPI, and the Global Financing Facility. She holds degrees in economics and development studies from Delhi University and the University of Oxford.

Hon. Aden Duale

Cabinet Secretary

Ministry of Health, Kenya

Aden Bare Duale is the Cabinet Secretary for Health of Kenya, a position he has held since March 2025. He is a Member of Parliament for Garissa Township Constituency and has had a long and prominent career in Kenyan politics, including serving as Majority Leader of the National Assembly. Prior to his appointment as Cabinet Secretary for Health, he served as Cabinet Secretary for Defense. He is known for his strong public presence and advocacy on national policy issues. His current role places him at the center of Kenya's efforts to strengthen its national health system and advance regional health leadership.

Jane Halton

Chair of the Board

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)

Prof. Jane Halton is Chair of the Board of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Chair of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. She has held numerous senior international roles, including President of the World Health Assembly (2007) and Chair of the WHO Executive Board, as well as co-chairing the global COVAX mechanism. Her 33-year Australian public service career included nearly 15 years as Secretary of the Departments of Finance and Health. She is also a Professor of Health Policy and Health Security at the Australian National University.

Ambassador Antje Leendertse

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office

Geneva

Antje Leendertse is Germany's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva since August 2025. Her diplomatic career has spanned a wide range of multilateral and bilateral postings within the German Federal Foreign Office. Prior to her current appointment, she served as Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations in New York. She brings extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy, international security, and global governance.

James Nardella

President & Chief Program Officer

Last Mile Health

James Nardella is President and Chief Program Officer of Last Mile Health, where he guides programs strengthening community health systems across Liberia, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone. He oversees Last Mile Health's global advocacy to ensure governments and donors invest in community and frontline health workers. Before joining Last Mile Health, he served as a Principal at the Skoll Foundation, managing a $40M portfolio of social impact organizations. He previously served as Executive Director of Lwala Community Alliance in rural Kenya, where child mortality fell by 63% under his leadership.

Axel R. Pries

President

World Health Summit

Prof. Dr. Axel Radlach Pries is President of the World Health Summit, the leading global platform for health, since January 2021. A physician and physiologist by training, he directed the Institute of Physiology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin from 2001 to 2015, significantly contributing to cardiovascular and microcirculation research. He served as Dean and Executive Board Member of Charité from 2015 to 2022, where he advanced structures for biomedical research and initiated the establishment of the Charité Center for Global Health. Between 2018 and 2020, he led the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) as CEO and from 2018 to 2019 was President of the Biomedical Alliance in Europe. Since 2023, he is also Prorector of the Danube Private University in Krems, Austria.

Jay Rajda

Physician Executive for Global Healthcare

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Dr. Jay Rajda is a senior physician executive at Amazon Web Services. He works with global payors and government health agencies to help them adopt technology solutions to meet their strategic objectives. Prior to this, as Principal Clinical Leader for Amazon Health Services, Dr. Rajda provided clinical leadership for business development and partnerships at Amazon’s virtual-first primary care business. Prior to joining Amazon, Dr. Rajda had several leadership roles at Aetna and CVS Health, where he led population health management initiatives, developed clinical analytic models for clinical decision support and prospective risk prediction, and innovative value-based contracting models. He also led development of virtual care strategies, and digital health products and services. Dual-board-certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics, Dr. Rajda is a licensed physician in New York. He previously practiced primary care and served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester. He received his MD from the University of Mumbai and MBA from the University of Rochester.

Carsten Schicker

CEO

World Health Summit

Carsten Schicker has been Chief Executive Officer of the World Health Summit, the leading international forum for global health, since 2023. Trained as a lawyer and journalist, he has built a career as a strategy and finance executive with more than 15 years of experience leading transformations in multinational corporations and family-owned companies. Before joining the World Health Summit, he was Chief Strategy Officer at Bauer Media Group, a German multi business company. He also held senior leadership positions at Bertelsmann, a German media, education, and services group, and at McKinsey & Company, a leading management consultancy.

Akihito Watabe

Health Specialist, Human and Social Development

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Dr. Watabe has been a Health Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters since 2023, and has concurrently served as a Health Impact Investment Specialist since 2026. He is responsible for technical assistance and lending projects on health financing to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), health impact investment, and the digitalization of health financing, including the introduction of AI technologies. Prior to joining ADB, Dr. Watabe worked as a Program Manager for UHC2030, the International Health Partnership for UHC, a multi-stakeholder partnership co-hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, and the OECD. He coordinated the partnership’s work with diverse stakeholders and led partnership-building, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge management for initiatives such as the UN High-level Meeting on UHC, UN UHC Day, and the State of UHC Commitment review. He also provided technical advice to the UHC Movement Political Advisory Panel. In addition, he contributed to the development of the WHO’s advanced courses and e-learning programs on health financing. Dr. Watabe began his professional career as a medical doctor in Japan and also worked as a public health physician in the Republic of Vanuatu. Before starting his career at the United Nations, he served as a health diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan under the Abe administration, helping launch major UHC initiatives. Dr. Watabe holds a medical license (Social Medicine) and a PhD (Medicine). He also holds an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from LSHTM/LSE and an Executive Master in Change (EMC) from INSEAD.

Moderators

Ilona Kickbusch

Co-Chair

WHS Council

Ilona Kickbusch is a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, Council Co-Chair to the World Health Summit in Berlin and vice-president of the European Health Forum Gastein. She served on the WHO Council on the Economic of Health for All. She has been involved in German G7 and G20 activities relating to global health and the global health initiatives of the German EU presidency in 2020. She advised on the European Global Health Strategy, chaired the international advisory board for the development of the German global health strategy and advised on the establishment of the WHO Hub on Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. She is founder and chair of the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She publishes widely and serves on many other commissions and boards. She is the director of the Digital Transformations for Health LAB, University of Geneva.

Allison Carlson

Executive Vice President

Foreign Policy

Allison Carlson is Executive Vice President of FP Analytics and FP Events at Foreign Policy. She oversees research and convenings at the intersection of policy, technology, and global markets. She previously led FP Analytics’ energy and technology team for more than a decade, focusing on climate and emissions policy and international technology deployment. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Jocalyn Clark

International Editor

The BMJ

Jocalyn Clark is International Editor of The BMJ since August 2022. In this position, she leads strategy to internationalize the journal’s content, contributors, and coverage. She previously served as Executive Editor at The Lancet from 2016 to 2022, and before that as Executive Editor at icddr,b in Dhaka and Senior Editor at PLOS Medicine. She also holds adjunct and honorary professorial appointments at the University of Toronto and UCL Institute for Global Health. She is also a member of the WHS Council.

Andrew Sollinger

CEO & Publisher

Foreign Policy

Andrew Sollinger is CEO and Publisher of Foreign Policy, where he leads the organization’s strategy and growth across media, events, research and audio formats. His previous roles include EVP of Subscriptions at Business Insider, Executive Director of Capital New York, and Managing Director of the Financial Times Americas.

Program

Program | WHS Side Event at the 79th World Health Assembly

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Health resilience requires long-term investment, not emergency-only responses. Speakers emphasized strengthening health systems before crises escalate, including through primary health care, workforce, surveillance, and local manufacturing capacity.
This includes financing for resilience. Speakers called for more coordinated and sustainable financing. Development banks and global health financing institutions highlighted the need for catalytic funding models, co-financing approaches, and investments that strengthen preparedness and prevention rather than reacting only after crises occur.
Trust in the community and authorities emerged as a central theme across discussions on pandemic preparedness, vaccination campaigns, and community health. Panelists stressed that trust cannot be built sufficiently during a crisis; it depends on sustained engagement with communities and strong local health systems.
Primary health care was consistently identified as the foundation of resilient systems. Speakers shared experiences showing that strong primary care networks improve emergency response, vaccination rollout, continuity of care, and community trust. As one example, community health workers were highlighted as essential to resilient health systems. Examples from Liberia and other countries showed how locally embedded health workers improve outbreak detection, maintain essential services, and strengthen health equity.
African leadership in global health innovation and policy was repeatedly emphasized. Speakers noted that African countries are increasingly shaping health agendas through investments in domestic financing, regional manufacturing, digital innovation, and research capacity.
The discussions underscored the importance of health sovereignty and locally driven solutions. Panelists called for financing models and partnerships that support country ownership, long-term sustainability, and equitable participation in global health governance.
Innovation was framed as a tool to improve equity and access. Participants stressed that digital health, artificial intelligence, and new technologies must respond to local realities and reduce disparities, particularly in low-resource settings.
Artificial intelligence in health care offers major opportunities, particularly in supporting overstretched health systems, improving diagnostics, and increasing efficiency. At the same time, speakers highlighted the need for responsible governance, diverse datasets, transparency, and safeguards against bias.
Collaboration across sectors was presented as essential for future resilience. Governments, academia, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector were encouraged to work together to strengthen preparedness, financing, innovation, and implementation.