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World Health Summit 2024 Recap
Recap of the World Health Summit 2024 in Berlin, sharing my learnings & resources from the conference
Sachi Chan
December 04, 2024
In mid-October, I had the opportunity to attend the World Health Summit (WHS) in Berlin, Germany. In today’s newsletter, I wanted to share my reflections and share curated resources from the WHS.
Table of Contents
Enjoy today’s read,
Sachi 💌
How I Got to Attend the World Health Summit
In line with Invite Health transparency, I wanted to share how I found the opportunity. I learned about the conference from one of my friends/MSc classmates Danielle Mullings. Danielle told me a few months ago that she was moderating the “Young Leaders for Healthy Societies” conference, which was a side event of the World Health Summit. The Young Leaders event was a private event, but Danielle encouraged us (myself & some friends) to attend the World Health Summit in Berlin!
I bought a ticket for the conference out of pocket with the early bird student rate. Another one of my friends joined me as well.
Check out some of Danielle’s recaps of the conference on her LinkedIn:
List of International Youth Organizations
Pictured with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Director-General of the WHO!) - everyone wanted a photo with him 😆
One of the most exciting takeaways from the Summit was learning about all the different international youth organizations and their impact! I’ve created a list of these organizations here, and hope that you get a chance to get involved with some of them!
Inspiring Innovations
I love this candid
Inspiring innovations from the conference that stuck with me. I’ve attached relevant research / organizations / initiatives for each of these, please feel free to message me if you have any more!
The role of community health workers (CHW) in healthcare: what roles can CHWs play to support patients and healthcare teams?
Pharma companies launching public health initiatives: what happens when pharma companies seek to prevent the same disease that its drugs treat?
Commercial determinants of health: how can we align commercial activity with public health goals?
City planning as a public health strategy: given that cities play a big role in the social determinants of health, how can we design our cities to promote healthy behaviours?
The role of tech giants in mental health: given that billions of internet searches are related to mental health, how can tech companies make the internet a safe, reliable source for those seeking help?
How to Find and Attend More Healthcare Conferences
To youth, who want to get more involved in healthcare conferences:
Follow event organizers on social media & subscribe to their mailing lists. If you need a place to start, check out my LinkedIn posts and read through previous Invite Health newsletters. Also, take advantage of events hosted by health-related organizations at your school / institution.
If you want to attend a conference but are experiencing barriers, email the organizers. You may be lucky and get a response, and they may be able to accommodate you (read this for the story of how I got to attend the B Corps Festival for free). There is never any harm in asking.
When you see a LinkedIn post of a student sharing a conference recap, reach out to that student asking how they got involved
How to Increase Youth Involvement at Healthcare Conferences
To healthcare conference organizers, who want to increase youth involvement:
Remove financial barriers to attending. Ticket prices, transport, accommodation. And don’t have “early bird” pricing, because that is unfair for those who find out about the conference later than others. Instead, offer a fixed discounted (or free!) youth / student rate.
Otherwise, we get situations like these
Invite youth to be speakers, not just attendees. This gives them a platform to share their work and increases the diversity of thinking at your event. When youth are speakers at these major conferences, they’ll often share that achievement within their own networks (which are often youth!)
Partner with youth organizations to host events and help with promotions (and compensate them!). They can help increase youth engagement and outreach with their existing networks.
Key Takeaways and Reflections from the World Health Summit
Through building Invite Health the past 2+ years, I’ve realized that I’m not just passionate about closing the talent-opportunity gap for young people and students. I am specifically passionate about supporting young people and students find opportunities to create impact in healthcare. Why?
We can’t talk our way out of solving global, wicked healthcare problems. Many people I spoke to at the conference mentioned that healthcare conferences are often “lot of talk, but no action”. I can’t say I disagree. Talking and creating dialogue is a first step, but we need action that follows.
Young people are already taking action. If you need proof, read the past 50+ interviews I’ve done with students on Invite Health! Whether it’s contributing to cutting-edge research, starting non-profits, pursuing higher education, doing advocacy (or a combination of all), young people are trailblazers.
To sustain this, we need to continue connecting young people with opportunities (jobs, education, funding). The attendees of the World Health Summit and those of you who read this newsletter are not that different - you all want to make the world a better place, through your healthcare careers.
The differences lie in the opportunities we have access to, not our talents or capabilities: “talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.” Let’s keep closing the talent-opportunity gap for young people, to invest in a healthier world 💌
-Sachi
Photo taken at the Bradenburg Gate, Berlin 🇩🇪
About Invite Health 💌
I started Invite Health for my younger self who was trying to figure out what to do with my health sci degree that wasn’t a career in medicine.
Today, I’d say this quote is the primary reason I continue to build Invite Health:
“Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not”
The mission of Invite Health is to close this talent-opportunity gap for students in the life and health sciences.
Since 2022, we’re the leading resource for students figuring out what to do with a life sci / health sci degree. I interview students pursuing diverse careers in healthcare, and how they got there - no gatekeeping here. Every newsletter is rich with resources and insights.
Our main channel is this newsletter, and I occasionally share resources on social media (LinkedIn and Instagram).
You can read more about why I built Invite Health here
How to get the most out of Invite Health 🫶
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Bet on yourself: Apply to the opportunities that are shared in the newsletters. You have nothing to lose, and so much to gain. Circling back to point #1 - always reach out to the interviewees if you want advice!
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