Community session: Addressing the Geopolitics of Global Health Challenges Ahead

This session is curated by the World Health Summit. The G7’s engagement with global health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic leads to four lessons about the relationship between global health and geopolitics. They relate to the interface of domestic and foreign policy, the impact of geopolitics on pandemic response, the strategic positioning of health in foreign policy, and the impact on the relationship between low and middle incomes and more powerful countries. These lessons need to be considered in relation to both a pandemic and a geopolitical strategy of the G7. They are further exacerbated by the geopolitical as well as the health dynamics unfolding through the Ukraine war at a global scale. Examples include spread of disease, global food supply shortages and the risk of accidental or deliberate released pathogens or radioactive radiation – all in the context of an information war. The G7 willingness to act on the lessons and new challenges will be a signal of its relevance.