WHO: One billion US$ for global health

The motto of the World Health Summit 2024 held in Berlin, Germany, was ‘Building Trust for a Healthier World’. 40 million avoidable deaths caused by disease are to be prevented with the pledged funds. 3,500 participants came together for the high-calibre summit, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Bill Gates.

With the WHO Investment Round under the banner ‘All for Health, Health for All’, donors pledged almost US$700m for the next four years –  with almost US$400m, more than half from Germany. This is in addition to US$300m in prospect already. The distribution of funds is to be organised more quickly and flexibly in future.

The focus of the Summit was on health in the context of climate change, but also on current threats such as Mpox, Marburg virus, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – and also global conflicts. ‘The best medicine is peace. We cannot talk about health alone. There is no health without peace and there is no peace without health,’ said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The international, strategic forum for global health has been held in Berlin every October since 2009. It brings together stakeholders from politics, science, the private sector, and civil society from around the world to set the agenda for a healthier future and well-being for all, in the spirit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.