Abu Dhabi Announced As Host City For The 2025 IUHPE World Conference

Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC) has revealed that Abu Dhabi will host the 25th International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference. This event, taking place in the Middle East for the first time, is scheduled from 13th to 16th May, 2025. It will gather experts, policymakers, leaders, healthcare practitioners, and educators worldwide to discuss global health challenges and opportunities.

The IUHPE World Conference aims to enhance global health through education, community engagement, and public health policy development. It will address complex and diverse global health issues such as noncommunicable diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Additionally, it will tackle pandemics caused by emerging diseases, mental health issues, and climate change.

Sione Tu’itahi, IUHPE President, emphasised the importance of collaboration with ADPHC in hosting this significant event. He stated, "given the environmental, economic, and social challenges that threaten the wellbeing of the planet and its peoples, IUHPE greatly values its collaboration with ADPHC to co-host our 25th World Conference on Health Promotion." He highlighted their joint efforts with members like ADPHC and partners such as the World Health Organisation to provide health promotion solutions for global crises.

Dr. Ahmed AlKhazraji, Acting Director-General of ADPHC, expressed pride in Abu Dhabi hosting the IUHPE World Conference. He noted the event's significance in fostering international collaboration and sustainable health development. "Abu Dhabi's selection as the host for the next edition of this event reflects the Emirate’s commitment to excellence in health and its contribution to the enhancement of global health systems," Dr. AlKhazraji stated.

The conference will serve as a strategic platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and advancing health policies. Dr. AlKhazraji added that it would enable unprecedented stakeholder participation from local and global health ecosystems. This collaboration aims to propose solutions for building better health promotion systems for the future.

The previous IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion was held online in May 2022 under the theme ‘Promoting policies for health, well-being and equity’. Hosted from Montreal’s Palais des Congrès in Québec, Canada, it focused on COVID-19 pandemic impacts, geopolitical conflicts, strained public health systems, and climate change-related events.

Keynote Speakers

Notable speakers at this year's conference include Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from WHO; Dr. Rüdiger Krech from WHO; Dr. Cindy Blackstock from McGill University; Sandro Galea from Boston University; Karine Gentelet from Université du Québec en Outaouais; among other renowned experts.

This event provided a timely space for collaboration and system re-evaluation towards transformative health promotion actions. The upcoming conference in Abu Dhabi aims to continue this momentum by addressing pressing global health issues through collective efforts.

The ADPHC looks forward to contributing significantly to these discussions alongside international leaders to tackle common health challenges effectively.

With inputs from WAM