Looking Back on 2025: Maintaining Momentum for Global Health Through Dialogue and Collaboration

18. December 2025 I News from the Hub , News I by : Ugbedeojo Sule

2025 demonstrated the Global Health Hub Germany’s capacity to navigate complexity while remaining true to its mandate: building bridges, strengthening dialogue, and enabling co-creation across stakeholder groups.

Against a backdrop of geopolitical shifts, growing national interests, and a deepening global health financing crisis, the Global Health Hub Germany continued to serve as Germany’s largest and most diverse network for global health. Throughout the year, it sustained political attention to global health, translated expertise into policy-relevant outputs, and fostered collaboration among various stakeholder groups. With a strong focus on community-driven work, political engagement, and public outreach, the Hub showed its ability to adapt, convene, and lead in a rapidly changing global health landscape.

A major highlight of 2025 was the annual Global Health Talk on 10 July. The conference brought together experts from across sectors to discuss how global health is evolving amid political upheaval, tightening budgets, and increasing fragmentation. The programme combined high-level debate on global health financing, governance, and architecture with hands-on formats that translated evidence into action. These included an interactive simulation on global health in conflict settings and an in-depth discussion on non-communicable diseases and mental health ahead of the United Nations High-Level Meeting. The day concluded with a pre-launch of the Lancet Commission’s One Health report, underscoring the importance of integrated approaches for a more resilient future.

Later in the year, the Hub and the German Federal Ministry of Health co-hosted a World Health Summit 2025 side event: Navigating the Heatwave Era: A City Simulation Exercise. Through an interactive tabletop simulation and expert discussion, the event highlighted what effective heat preparedness looks like and why preventable heat-related deaths must be understood as a policy failure.

Community Organizer

At the heart of the Hub’s work is its vibrant network of members and community structures. In 2025, the Hub grew into an active network of over 2,300 members, supported by 13 dynamic Hub Communities. These Communities served as engines for knowledge exchange, joint initiatives, and policy-relevant outputs. A new Community on Hospital Partnerships – Syria was launched, reflecting the Hub’s responsiveness to emerging needs and fragile contexts, with a focus on health systems strengthening and diaspora engagement.

Community engagement was supported by a strengthened management structure. A total of 34 Community Managers facilitated regular meetings and activities, reaching around 450 Community members. Four Community Manager meetings were held during the year, including one in person, alongside two dedicated training sessions. These formats supported peer learning, strengthened coordination across Communities, and reinforced quality standards for outputs and events. The Collaboration Space continued to grow as the Hub’s digital backbone, with 641 registered members using the platform to exchange information, coordinate activities, and collaborate across themes and institutions.

Hub Communities delivered substantial outputs in 2025, including four policy briefs:

Feminist Global Health Policy (Global Women’s Health Community)
Strengthening Global Health in Conflict Settings (Annual Theme Working Group hosted by the Global Health and Migration Community)
Strengthening Germany’s Global Health Response to Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health (NCD Community)
City Diagnoses (Global Urban Health Community)

Communities also hosted a wide range of events. These included a webinar on equity and healthcare access for migrants and refugees (available on our YouTube Channel), a collaborative online workshop on enhancing access to healthcare for displaced and conflict-affected children, and a series of mental health brown-bag lectures addressing care gaps at the European Union’s borders and psychosocial care in Gaza. Across the year, monthly Community meetings regularly featured guest speakers and expert updates, fostering high-level exchange and shared learning. The Community on Pandemic Prevention and Biosecurity additionally contributed expertise to the German Bundestag’s Committee on Health through a statement for the public hearing on the implementation of the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations.

The Hub Communities’ annual theme 2024/25, Global Health in Conflict Settings, concluded with the publication of a policy brief and the presentation of a simulation exercise at the Global Health Talk 2025. This work translated real-world crisis experiences into interactive learning and policy insights. The new annual theme for 2025/26, Artificial Intelligence in Global Health: A Double-Edged Sword, was launched with a kick-off webinar in September and the establishment of a dedicated working group.

Political Dialogue

Political dialogue remained a central pillar of the Hub’s work in 2025. In a year shaped by the German federal election, tightening budgets, and the absence of a dedicated parliamentary subcommittee on global health, the Hub played a constructive role in maintaining political attention to global health and strengthening understanding of global health priorities within the German Parliament.

Four major parliamentary events were organised, including a Parliamentary Breakfast at the start of the new legislative term and a Parliamentary Evening on non-communicable diseases and mental health. In addition, a new event series was launched to introduce global health topics to parliamentary staff, parliamentary group advisors, and representatives of the Federal Government. The first event was held in September in collaboration with UNITE – Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, focusing on global health architecture and financing. A second event followed in December on climate and health, with a particular emphasis on heat and a review of COP30. These events provided structured spaces for exchange between policymakers, parliamentary staff, and non-state actors.

An ongoing interview series, Global Health in Focus, spotlighted political decision-makers and gave insight into government approaches to global health governance, financing, and cooperation. Interviews were conducted with Parliamentary State Secretaries from the Federal Ministries of Health and Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as parliamentary rapporteurs for global health from political parties. Further interviews are planned for 2026.

As part of its political engagement, the Hub also tracked global health commitments in the context of the 2025 German federal election. Analyses of party platforms and a Steering Committee position paper informed broader conversations about Germany’s future role in global health. In addition, the Hub supported the mid-term review of the Federal Government’s Global Health Strategy by relaunching a follow-up member survey in July 2025, giving non-state actors a renewed opportunity to flag emerging challenges, risks, and needed adjustments in light of rapidly shifting geopolitical conditions.

Priority Theme: Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health

Non-communicable diseases and mental health were a defining thematic priority in 2025. Recognizing the growing burden of these conditions globally and the UNHLM, the Hub elevated this topic across platforms and dialogues. The theme was addressed through interviews, articles, a special newsletter, and a dedicated session at the Global Health Talk 2025. A member survey gathered priorities related to the High-Level Meeting, with results discussed with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. In addition, input from Hub members was mobilized during the development of the Zero Draft Declaration for the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on Non-Communicable Diseases. These contributions helped align non-state perspectives with governmental processes at national and international levels ensuring non-state expertise informed international negotiations. A key outcome of this work was the publication of the policy brief on non-communicable diseases and mental health, followed by a Parliamentary Evening in October. This event brought together Hub Communities, non-state actors, ministries, and Members of the Parliament to discuss the paper’s recommendations and strengthen policy dialogue at the national level.

International Cooperation and Sustainable Financing

Internationally, the Global Health Hub Germany maintained active cooperation with partner networks and global actors. The Hub presented its work at the Annual Conference of the Dutch Global Health Hub and facilitated exchanges between German and Dutch Hub Communities. Further dialogue took place with European partners, including the Danish Alliance for Global Health, Global Health Hub The Netherlands, the European Union Joint Action for Global Health Impact, and colleagues from Sweden and France. These exchanges strengthened mutual learning, enriched cross-border perspectives and created opportunities for collaboration.

The year ended on a strong note as the Hub secured financial support from the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust for the upcoming year. This support enables the Hub to expand its strategic work, deepen cross-sectoral and international exchange, and further strengthen its contribution to informed political decision-making. In parallel, the Hub is developing a new strategy that addresses the Hub’s financial sustainability to strengthen Germany’s international positioning in global health in a long-term.

Public Outreach

Public outreach remained strong throughout the year. The Hub’s website attracted an average of 3,000 visitors per month, while the UPDATE newsletter reached more than 3,900 subscribers with a consistently high open rate above 52 percent. The Hub’s LinkedIn community grew to over 8,900 followers, and its YouTube channel continued to expand with explanatory videos and interviews.

More than 45 articles and guest contributions were published, including the Global Health Under Pressure series, which examined the implications of United States funding cuts and shifts in global health architecture. Media engagement was further strengthened through background briefings with journalists, including a press discussion on global health financing, which resulted in coverage in Tagesspiegel Background. In addition, a guest article on antimicrobial resistance authored by a Hub member was published in the same outlet, highlighting the Hub’s role in amplifying expert voices in the public debate.

Looking Forward

Reflecting on 2025, the Global Health Hub Germany reinforced its role as a connector, convenor, and amplifier of diverse global health voices. By deepening community engagement, sustaining political dialogue, strengthening international cooperation, and communicating with clarity and reach, the Hub kept global health firmly on the political agenda. As global health continues to face uncertainty and transformation, the Hub enters 2026 ready to build on this momentum, with a focus on pandemic prevention and preparedness, artificial intelligence in global health, and continued evidence-informed policy engagement.