Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The Signature Event of this year's World Health Summit will support the World Health Organization (WHO) Investment Round, a pivotal moment designed to mobilize resources and deliver a pledge, foster partnerships, and accelerate progress towards achieving global health equity.
WHO launched its first-ever Investment Round in May noting that funding had not kept pace with the Organization’s mandate to promote well-being, prevent disease, expand access to health care, and coordinate the world’s response to a growing number of health emergencies brought on by war, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. It is part of a broader plan to transform the way the Organization is funded heading into an era of climate change, mass migration, pandemic threats, an ageing world population, and turbulent geopolitics.
The launch, on the eve of the Seventy-Seventh World Health Assembly, marked the start of a year-long series of engagements and events, co-hosted by countries, where Member States and other donors will be invited to contribute funds to WHO’s strategy for 2025 through 2028 and show high-level political commitment to WHO and global health.
Holding an Investment Round was one of the key recommendations put forward by the Member State-led WHO Working Group on Sustainable Financing and approved by Member States to make WHO a predictably, sustainably, flexibly funded organization. Member States have also approved an increase in their assessed contributions, on the pathway to providing 50% of WHO’s base budget by 2030. With the Investment Round, WHO is seeking to expand its donor base by mobilizing new contributions from the WHO Member States that have not yet provided voluntary contributions and by tapping into new private sector donors through the WHO Foundation.
The Investment Round will secure funding for WHO’s strategy, the 14th General Programme of Work (GPW 14). The GPW 14 sets a high-level road map for global health and will guide WHO’s work in support of Member States and partners for the 4-year period 2025-2028 to reinvigorate actions needed to get the health-related Sustainable Development Goals on track, while future-proofing health and care systems for the post-SDG era.
The Signature Event of this year's World Health Summit will support the World Health Organization (WHO) Investment Round, a pivotal moment designed to mobilize resources and deliver a pledge, foster partnerships, and accelerate progress towards achieving global health equity.
WHO launched its first-ever Investment Round in May noting that funding had not kept pace with the Organization’s mandate to promote well-being, prevent disease, expand access to health care, and coordinate the world’s response to a growing number of health emergencies brought on by war, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. It is part of a broader plan to transform the way the Organization is funded heading into an era of climate change, mass migration, pandemic threats, an ageing world population, and turbulent geopolitics.
The launch, on the eve of the Seventy-Seventh World Health Assembly, marked the start of a year-long series of engagements and events, co-hosted by countries, where Member States and other donors will be invited to contribute funds to WHO’s strategy for 2025 through 2028 and show high-level political commitment to WHO and global health.
Holding an Investment Round was one of the key recommendations put forward by the Member State-led WHO Working Group on Sustainable Financing and approved by Member States to make WHO a predictably, sustainably, flexibly funded organization. Member States have also approved an increase in their assessed contributions, on the pathway to providing 50% of WHO’s base budget by 2030. With the Investment Round, WHO is seeking to expand its donor base by mobilizing new contributions from the WHO Member States that have not yet provided voluntary contributions and by tapping into new private sector donors through the WHO Foundation.
The Investment Round will secure funding for WHO’s strategy, the 14th General Programme of Work (GPW 14). The GPW 14 sets a high-level road map for global health and will guide WHO’s work in support of Member States and partners for the 4-year period 2025-2028 to reinvigorate actions needed to get the health-related Sustainable Development Goals on track, while future-proofing health and care systems for the post-SDG era.




![Signature Event #WHS2025 – Taking Responsibility for Health in a Fragmenting World
The event convened leading voices, who called for health to be recognized as both a political choice and a strategic investment – one that strengthens equity and resilience, fosters stability, and drives sustainable growth.
The conversation underscored that credible leadership, supported by sustainable financing, is essential to navigate converging crises - from pandemics and climate impacts to geopolitical tensions.
Nina Warken, German Federal Health Minister, emphasized: “Germany is and remains a reliable and committed partner of the World Health Summit, and also of WHO. In view of the current challenges, it is more important than ever to engage in constructive dialogue and work together to strengthen global health. The World Health Summit offers a good opportunity to deepen cooperation with international partners.
Highlighting the critical importance of effective leadership, financing and strategic questioning of oneself in global health preparedness, Jane Halton, Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in Norway, states: Every country will need to unlock resources. We must mobilize health security funding- going beyond traditional ODA spending. Tracking outcomes is essential. We are going to recommend benchmarks, not targets. But those benchmarks should enable you to ask yourself: Are you spending enough to meet this need?
In a fragmenting world, collaboration among actors on all levels is the most powerful remedy. It highlights how collective responsibility, grounded in equity and solidarity, can foster health, peace, and global stability.
“In our divided and turbulent world, investing in public health has never been more essential, both as the foundation of stable and secure societies, and as a bridge to peace between communities and nations,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “We call on all countries and partners to focus on what matters most: the people we serve, and to harness the power of science, partnership and innovation to build a healthier, safer and fairer future.”
The Signature event concluded on a positive note, with remarks from Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management and Equality: Our world has some cracks but it is not completely broken. It needs a transitional phase […] and we will repair it together, and make it stronger and more human.
#GlobalHealth #HealthForAll #WHS2025 Signature Event #WHS2025 – Taking Responsibility for Health in a Fragmenting World](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vZabOpfijso/mqdefault.jpg)





