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 Global leaders, policymakers, healthcare professionals, youth advocates, innovators, and civil society representatives from across countries gathered in Geneva for two high-level global convenings organized by Health Parliament.
The Global Health System Redesign Lab (under the Global Commission for 21st Century Healthcare (GC21CH), was held recently on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly and focused on reimagining healthcare systems for the realities of the 21st century. The convening also featured a special video message from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, who emphasized the importance of collaborative leadership, innovation, and inclusive global partnerships in strengthening future health systems.
The Global Healthcare Leaders Collective (in collaboration with Internet Governance Forum - Dynamic Coalition on Digital Health), was also organised at the United Nations, Geneva. The Collective is envisioned as a global multi-stakeholder sounding board aligned with the World Health Assembly, creating a platform through which diverse stakeholders can contribute perspectives, identify emerging priorities, and provide inputs on the global health agenda well in advance of the World Health Assembly.
The initiative aims to strengthen stakeholder engagement by enabling collaborative recommendations and practical insights to be shared with the leadership of the World Health Organization before and beyond the World Health Assembly.
The convening witnessed participation and interventions from distinguished global leaders and experts including Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, Co-Chair of the Global Commission for 21st Century Healthcare (GC21CH), alongside renowned international experts, thought leaders, senior representatives from organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), WONCA, OECD, UICC, ICN, The Commonwealth, United Nations, IPSF, academic institutions, digital health networks, and youth-led platforms. The sessions focused on building resilient, equitable, digitally empowered, and human-centred healthcare systems capable of responding to emerging global challenges.
Opening the discussions, speakers emphasized that healthcare systems cannot simply be digitized without being fundamentally redesigned. In his remarks, Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta noted that “if you keep investing in a broken health system, you end up making a bigger broken health system,” underscoring the need for structural transformation alongside digital adoption.
Throughout the deliberations, leaders highlighted the growing importance of redesigning healthcare education and professional training to prepare the workforce for an AI-enabled future. Experts stressed that healthcare curricula must evolve beyond conventional clinical models to include digital literacy, systems thinking, ethical AI adoption, governance, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
A major concern raised during the sessions was the inadequate inclusion of young people in national digital transformation strategies. Delegates noted that while 129 countries have developed national digital strategies, youth are either absent or insufficiently represented in most of them, with only 57 countries meaningfully integrating youth participation. Participants strongly advocated for institutional mechanisms that ensure youth voices are embedded in policymaking, governance, and implementation processes.
The discussions also explored the rapidly expanding influence of social media and Large Language Models (LLMs) in shaping healthcare awareness, communication, and public behaviour. Speakers emphasized the need for stronger public awareness initiatives and digital literacy efforts to address misinformation while responsibly leveraging AI technologies to improve healthcare access and community engagement.
Youth wellbeing and emerging societal challenges formed another key pillar of the deliberations. Participants discussed issues ranging from mental health and digital exposure to equitable access to opportunities and future employability in increasingly AI-driven economies.
Leaders further highlighted the need for cross-border credentialing systems to facilitate global mobility of healthcare professionals and strengthen international workforce collaboration. Discussions also focused on the concept of Universal Rx and the importance of ensuring equitable access to healthcare services, medicines, and digital health innovations across populations.
One of the notable policy discussions during the event centred on the concept of an “AI Tax” and innovative financing models that could help governments reinvest the economic gains of AI into public health systems, education, and social protection.
Participants repeatedly emphasized that civil society must play a stronger role in shaping the future of healthcare governance. Community organizations, patient groups, grassroots stakeholders, and frontline voices were recognized as essential contributors to policy formulation and implementation.
The Global Health System Redesign Lab concluded with a collective commitment to continue building multi-stakeholder collaborations and actionable global frameworks for healthcare transformation. Delegates reaffirmed that the future of healthcare must be technologically advanced while remaining equitable, ethical, inclusive, and deeply human-centred.
Several leaders also shared strong calls to action during the convenings.
“As artificial intelligence reshapes how people learn, connect, and make health decisions, we must ensure these technologies expand access, convey information, and reduce, not deepen, inequities,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general, World Health Organization (WHO).
“An emergency care system cannot become a true healthcare system simply by expanding its scope to chronic and assistive care. This mismatch is at the heart of the global healthcare crisis, and we are wrongly expecting it to manage chronic disease, prevention, ageing, and human wellbeing,” said Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, founder and chairman, Health Parliament; Co-Chair, Global Commission for 21st Century Healthcare (GC21CH).
“Purposeful progress looks like building foundations first: the digital public infrastructure, the interoperability standards, and the governance institutions,” said Dr. Alain Labrique, director, Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI (DDA) Department, Health Systems, Access and Data (HSD) Division, World Health Organization.
“Innovation without equity is not progress. The future we should aim for is not artificial intelligence replacing human care, but intelligent systems supporting more humane care,” said Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, president, World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA).
Health Parliament is a global executive think tank that works at the intersection of governments, multilateral institutions, industry, academia, and civil society to drive lasting transformation of healthcare systems worldwide. As one of the few global platforms actively engaging across multiple multilateral bodies, Health Parliament works to translate dialogue into measurable impact through policy engagement, leadership development, innovation, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Through its global forums, strategic initiatives, and policy platforms across regions, Health Parliament amplifies the voices of underserved and vulnerable populations while fostering collaboration between communities, governments, and international institutions. Its mission is to build resilient, inclusive, equitable, and future-ready health systems that are responsive to the evolving needs of humanity in the digital age.
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