By Joke Kujenya
THE ONGOING World Health Summit (WHS) 2025 has entered its second day in Berlin with a resounding call for renewed global cooperation, equity in healthcare, and digital transformation that leaves no country behind.
Under the theme “Taking Responsibility for Health in a Fragmenting World,” more than 4,000 delegates from over 100 countries have converged in person, with thousands more joining virtually, including JKNewsMedia.com to rethink the foundations of global health in an era marked by political division, economic uncertainty, and climate disruption.
The summit, co-hosted by Germany’s Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the World Health Organization (WHO, runs from October 12 to 14, featuring more than 70 plenary and parallel sessions addressing key questions of financing, governance, and technological innovation in health systems.
The opening day focuses on “Urgency and unity amid global strain.” The atmosphere at Berlin’s new conference venue was both solemn and hopeful as world leaders, health ministers, and scientists took the stage on Sunday for the official opening.
In his keynote, Dr Axel R. Pries, President of the WHS, urged delegates to “transform collective responsibility into collective action.”
He warned that global health “can no longer survive as an island of goodwill in a sea of fragmentation,” referencing widening disparities in healthcare funding and access between high- and low-income nations.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, who addressed the audience virtually, called for “a new social contract for health,” emphasising that the lessons of COVID-19, climate change, and conflict must drive reform. “Health is a political choice,” he said. “Every nation must decide whether to build walls of protectionism or bridges of solidarity.”
Financing the future: from pledges to partnerships
A major highlight of Monday’s sessions centred on financing global health systems. Leaders from the World Bank, the Global Fund, and African Development Bank debated how to design more resilient financial architectures that can weather shocks without collapsing vital services.
The AfDB representative outlined plans to expand sovereign health investment funds across African nations, integrating healthcare with broader social protection schemes. Meanwhile, participants from Latin America and Southeast Asia pushed for a global mechanism to insure poorer countries against health emergencies — a proposal echoed in the plenary titled “The Economics of Preparedness.”
Speakers urged a pivot from emergency-driven donor funding to sustained domestic investment. “We must end the cycle of panic and neglect,” said Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, arguing that financial sovereignty is a prerequisite for sustainable health equity.
On technology, innovation sessions dominated Monday afternoon. The unveiling of the Planetary Health Axis System (PHAS) by Peking University drew particular attention.
The AI-powered platform maps the relationship between environmental change and human health outcomes, offering predictive insights into disease patterns driven by pollution, land use, and climate variability.
Digital health experts from Africa and Asia explored how telemedicine, mobile diagnostics, and AI triage can close access gaps in remote regions, but only if supported by strong regulation and inclusive data governance.
“Technology is not neutral,” warned Prof Agnes Binagwaho, former Health Minister of Rwanda. “If the global digital health revolution excludes the poorest, we risk reinforcing the inequities we claim to solve.”
Antimicrobial resistance, described as the silent pandemic got noted as one of the most heated debates, focused on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and revealed as the “slow-burning pandemic” that could undo decades of medical progress.
WHO officials presented new data showing antibiotic-resistant infections already claim more than 1.2 million lives annually and said it is a toll expected to triple by 2050 without urgent global coordination.
Delegates therefore called for coordinated investment in new antibiotics, public awareness campaigns, and equitable access to diagnostics.
Germany’s Health Minister, Prof Karl Lauterbach, particularly announced a new €250 million research partnership aimed at developing next-generation antimicrobials in collaboration with African and Asian research institutions.
There were also other voices from the margins. Beyond the plenary halls, the summit’s side events also had spaces for youth advocates, civil society organisations, and local health workers to press their concerns directly to global decision-makers.
The Youth for Health Equity Forum, a first-time WHS feature, challenged policymakers to integrate youth leadership into global health governance.
“The people most affected by inequity must have a seat at the table, not just in the audience,” said Kenyan activist Mercy Odede.
Representatives from small island nations also used the platform to highlight the health costs of climate change — from dengue fever surges to water insecurity.
“For us, health is survival,” said Dr Selina Tau, a delegate from Fiji. “The climate crisis is a health crisis.”
Looking at what lies ahead, the summit moves toward its closing day on Tuesday. Attention then turns to the anticipated Berlin Declaration on Global Health, expected to outline commitments to fair financing, stronger local health systems, and cross-sector collaboration.
Also, upcoming sessions will address noncommunicable diseases, food security, and mental health, alongside high-level roundtables on integrating climate resilience into healthcare infrastructure, the world health leaders declare.
Other observers expect several new partnerships to be announced including a joint digital health strategy between the European Union (EU) and African Union (AU), and an expanded Global Pandemic Preparedness Fund (GPPF).
And on the bigger picture, the WHS 2025 said at its heart is the need to reflect a world struggling to reconcile fragmentation with shared vulnerability.
So, from Berlin’s hybrid halls, one clear message is what they are projecting: health security cannot be achieved in isolation.
