Pandemics, stronger health systems on the agenda as World Health Summit 2026 set to open in Berlin

Preparing for pandemics and building stronger health systems are two of the six topics at the World Health Summit, which opens in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, 11 October.

The organisers expect more than 4,000 participants on-site over three days, with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Ghana's president, John Dramani Mahama, among the speakers named for the meeting.

Pandemic preparedness and stronger health systems

The summit's programme puts pandemic prevention, preparedness and response among its six main topics, alongside efforts to make health systems stronger, fairer and ready for the future.

One of the five keynote sessions highlighted by the organisers will focus on financing and governing global health security, while another will examine how health care copes when crises hit.

The summit will also discuss how global health is organised and paid for, health for women, children and young people, the effects of conflict on health, and the relationship between the environment and health.

Global health leaders among speakers

A press release published by the summit on 24 August named the speakers confirmed at the time.

They include Tedros and Mahama, as well as Germany's health minister, Carsten Linnemann, and Ukraine's health minister, Viktor Liashko.

Sania Nishtar, who runs Gavi, the vaccine alliance, is also on the list, alongside Winnie Byanyima, who leads UNAIDS, and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Catherine Kyobutungi, director of the African Population and Health Research Center in Kenya, is also named.

Three other keynote sessions

Beyond pandemic preparedness and health systems, the programme includes a keynote session launching findings from the Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Threats to Health.

Another session will examine governing global health in what the programme calls a multipolar world.

A third will focus on ending preventable deaths among mothers and children.

From Berlin to Nairobi

The World Health Summit was founded in 2009 and is held every October in Berlin.

It is run by the WHS Foundation, which is wholly owned by Charité, Berlin's university hospital.

Each year, the summit is complemented by a regional meeting in a different part of the world.

This year's meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 27 to 29 April and was hosted by Aga Khan University.

The summit said it brought together more than 3,000 participants from over 80 countries.

None of the organisers' material reviewed said whether the Berlin meeting would produce binding commitments, such as funding pledges.

No outcome has been announced.