he World Health Summit (WHS) 2025 will convene on 12 October in Berlin. This year’s theme, “Taking Responsibility for Health in a Fragmenting World,” will focus on improving global health in an increasingly tumultuous world. The three–day forum will center around science–led interdisciplinary approaches to tackling pressing global health concerns.
Context
The 2025 WHS arrives at a time of high hopes and concerning constraints for the future of global health. In May 2025, World Health Organization (WHO) member states adopted an agreement for future pandemic responses. However, while WHO members are unified, the U.S. has withdrawn from the WHO, and the U.S.’s Health and Human Services Secretary has criticized the new pandemic agreement. With the U.S.’s withdrawal from the WHO also comes a worsening financial situation for already–strained global health resources. According to the WHO, health aid is predicted to decrease by 40% in 2025 compared to two years ago. The climate crisis is also having a substantial impact on global health. Climate change can facilitate the spread of diseases and forcibly displace people, underscoring the need for healthcare systems to develop more inclusive and resilient infrastructure.
What’s on the agenda
Heading into this year’s World Health Summit, here’s what you can expect:
Financing global health is the priority. Development assistance for health (DAH) declined by 21% in 2025, with reports suggesting the decline will continue. The 2024 WHS was the largest donor event for the WHO, receiving $1 million in pledged donations. However, as people lack trust in healthcare systems, this year’s summit must convince attendees that successful structural change is possible on a global scale.
Global health, inclusive and meaningful access is under scrutiny. More than 4.5 billion people lack access to healthcare, with women, children, and adolescents often omitted from social protections and thus at higher risk of paying immense sums for healthcare. People living in poorer communities are more at risk for illness and death. Many countries are facing healthcare worker shortages, and those with ongoing humanitarian crises often lack access to operating hospitals or essential medicine. In some cases of ongoing violence, hospitals can even be a target for destruction. While the May 2025 WHO pandemic pact demonstrates the potential for large–scale cooperation in managing global health crises, to address the root of many ongoing healthcare problems, the summit needs to prioritize establishing equitable healthcare.
AI might offer solutions, but only if implemented ethically. AI is already being implemented in many healthcare systems around the world, but as the technology continues to develop rapidly, it is difficult for researchers to evaluate the ethics of its implementation. AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare as it can detect early signs of disease, analyze patients’ records, and share data. There is even potential for AI to bridge gaps in equity by providing medical resources to areas lacking access to healthcare. But AI could also exacerbate the divide in healthcare access, requiring healthcare systems to prioritize meeting the needs of each community.
What they’re saying
- Lifesaving medicines are sitting in warehouses, health workers are losing their jobs, clinics are closing, and millions are missing out on care. But in this crisis lies an opportunity – an opportunity to shake off the yoke of aid dependency, and embrace a new era of sovereignty, self-reliance and solidarity. WHO Director–General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
- Taking responsibility for health in a fragmenting world means recognising that health systems are not just technical structures, but rather are lifelines for individuals and societies alike. Former head of the United Nations Development Program Helen Clark.
In global health we often end up thinking in terms of disease or population groups that need attention but that leads to a neglect of the systemic and structural issues which need to be tackled.Political scientist Ilona Kickbusch.
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World Health Summit 2025 seeks to turn crisis into collaboration
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Berlin is the perennial host of the World Health Summit. Photo by Christopher Sakel on Unsplash
October 11, 2025
As the World Health Summit convenes, the absence of the U.S.—which has financial implications but also makes consensus among WHO member states less meaningful—is being felt. Diplomatic Courier’s Stephanie Gull surveys what we can expect from the summit.
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he World Health Summit (WHS) 2025 will convene on 12 October in Berlin. This year’s theme, “Taking Responsibility for Health in a Fragmenting World,” will focus on improving global health in an increasingly tumultuous world. The three–day forum will center around science–led interdisciplinary approaches to tackling pressing global health concerns.
Context
The 2025 WHS arrives at a time of high hopes and concerning constraints for the future of global health. In May 2025, World Health Organization (WHO) member states adopted an agreement for future pandemic responses. However, while WHO members are unified, the U.S. has withdrawn from the WHO, and the U.S.’s Health and Human Services Secretary has criticized the new pandemic agreement. With the U.S.’s withdrawal from the WHO also comes a worsening financial situation for already–strained global health resources. According to the WHO, health aid is predicted to decrease by 40% in 2025 compared to two years ago. The climate crisis is also having a substantial impact on global health. Climate change can facilitate the spread of diseases and forcibly displace people, underscoring the need for healthcare systems to develop more inclusive and resilient infrastructure.
What’s on the agenda
Heading into this year’s World Health Summit, here’s what you can expect:
Financing global health is the priority. Development assistance for health (DAH) declined by 21% in 2025, with reports suggesting the decline will continue. The 2024 WHS was the largest donor event for the WHO, receiving $1 million in pledged donations. However, as people lack trust in healthcare systems, this year’s summit must convince attendees that successful structural change is possible on a global scale.
Global health, inclusive and meaningful access is under scrutiny. More than 4.5 billion people lack access to healthcare, with women, children, and adolescents often omitted from social protections and thus at higher risk of paying immense sums for healthcare. People living in poorer communities are more at risk for illness and death. Many countries are facing healthcare worker shortages, and those with ongoing humanitarian crises often lack access to operating hospitals or essential medicine. In some cases of ongoing violence, hospitals can even be a target for destruction. While the May 2025 WHO pandemic pact demonstrates the potential for large–scale cooperation in managing global health crises, to address the root of many ongoing healthcare problems, the summit needs to prioritize establishing equitable healthcare.
AI might offer solutions, but only if implemented ethically. AI is already being implemented in many healthcare systems around the world, but as the technology continues to develop rapidly, it is difficult for researchers to evaluate the ethics of its implementation. AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare as it can detect early signs of disease, analyze patients’ records, and share data. There is even potential for AI to bridge gaps in equity by providing medical resources to areas lacking access to healthcare. But AI could also exacerbate the divide in healthcare access, requiring healthcare systems to prioritize meeting the needs of each community.
What they’re saying
- Lifesaving medicines are sitting in warehouses, health workers are losing their jobs, clinics are closing, and millions are missing out on care. But in this crisis lies an opportunity – an opportunity to shake off the yoke of aid dependency, and embrace a new era of sovereignty, self-reliance and solidarity. WHO Director–General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
- Taking responsibility for health in a fragmenting world means recognising that health systems are not just technical structures, but rather are lifelines for individuals and societies alike. Former head of the United Nations Development Program Helen Clark.
In global health we often end up thinking in terms of disease or population groups that need attention but that leads to a neglect of the systemic and structural issues which need to be tackled.Political scientist Ilona Kickbusch.
