Monash University wins the bid to host 2024 World Health Summit

Monash University has been successful in a bid to host the 2024 World Health Summit Regional Meeting.

The M8 Alliance — the academic foundation of the World Health Summit — has announced Monash University, with support from the Victorian Government, Tourism Australia and the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB), will host the 2024 Regional Meeting in Melbourne from 22–24 April.

Monash is a key contributor to the M8 Alliance, the only member from Australia, and a prominent participant at the annual World Health Summit (WHS) and in 2011 was recognised with co-presidency.

The 2024 World Health Summit Regional Meeting’s theme is ‘Informed Prevention, Informed Care’, with a focus on the Asia–Pacific region.

Agenda-setting has begun around three key topics affecting global health outcomes — thriving communities, geopolitical security and climate change mitigation. The proposed program draws on the global challenges that define the university’s strategic agenda, enabled through a commitment to enhancing the areas of learning, innovation and change to help address these global challenges.

Monash University President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner AC said, “We are delighted to host the 2024 World Health Summit Regional Meeting, and we thank the executive committee for this exciting opportunity to convene one of the most significant events with the world’s public health leaders.”

Gardner looks forward to facilitating an effective forum where strong collaboration and knowledge exchange could take place to address some of the greatest health challenges of our time.

Professor Christina Mitchell AO, Dean of Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, and head of Australia’s M8 delegation, said the recognition reinforced the university’s status as a collaborative clinical and research leader and innovator in the region.

“The World Health Summit embodies a deep sense of collective responsibility among the global health community to create effective channels for exchange between different scientific disciplines and between science, politics and society,” Mitchell said.

MCB Chief Executive Julia Swanson said this bid win for Melbourne is significant as it will be the first time the WHS Regional Meeting has been held in Australia.

“This event will leave a lasting legacy when it brings together key opinion leaders and decision-makers across the globe to Melbourne to produce an M8 Alliance Declaration, providing recommendations to tackle key challenges, influencing policies, investment, best practice and opportunities for government, universities and the health sector,” Swanson said.

Professor Sophia Zoungas, Head of Monash Public Health and Preventive Medicine, presented the Melbourne 2024 bid at the World Health Summit in Berlin last week.

“There is a real sense of excitement about this opportunity. We look forward to working with our partners, including our Pacific and South Asian colleagues, to convene an important event that will strengthen collaborations and advance our collective efforts to address the key challenges for health in our region,” Zoungas said.

Image credit: iStock.com/NilsBV