Berlin, October 12, 2023 

The World Health Summit, one of the most important strategic conferences on global health, opens this Sunday in Berlin. The focus will be on topics such as climate change and health, pandemic prevention, digital technologies, the role of the G7 and G20 in global health, 75 years of WHO. The three-day conference from October 15-17 is held under the theme “A Defining Year for Global Health Action” and brings together several thousand representatives from academia, industry, politics, civil society, and international organizations from all regions of the world. Expected are well over 300 speakers and around 20 international ministers from e.g. Ghana, Germany, Malawi, Belgium, and Côte d'Ivoire.

The entire World Health Summit 2023 is open to the press.

The entire program with over 60 sessions will also be available live online for free for people around the world who may not be able to attend the event in person.

In the run-up to the conference, World Health Summit President Axel R. Pries called the global community to action. The challenges in global health are immense, he said, with climate change playing a central role: "Climate catastrophe is the greatest threat of our time to people and all life on earth. The impact of climate change on health is one of the most urgent global health issues and one of the central themes at the World Health Summit. The stakes are high and only by working together as 'team earth' do we have a chance to tackle the challenges."

Speakers 2023 include:

1. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO)

2. Karl Lauterbach, Federal Minister of Health, Germany

3. Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany

4. Steffi Lemke, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Germany

5. Pierre N'Gou Dimba, Minister of Health, Côte d'Ivoire

6. Lariba Zuweira Abudu, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ghana

7. Jean Kaseya, Director-General, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)

8. Inger Ashing, CEO, Save the Children International

9. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, World Health Organization (WHO)

10. Christian Drosten, Director, Institute of Virology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

11. Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

12. Mike Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO)

13. Githinji Gitahi, Global CEO, AMREF Health Africa

14. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Women in Global Health (WGH)

More on speakers and program

The official opening ceremony with e.g. German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, Ayoade Alakija, medical doctor from Nigeria and WHO Special Envoy, Youth Envoy to the President of the UN 27th Climate Change Conference (COP27) Omnia El Omrani, as well as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who will join live digitally, will take place on Sunday, October 15, at 6:00 PM CEST.

More on the opening ceremony

The final session takes place on Tuesday, October 17, at 4:00 PM CEST. It will wrap up the conclusions of three days WHS and present future perspectives.

More on the final session

Online participation is possible for free without prior registration, all livestream links are available in the respective session in the online program and during WHS 2023 at www.worldhealthsummit.org. Video and audio material can be used upon request. Credit: World Health Summit

Recordings of all 60+ sessions:

www.youtube.com/worldhealthsummit The World Health Summit is the world's leading international strategic forum on global health. The WHS 2023 is once again held under the patronage of the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the French President Emmanuel Macron, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The World Health Summit strengthens collaboration and open dialogue guided by science, fosters global health as a key political issue, and promotes the global health debate in the spirit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. President of the World Health Summit is Axel R. Pries, and the International President 2023 is Adnan Hyder, Senior Associate Dean for Research, Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, USA.