IPPNW Germany and medico international invite to this one-day conference. We want to engage different perspectives on Global Health in times of crisis and formulate ideas for joint action towards Health for All.

The coronavirus pandemic and the measures to contain it have brought issues of health care and health policies to the centre of international politics and to grassroots social movements alike. The pandemic has highlighted global connectedness and the fragility of health systems and socio-economic safety nets. Above all, the pandemic has exposed the global divides of our world society, as blatantly illustrated by the unequal distribution of preventive tools and access to COVID-19 treatment and vaccines.

Three years after the first cases of Covid-19 emerged, we are facing several global crises: an ongoing human-made climate catastrophe and environmental destruction that impacts negatively the health and well-being of millions and increases the likelihood for further pandemics. A brutal war of aggression in Europe, that kills, injures and traumatises people every day and leaves thousands more suffering from food insecurity and poverty especially in the global south as an indirect result. At the same time, many poorer countries in the global south struggle to recover from the economic recession that was caused by the global shut-down of the pandemic years while globally the planetary boundaries are demanding a rapid move to a “de-growth” perspective for the global north.

How can we achieve Health for all in the face of these global challenges? What kind of “security” do we need and for whom? What lessons can we as health and social movements draw from the Covid-19 pandemics? How can we live and strengthen solidarity at the intersection of health, peace and justice?