World Health Summit Academic Alliance calls for the protection of the right to health and greater use of health as a tool for peace and conflict resolution
On the International Day of Peace, the World Health Summit (WHS) Academic Alliance has published a joint declaration calling on leaders at upcoming UN High-Level Meetings and academic institutions to protect the right to health amid conflicts and use health as an instrument for promoting peace and conflict resolution. The WHS Academic Alliance is the global scientific network of the World Health Summit, with 30 member institutions across all regions of the world.
“From Ukraine and Gaza to Sudan, Lebanon, Myanmar, and Iran, attacks on health-care facilities and personnel show that health systems are too often among the first casualties of war, and the denial of humanitarian access has become a tactic of conflict. We are alarmed by the rise in such attacks by state actors and call for accountability under international humanitarian law and UN Security Council Resolution 2286,” reads the declaration.
The world is currently facing the largest number of armed conflicts since 1946 with 59 active state-based conflicts.
“This declaration reinforces the urgency that health should be understood as a fundamental right for all and an instrument for promoting peace, conflict resolution, unity, and betterment of the world.”
Calls to action
The declaration calls on leaders participating in the upcoming UN High-Level Meetings, including the UN High-level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response on September 25, to:
Advance interdisciplinary research on the links between health, peace, security, economy, good governance, and sustainable development.
Support health initiatives that strengthen social cohesion, conflict prevention, and reconciliation.
Build competence, capacity, and confidence of health professionals and health actors operating during and after conflict, oriented toward positive peace.
It calls on academic institutions to:
Embed peace within planetary health concepts, recognising the interdependence of human, planetary, and health security.
Generate gender-disaggregated evidence, advance women’s leadership in health and peacebuilding, protect women health workers, and insist that women shape peace and recovery processes.
The declaration also sets out commitments by WHS Academic Alliance members to:
Sustain scientific collaboration across borders and conflict lines, defend academic freedom, and resist the weaponisation of research.
Convene evidence-informed dialogue in equitable partnership with the institutions, communities, and young people closest to conflict.
About the WHS Academic Alliance
The WHS Academic Alliance (formerly M8 Alliance) is the scientific network of the World Health Summit, bringing together 30 leading academic institutions from all continents. Founded by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in 2009, the Alliance fosters international collaboration, connects the scientific community to inform global health agendas, and supports evidence-based health policy and practice.
Press Contact
World Health Summit Communications Team
communications@worldhealthsummit.org