Chancellor Merkel and WHO Director-General Tedros open international hub for pandemic preparedness on Wednesday in Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will open the World Health Organization's (WHO) international pandemic preparedness center, the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin. Chancellor Merkel will also be recognized by WHO for her commitment to global health.
The aim of the WHO Hub is to detect, prevent, and respond to future pandemics at an early stage. Partners of the international Hub include Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The opening ceremony is co-organized by the World Health Summit.
"The new WHO Hub is an important signal for Berlin as a center of science, where major players from the fields of health and digitization come together. It is also a clear signal for international research cooperation: without cooperation, the problems of global health cannot be solved. This is one of the fundamental lessons of COVID-19: viruses do not stop at borders," says World Health Summit President Prof. Dr. Axel R. Pries, who is also Dean of Charité.
Opening of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence:
Wednesday, September 1, 2021, 3:00 - 4:30 PM (CEST) followed by a virtual press conference.
Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, Luisenstr. 58/59, 10117 Berlin, Germany T
he opening event and the press conference are available as livestream: https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2021/09/01/default-calendar/inauguration-of-the-who-hub-for-pandemic-and-epidemic-intelligence
Speakers of the inauguration:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General World Health Organization (WHO)
Jens Spahn, Federal Minister of Health
Michael Müller, Governing Mayor of Berlin
Michael J. Ryan, Director WHO Health Emergencies Programme
Fabiola Gianotti, Director General CERN
Katalin Karikó, Senior Vice President BioNTech
Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
Sabine Gabrysch, Professor of Climate Change and Health, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) & Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
A TV pool has been set up: RTL will provide the signal.
Press conference:
4:30 – 5:15 PM (CEST)
Jens Spahn, Federal Minister of Health
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General World Health Organization (WHO)
Michael J. Ryan, Director WHO Health Emergencies Programme
Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
Journalists are cordially invited to join the press conference via Zoom. Link: https://who-e.zoom.us/j/95788620647 Passcode: Berlin%HUB
Press contact WHO:
Christian Lindmeier
mediainquiries@who.int
The World Health Summit is one of the world's leading strategic forums for global health. Under the traditional patronage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Health Summit brings together leading international experts from science, politics, industry and civil society. Every October, more than 300 speakers and 6,000 participants come together in Berlin and online to set the agenda for a healthier future.
The World Health Summit 2021 will take place from October 24-26. Speakers include EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Charité virologist Christian Drosten and UNICEF Director Henrietta Fore. www.worldhealthsummit.org
