DNDi India Foundation at the WHS Regional Meeting 2025
The World Health Summit (WHS) Regional Meeting 2025, held from April 25-27 in New Delhi, convened experts and leaders to work together towards building a healthier future for the region by addressing its most pressing challenges and promoting global health progress. With the overarching theme “Scaling Access to Ensure Health Equity,” the meeting was hosted by NIMS University as a member of the WHS Academic Alliance (formerly M8 Alliance), in collaboration with Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Ashoka University. This Regional Meeting held immense significance for global health, with a special focus on South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indo-Pacific regions.
The Regional Meeting brought together a broad range of stakeholders from all sectors, backgrounds, and regions worldwide. It served as a unique platform to highlight the pivotal role of India and its partners in advancing global health initiatives and focused on timely and relevant topics poised to shape the future of health regionally and globally. Key topics included AI in medicine, digital determinants of health, health and space, manufacturing of health products, scaling health coverage, women’s and children’s health, and integrative health systems.
DNDi actively engaged at the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2025 with the objective to increase visibility, share our expertise and experience in neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and R&D, foster networking through both voluntary connections and targeted one-on-one meetings, and engage in knowledge exchange.
DNDi hosted a panel discussion titled “Leveraging artificial intelligence for transformative drug discovery and development,” which aimed to offer policymakers and young researchers critical insights into AI-driven drug R&D. The session highlighted how AI is accelerating drug discovery by enabling precise targeting, including in previously undruggable diseases, supporting personalized treatment strategies, and potentially lowering R&D costs by streamlining clinical trials.
We were honoured to be part of the session “Kala-azar free future: India’s story of Success and Sustainability”, which spotlighted how India reached the kala-azar elimination threshold in 2023 – a remarkable public health milestone and examined strategies for sustaining this success. As we delved into discussions on sustaining elimination through innovative R&D, stronger surveillance, integrated vector management, and inter-sectoral collaboration, India’s experience offered valuable lessons for global NTD elimination efforts.
The WHS Regional Meeting 2025 provided a valuable platform for reflection, exchange, and forward-looking dialogue on strategies to improve health equity. Among the key insights, participants emphasized the importance of cross-sector collaboration, with strong partnerships across disciplines and institutions being essential for scalable and sustainable impact. Leveraging technology and AI was recognized as a powerful enabler to bridge gaps in healthcare delivery and research and development, particularly in accelerating new drug discovery. The discussions also highlighted the need to build collaborative learning ecosystems, where open dialogue and shared learning among stakeholders drive innovation and inform evidence-based policy. Empowering local systems emerged as critical to achieving lasting change, with community-led approaches at the core. Communication training for medical professionals, investment in primary healthcare, and increased R&D funding – especially in countries like India – were stressed as foundational. India was also seen as well positioned to lead collaboration across the Global South. Lastly, the role of private sector investment, in conjunction with public funding, was seen as vital for long-term, sustainable progress.