Under the 2026 leitmotif “From Crisis to Resilience: Innovating for Health,” the World Health Summit looks ahead at a busy year in global health with events across the world.
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Under the 2026 leitmotif “From Crisis to Resilience: Innovating for Health,” the World Health Summit looks ahead at a busy year in global health with events across the world.
Key 2026 dates
From Nairobi to Berlin, these are the key World Health Summit events to mark on your calendars:
WHS Regional Meeting 2026 | April 27-29 | Nairobi, Kenya and online
World Health Summit 2026 | October 11-13 | Berlin, Germany and online
The year will begin with a kick-off meeting to mark the start of the joint WHS Academic Alliance and the Lancet Commission on Academic Responsibility at the Manipal Academy for Higher Education in Dubai in February 2026. The conversation will continue at the Munich Security Conference, where the World Health Summit will host an official side event focused on the nexus of health and security.
WHS Regional Meeting 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya
In spring, attention will shift to Nairobi, Kenya where the Aga Khan University will host the 2026 WHS Regional Meeting from April 27 to 29. Registration is now open.
Looking ahead to the meeting, Prof. Lukoye Atwoli, the WHS International President 2026, says: “We at the Aga Khan University are honored to convene leaders, innovators, and partners to address Africa’s health priorities. The Nairobi Regional Meeting will strengthen collaboration across regions and feed into the World Health Assembly and World Health Summit 2026, ensuring Africa’s perspectives shape the global health agenda.”
Under the theme “Reimagining Africa’s Health Systems: Innovation, Integration, and Interdependence," the meeting will spotlight health priorities in Africa and beyond. Topics on the agenda range from pandemic preparedness to climate change, digital health, and the health workforce.
Following the Regional Meeting, the World Health Summit will convene leaders and changemakers on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly to discuss how the decisions taken in Geneva will translate into equitable, adaptive, and future-ready health systems.
World Health Summit 2026 in Berlin, Germany
The World Health Summit 2026 will take place from October 11 to 13, 2026, in Berlin and online, bringing together leaders to advance solutions for health worldwide. This year’s Summit will focus on how to turn innovation into more equitable and future-ready systems and societies that strengthen health and well-being over the long term.
“Health on a global scale is increasingly under pressure from overlapping and escalating crises. To develop resilient and effective health systems, we need to rethink and innovate how we finance, govern, and deliver health, as well as build partnerships and trust within and beyond the health sector. This is the core of our leitmotif for 2026,” says Axel R. Pries, President of the World Health Summit. “Innovation is a chance but also a necessity to improve health, and it should be understood as an integrating concept. Innovating for health spans medical advances and technology, as well as health systems, governance, and the people who make them work. Using new options wisely in all these areas will be the basis to build resilient health systems globally.”
About the World Health Summit
The World Health Summit is the leading platform for global health. Founded in 2009, it brings together stakeholders from politics, science, the private sector, and civil society to set the agenda for a healthier future. The annual Summit is held every October in Berlin, organized by the WHS Foundation GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The Summits are complemented each year by a WHS Regional Meeting held in a different part of the world, where regional health priorities take center stage.