By Kemo Cham
The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2026 commenced in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday with high-level discussions focusing on strengthening health systems resilience, advancing universal health coverage, and accelerating practical solutions to emerging health challenges.
Over 2000 global health leaders, policymakers, researchers, and development partners will spend the next two days deliberating on efforts to advance solutions for stronger and more resilient health systems.
The World Health Summit Regional Meeting is convened annually in different parts of the world, separate from the main annual summit, which will be hosted this year in Berlin, Germany. The regional meetings focus on regional health topics local priorities.
The Nairobi event is hosted by the Aga Khan University (AKU), in collaboration the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Health Kenya, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. It is being held on the theme: ‘Reimagining Africa’s Health Systems: Innovation, Integration and Interdependence.’
Kenyan President William Ruto official opened the summit on Monday with a call for urgent and decisive shift in how Africa is positioned within the global health architecture. President Ruto called on African health institutions, governments, donor agencies, and implementing partners to move beyond fragmented approaches and embrace system-wide transformation anchored in ownership, investment, and accountability.
“This imbalance is neither sustainable nor tenable. It calls for a decisive and deliberate shift—from fragmented, piecemeal interventions to comprehensive, system-wide transformation anchored in coherent strategy, financed through both domestic and international capital, and sustained by strong governance and accountable institutions,” he said.
“At the same time, Africa possesses unique advantages that must be fully harnessed which together position the continent as a source of scalable solutions rather than a repository of persistent challenges,” he added.
According to the organizers, the three-day (April 27 to 29) will feature over 80 sessions focused on strengthening health systems resilience, advancing universal health coverage, and accelerating innovation in global health.
Organized and managed by the WHS Foundation GmbH, a subsidiary of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin – the World Health Summit serves as the leading international, strategic forum for global health, bringing together leaders from politics, science, the private sector, and civil society to set the agenda for healthier futures. Its primary role is to promote evidence-based, interdisciplinary collaboration to strengthen health systems, accelerate universal health coverage, and address pandemic preparedness.
Professor Axel Pries, President of the World Health Summit, is quoted saying that the Nairobi meeting reflected the growing importance of Africa in shaping the global health agenda.
“Our role is to convene leaders from across sectors and regions, and the goal is clear: to translate dialogue into practical action that strengthens health systems regionally worldwide,” he said.
“For too long, Africa has been the subject of global health discussions held elsewhere, by others,” noted Professor Lukoye Atwoli, International President, World Health Summit Regional Meeting and Dean, AKU Medical College East Africa.
“Today, with delegates from more than 50 countries gathered on African soil, we are asserting something fundamental: that African institutions, African researchers, and African policymakers are not consumers of global health policy, we are its co-authors. This Summit will move us from the language of intention to the architecture of implementation,” Prof. Lukoye stressed.
Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi,
World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, said the discussions reinforced the importance of scaling proven approaches to universal health coverage through strong primary health care systems.
“This Summit marks a historic first and offers the kind of collaboration required to meet the challenges of the moment,” he said.
“The themes being discussed are deeply interconnected and will result in a blueprint for a new Africa that reflects a shift from addressing individual challenges to building a coherent health ecosystem.”
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the specialized public health agency of the African Union, has been pushing for increased local ownership of the continent’s healthcare, through its recently introduced Africa Health Security and Sovereignty Agenda. Dr. Jean Kaseya, Africa CDC’s Director General, emphasized the growing role of African institutions in shaping the continent’s health security agenda.
“Africa’s health security and sovereignty depend on our ability to finance and build resilient systems at scale,” he said, adding: “The World Health Summit Regional Meeting in Nairobi provides a critical platform to move from dialogue to action, mobilizing investment, strengthening partnerships, and advancing African-led solutions that reduce dependency and expand access to quality health care.”
Other topics on the agenda at the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2026 in Nairobi in the next two days include health financing, workforce development, digital health innovation, and climate and health.
