KAMPALA – The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2020 will be hosted and organized by Makerere University in partnership with the Government of Uganda.
On October 28, 2019, the World Health Summit International Presidency passed from Tehran University of Medical Sciences to Makerere University through Prof. Charles Ibingira who became the first African International President of the World Health Summit. He takes over from Dr. Ali Jafarian, former Chancellor, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Prof. Ibingira is the Principal, Makerere University College of Health Sciences. Before ascending to this office, he was the Dean School of Biomedical Sciences at the College of Health Sciences.
He is an active General Surgeon and an Assoc. Professor of Anatomy and is a senior researcher in surgery, anatomy, and bioethics. He has mentored and supervised several graduate students and junior faculty and published several papers in international journals.
In his acceptance remarks, Prof Ibingira thanked God for lifting him and Makerere University to such great heights and expressed his delight in Uganda’s hosting of such a significant meeting. He pointed out the health rewards that would accrue from such. He said that Uganda being the only African member of the M8 Alliance was setting fantastic precedence for the rest of Africa.
“Although the health problems that affect us are universal – affecting people even in the developed world, it is important to acknowledge that Africa still has a long way to go in formulating and implementing better health policies for the benefit of its people. This makes a gathering like the 2020 Regional Meeting so crucial, with over 2,000 health professionals and other stakeholders in government and the private sector coming together to exchange knowledge and ideas on how to invest better in health and maximize that to create wealth for our nations. It is a no-brainer that no nation can make steady economic progress when its people are dying and battling poor health,” he said.
Hon. Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health, who is also attending the 11th World Health Summit in Berlin congratulated Prof. Ibingira on this great achievement and said that the 2020 Regional Meeting in Kampala will be a great opportunity for the world to focus on Africa’s health, learn from its successes, and lay strategies for future collaborations.
H.E. Marcel R. Tibaleka, Uganda’s Ambassador to Germany, congratulated Prof. Ibingira for becoming the first African International President of the World Health Summit and for the resultant choice of Uganda as the host of the first World Health Summit Regional Meeting to take place in Africa from the 27th to 28th April 2020.
