Over 3000 participants are scheduled to attend the virtual World Health Summit Regional Meeting in Africa scheduled to be hosted at Speke Resort in Munyonyo.

The summit being hosted by Makerere University and the Government of Uganda will run from June 27-30 and is scheduled to be officially opened by President Yoweri Museveni.

Makerere University was in 2019 granted the rights to host the summit scheduled for April 2020 but was postponed to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Due to COVID-19 and the recent developments in Uganda, the whole programme will take place online with cost-free participation. All keynote sessions, panel discussions, and workshops will be broadcast live,” Alex Kakooza, the education ministry permanent secretary said.

Kakooza made the remarks during a press conference convened by Makerere University alongside the health and education ministries to update the media on the summit.

Under the theme Africa’s Journey towards Achieving Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage Amidst the Global COVID-19 Pandemic, the summit will bring together over 200 participants from around the world to discuss diverse topics including COVID-19 vaccines equity.

Other issues to be discussed include stemming the tide of non-communicable diseases in low and middle-income countries, Universal Health Coverage, global health security and health in Africa, inter-sectoral action for health, advancing technology for health in Africa, and the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.

“We are extremely delighted to be leading the preparations for the World Health Summit Regional Meeting, the first ever to be hosted on African soil,” Charles Ibingira the international president of the World Health Summit 2021 said.

He said the conference will have four plenaries and 44 sessions.

The experts according to Dr Muhammad Kiggundu, charged with the publicity of the summit, will be addressed by the health minister of Germany Jens Spahn, and the World Health Organisation director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.