meeting was held from april 13–14, 2015, in kyoto, japan. it was organized along three tracks: "challenges in a rapidly aging society"; "preparedness & resilience to disaster"; "fostering the next generation of global health leaders". 600 participants attended this whs regional meeting. the world health summit geneva meeting was held from april 19–21, 2016. it was a cooperation of the geneva health forum and the world health summit. the motto was “global health: sustainable and affordable innovation in healthcare”. in 2017, the fifth whs regional meeting was held in montreal, canada, under the theme "health and healthcare delivery in pluralistic societies". central topics were: new frontiers in medical treatment; health and healthcare delivery for specific groups; environmental, social and cultural determinants of health; and medical education for optimal healthcare. the world health summit regional meeting portugal, coimbra took place from 19 to 20 april 2018. central topics: "managing infections diseases in developing countries", "global policies for health coverage in low-income countries", "opportunities and challenges in translating innovation to healthcare" and "biomedical education to a changing world". the world health summit regional meeting took place on kish island, iran, from april 29–30, 2019, with the motto "united together for global health". more than 700 participants from 47 different countries attended. the world health summit regional meeting in kampala, uganda, scheduled for 27–28 april 2020, had to be postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic. in 2021, the world health summit regional meeting took place from june 27–30 in kampala, uganda. in 2022, the world health summit regional meeting took place from june 15 to 17 in rome, italy and was organized by sapienza university of rome. the world health summit regional meeting 2023 will take place on april 13 in washington dc, usa and online. it will be held under the theme 'bridging the science to policy gap for global health' and is organized by the george washington university milken institute school of public health, the consortium of universities for global health (cugh), and the association of academic health centers international (aahci). criticism and engagement the world health summit has been criticized by thomas gebauer, director of medico international, as an "elitist club of decision makers", that ignores both the social factor of global health issues and the notion of health as a human right, but rather serves particular interests. thus, in 2009, this frankfurt-based organization initiated an alternative conference as a form of protest against the world health summit. founding president of the world health summit, professor dr med detlev ganten, has consistently displayed a readiness to engage in constructive discussion with critics, inviting participants of the 2009 alternative conference to attend the world health summit 2010 and, thus to enter into a dialogue. role of the m8 alliance the m8 alliance of academic health centers, universities and national academies is an academic network of institutions of education and research, including national academies where these exist. it was first officially inaugurated in 2009 on occasion of the first world health summit. this international network provides the academic foundation to the world health summit. according to the m8 alliance profile, the network seeks to improve global health and works with political and economic decision makers and civil society to develop science-based solutions for health challenges worldwide. it was created as a permanent platform for framing future considerations of global medical developments and health challenges. a key role of the m8 alliance is to provide an academic foundation to each world health summit, with members contributing to topics and program development. members of the global m8 alliance the m8 alliance consists of 28 members and affiliated observers spanning every continent. after the second world health summit 2010, the university of são paulo and the national university of singapore joined the network. the university of montreal and the institut de recherches cliniques de montréal followed in 2012. the first african representative to join in 2013 was makerere university from uganda. the 17th member became the university of geneva in 2014, followed in autumn 2015 by the national taiwan university, coimbra health (portugal) and the sapienza university of rome. in 2016 the tehran university of medical sciences was admitted, followed in 2017 by istanbul university (turkey) . in 2019, the karolinska institute (sweden), the milken institute school of public health at george washington university, washington, dc (usa) and the consortium of universities for global health (cugh) were added. in 2020, the united nations university international institute for global health and the american university of beirut, lebanon joined the m8 alliance. charité – universitätsmedizin berlin, germany johns hopkins university (bloomberg school of public health), baltimore, usa kyoto university (graduate school of medicine), japan imperial college, london, united kingdom london school of hygiene and tropical medicine, united kingdom makerere university, kampala, uganda monash university melbourne, australia université de montréal, canada institut de recherches cliniques de montréal, canada sorbonne paris cité, france university of são paulo, brazil national university of singapore (yong loo lin school of medicine), singapore university of geneva, switzerland geneva university hospitals, switzerland interacademy medical panel (iamp) association of academic health centers international (aahci) peking union medical college and chinese academy of medical sciences russian academy of medical sciences , moscow coimbra health, portugal sapienza university of rome, italy national taiwan university, taiwan tehran university of medical sciences, iran istanbul university, turkey consortium of universities for global health (cugh) karolinska institute, sweden milken institute school of public health at george washington university, washington, dc, usa american university of beirut, lebanon united nations university international institute for global health the m8 alliance secretariat is based at the charité – universitätsmedizin berlin at the mitte campus. english is the operating language of the group and the world health summit.