The organisations Médecins Du Monde, the German Red Cross, the Berlin Chamber of Physicians and Médecins Sans Frontières, in cooperation with Greenpeace and Oxfam Germany, will host this year’s Humanitarian Congress Berlin. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be held purely virtually. From 26th to 30th October, experts will meet in online forums and video chats under the motto Exposing Power & Privilege in Times of Crisis. Using networking tools and a virtual exhibition, the Humanitarian Congress Berlin will focus on topics such as social inequality, the decolonisation of humanitarian aid and the humanitarian consequences of climate change. Organisations can register with a virtual stand until 16th September; the fee is 200 euros. Normal participants can register free of charge. Registration and further information on the event can be found here.

The World Health Summit (WHS) 2020 will take place from October 25th to 27th in Berlin – and for the first time also as an online event. Visitors can participate in the conference on-site, as long as hygiene rules are adhered to. Additionally, this year all sessions will be available online. Central topics of the conference are Universal Health Coverage, pandemic preparedness, universal access to healthcare services and the strengthening of healthcare systems. More information on the topics and registration can be found on the WHS-website.

This year, the UNITE Global Summit will take place on September 7th and 8th as a digital event. The focus of the UNITE Global Summit is on infectious diseases and the elimination thereof. Members of parliament, researchers, as well as representatives of civil society and multilateral organisations will come together in online panel sessions to commit policy makers to the achievement of the UN SDGs over the next decade. Registration and further information on the event can be found on UNITE’s website.

The Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health (ITMIH) of the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin is offering a live-webinar on the topic of “Global Oncology – Clinical, Social and Political Challenges” from June 8th to June 12th 2020. The focus of the event will lie on health disparities in the treatment of cancer from a global perspective. The course will take place on a daily basis from 9 to 16 o’clock as part of the Master’s Programme “Global Health”. However, it is accessible for applicants worldwide. Further information to the fee-based course can be found on the Charité-website here.

Attention: The application platform of the Hospital Partnerships is opening from May 15th to June 22nd for the new funding round. Applicants can find information and the link to the open application platform directly on the homepage https://www.hospitalpartnerships.org/. Institutions in Germany, which are involved in a partnership with healthcare institutions in low- and middle-income countries can apply for funding. More information on the funding and the application process can be found here as well as in a short video.

On April 29^th the webinar “Building resilience and promoting planetary health: the relevance of gender-just solutions in times of COVID-19” will take place from 6 to 7.30 pm (Central European Time). The virtual session is organized by the German Alliance for Climate Change and Health (“Deutschen Allianz Klimawandel und Gesundheit”) together with the Institute For Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam and the Organisation Women in Global Health Germany. The focus of the lecture is on how the concept of planetary health unites the principles of sustainable development and human health. Another issue will be the significance of gender for the handling of the coronavirus-epidemic and climate change. Maike Voiss from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) and Dr. Nicole de Paule from the IASS will be participating as speakers. The registration link as well as further information to the webinar can be found here.

The regional meeting of the World Health Summit originally planned from April 27th-28^th in the Ugandan capital Kampala will be postponed due to the Coronavirus-outbreak. A new date will be released here shortly. Further information and room for exchange concerning the Coronavirus is offered by the World Health Summit on their COVID-19 Platform.

This regional event will focus on Africa's continued realisation of Universal Health Coverage in line with the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The primary themes are the health of African youth, the utilisation of technology in health, and the implementation of an intersectional approach to health. Makerere University in collaboration with the Ugandan government will host the regional meeting for interested stakeholders from the medical, research, and political sectors. Further details can be found on the homepage.

The 2nd international network meeting of the Hospital Partners Initiative will take place in Berlin, Germany on the 10th and 11th of February 2020. It will focus on the theme "Strengthening Midwifery". It will be run as a workshop led by MNestor Moyo, a specialised trainer, during the two days. The overall objective is to encourage a peer exchange between hospital partners to identify synergies and strengthen knowledge sharing between hospital partnerships in order to improve their management, implementation, and health outcomes in the respective field. Moreover, the goal is to foster a discussion on how hospital partnerships can contribute to midwifery education as a key solution to the challenge of providing universal and quality maternal and newborn care to meet Sustainable Development Goal 3.1.

The Hospital Partnerships Initiative – Partners strengthen Health will be present at the Humanitarian Congress in Berlin on October 17th and 18th, 2019. About 850 international experts and those with an interest will meet at the Urania Berlin e.V. to discuss current issues within the field of humanitarian action. This year’s event will focus on the climate change and its impact. The congress participants have the opportunity to inform themselves and seek advice at the booth of the Hospital Partnerships Initiative. The Humanitarian Congress is an annual event organized by Médecins Sans Frontières, Médecins du Monde, German Red Cross and Berlin Chamber of Physicians.

Further information can be found on the official website of the Humanitarian Congress.

This two-day networking meeting between hospital partnerships in Malawi is scheduled to facilitate dialogue on hospital partnerships. Having representatives from the Ministry of Health take part should help strengthen national health systems.

The objective of the workshop is for the 40 participants – including partners, and representatives of government, GIZ and the ESTHER Alliance – to discuss how hospital partnerships can improve the quality of care in line with needs and make their results measurable. The agenda also includes two visits to partnership projects in Malawi.