World Innovation Summit for Health reveals ‘Humanizing Health’ as theme of its 7th global conference

Qatar Foundation’s global health initiative, WISH, to draw attention to pressing health topics including health and armed conflict and the health of vulnerable and minority populations, in collaboration with the WHO

3 September 2024. Doha, Qatar – The theme of this year’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) has been revealed as ‘Humanizing Health: Conflict, Equity and Resilience’.

The seventh conference of the global health initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), will take place in Doha, Qatar on 13 and 14 November, and will highlight the need for innovation in health to support everyone, leaving nobody behind and building resilience, especially among vulnerable societies and in areas of armed conflict.

Lord Ara Darzi, Executive Chair of WISH, said: “This year’s WISH comes at a time of great suffering and inadequate health provision for vulnerable populations, such as civilians in Gaza. It is of the utmost importance that we consider the cost of inaction at a systematic and a human level.

“At WISH 7 in November, it is vital that we make the most of a precious opportunity to look for solutions to pressing global health challenges. The solutions that the global WISH community seek must be equitable and foster resilience; they must humanize health.”  

This year, WISH has entered a strategic partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) – a partnership that involves collaboration in the development of a series of evidence-based reports and policy papers, as well as the support of WHO in a post-summit implementation strategy. With an evidence-based approach to developing innovative, practical solutions to some of global health’s most pressing challenges, the reports aim to provide policy recommendations that deal with how best to provide care at an individual, human level.

Reflecting on the partnership, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General at WHO, said: “WHO is deeply grateful to Her Highness Sheikha Moza, WISH, and Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health for bringing partners together to discuss conflict, equity, resilience and other pressing global health challenges, and to identify evidence-based solutions to promote, provide and protect the right to health.

“As disturbing as the number of conflicts in our troubled world is the increasing frequency of attacks on health care. These attacks deprive people of lifesaving health services at the time they need them most.”

Within the overall theme, November’s global gathering will feature four ‘tracks’, categorizing sessions into sub-themes:

• Health and armed conflict, covering pain management, disability, hunger and mental health
• Health of vulnerable and minority populations, considering TB in refugees and migrants and palliative care
• System level innovation and change, such as antimicrobial resistance and the ethics of AI in health
• Community-led engagement and interventions, including obesity and women’s cancers in the region

The biennial meeting will feature more than 200 experts[DM1] in health speaking about evidence-based ideas and practices in healthcare innovation to address the world’s most urgent global health challenges.