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Trailblazers with Garry: a conversation with Axel Pries
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"Trailblazers with Garry" is a series from Global Health Matters, where host Garry Aslanyan sits down with trailblazers — thinkers, leaders and influencers shaping the future of global health — for short face-to-face conversations, available in both audio and video formats. It’s a chance to get to know the people behind the work and hear their perspectives on the current global health landscape.
For this episode, Garry sat down with Axel Pries during the World Health Summit in Berlin in October 2025. Axel is the President of the World Health Summit, based in Germany. He is a medical doctor by training and a professor of physiology, with a long career spanning research, academia and leadership. Together, they explore how the World Health Summit is working to transcend silos in global health, the shared values needed in a changing world and why good communication is essential in shaping the global health narrative of the future.
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Welcome to Trailblazers with Gary, a serious but global health matters podcast. I'm your host Gary Slanin. In this series, I sit down with Trailblazers in Global Health for short face-to-face conversations which you can listen to in audio or watch the video. It's a chance to get to know the person behind the work, hear their stories, and gain their perspectives on current global health landscape. Join me as we explore the people, places, and ideas driving global health forward. Let's get started. For this episode, I had the opportunity to sit down with Axel Priest during the World Health Summit in Berlin in October 2025. Axel is the president of the World Health Summit based in Germany. He is a medical doctor by training and a professor of physiology with a long career spanning research, academia, and leadership. Over the years, Axel has held a number of senior roles, including head of the Charité Institute for Physiology and Pro-Rector of Danube Private University in Krems, Austria. In our conversation, we explore how the World Health Summit is working through transcend silos in global health, the shared values needed in changing the world, and why good communication is essential in shaping the global health narrative of the future. Hi there, we are in Berlin for this next Railblazers with Gary episode, and I am with the president of the World Health Summit, Axel Priest. I'm happy to be here. Welcome to Global Health Matters. So I'm looking forward to this conversation. Let's start by telling me how in your family, your wife is a photographer, you manage to bring art and global health and science together.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's it's uh always interesting about art that with art you try to answer the unsolvable questions, whereas with science you address the solvable questions to some degree. I mean, if you look in the in the sky at night and you look at all the stars, you get a certain feeling. It's not a scientific feeling, you are not counting the stars, but you're getting a feel of the universe and what is your role in the universe, and are you small, are you big, and how do you relate to other ones? And there are a lot of questions which science can never answer. Right. So standing only on one leg of science will not make a very good situation on the long run. You have always to be open for the unexplainable, for the yeah, for the artistic, if you wish. So in principle, it's it's helping each other.
SPEAKER_01Helping each other. So I I I'm interested what kind of dinner conversations you have usually, probably very much bringing these different perspectives together. I'm so tired. We don't have dinner conversations. We do not know.
SPEAKER_00Certainly at the World Health Summit. When I come home, I say, Can I have a tea? Okay.
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, World Health Summit. Uh so um you've been bringing uh people, scientists, uh, implementers, uh communications people, media, global health in general to the summit. Very successful event, and really trying to kind of break the silos and bridge the different uh perspectives uh that all the community brings. Um, how uh successful you are in that uh help me and our audience to better understand and if they have any examples how the summit really facilitated this kind of more comprehensive and holistic approach to global health.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for me it's obviously difficult to not be unmodest in saying that, but but I think the World Health Summit is pretty successful in breaching the silos. We we are multi-stakeholder from the very beginning. We started a little bit on the academic side, but but uh it was from the beginning clear that we needed politics, uh, civil society, and also the private sector. And it was not so easy because the um in the global health sphere, people have a very high ethos about what they are doing, which is justified for sure. They uh health is such a relevant uh yeah condition for everyone, and and many health workers and people, physicians, uh, nurses, and so on and so forth, they they have a very strong feeling that they're doing it for the good. So uh sometimes people in the beginning were a little bit um worried if we include the private sector, because um, for instance, the academic sector is uh accusing the private sector you want to make money. But my uh reply always is yeah, and you want to make a career. Um the the academic people want to have their nature paper and where they want to get a professorship and so on so forth. So it's not bad to have private interests. It is bad if you don't declare them and if you don't have an open exchange about it, and if the private interests are dominating the cause, then it's not good. But if you do that openly, the person from the academic sector can uh can have a career and then can have papers and so on and so forth. But to make things happen, he or she needs a private sector to do something. So uh you can either create your own uh company, but but quite often on the way you you will need the help of the other sector. And in global health, or in health globally, like I uh want to name it, to to get it out of asilo again. So for health globally, you need the private sector, otherwise you can't do it. And um in the days before we had a discussion uh um which is also linked to to a changing world for global health with more national approaches. And national approaches can be good because many people, even Gavi says we we have to look for countries first, but national approaches are not nationalistic approaches. So the difference being do you want to encapsulate your country and and have everything only for your people? And that's I think is a uh very bad way. Um but you have to care for your people. But then if you if you consider what are the unifying forces globally, one force is science. Science is the same everywhere. The apple falls down at all parts of the world at the same speed. So physics laws are the same, even biology is the same. Our skin may look a little bit different, but but overall we are the same. So science is the same everywhere, but also um technology is the same everywhere. We are using the same uh internet, the same iPhones, the same so and so. Nowadays, yes. Yeah, very much so. Very much so. Yeah, when I was small, uh every country has its own uh company for washing machines, but now it has been changing. And big companies like uh the pharmaceutical companies, but also Siemens also, they are thinking globally. So so they we need the private sector to keep things also on a global level.
SPEAKER_01So really bringing private sector and others together, that was really your goal and continues to be, and you have uh really reached that um bridged that gap, at least here during the summits and during the whole year. That's your aim, and you continue doing that. You also have regional meetings where you also attempt to do that. So, in fact, that a private sector bringing private sector is a very difficult and complicated thing. So I I commend you on uh trying to do that in a very um um sort of uh productive manner. So thanks, uh thanks for that reflection. You uh also wrote an editorial uh commentary at DevEx uh not that long ago, where you reflected a little bit on the future of global health and how uh we uh need to look at some new solutions and some new approaches to that. So I wanted to ask you a few questions from that commentary, and and especially how uh you're uh really uh we're promoting the global health ecosystem to be um effective, resilient, and fair. Uh so what do you think uh are you already said a little bit what unifies us. So add a little bit to that. What are our shared values and aims that you believe will guide our creative way to really address the global health uh challenges that are facing us, even in a bit of a kind of a um um chaotic world?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I wouldn't say really chaotic. It's a changing world. Changes a lot. Uh but we also have to consider that uh that the um mechanisms we were working with are roughly 80 years old. And they come from a time uh with a very different uh situation with respect to global uh power distribution, which was in a way post-colonial, if you wish. It was also post-Second World War, but it was also a bit at the end of the colonial way of looking at the world. And um, this is reflected in the Security Council and in other bodies. So that's something which has changed and has to change. You cannot uh create any future situation without looking to China, to uh Brazil, to the African states, and so on and so forth. So India. Um they they um need to take much more responsibility and they need to be heard much more intensively. So so we have to change that anyhow. And a dominance by one country like like the US did it for a long time uh is no longer sustainable. But on the other hand, the mechanism which was developed after the Second World War had components which we need to keep. And that is the the insight after such a big disaster that nations have to work together to to create healthy living on this world, irrespective of color of the skin, some philosophical background, some religions and so on, political systems and so on and so forth. The unifying factor is a humanitarian approach. And um this cannot be changed. The humanitarian approach says every person on the world has the same right to be happy, to be healthy, to have a good living for himself, herself, and the children. We cannot change that. And if you go from that, then it's quite obvious that if the power balance changes, you need to adapt the system. In principle, also everyone on the world has the same say in in the overall setting. And I think that should be the foundation of a new system, and then the new system can be even more effective than the old one. But don't forget the old one was effective. And that's something I repeat over and over again. Uh, there was an NIH study in National Institutes of Health in the US that uh over the last 20-30 years the increase in life expectancy was stronger than in 5,000 years of mankind development before. Right. So we have been successful, but we have to change to the next level.
SPEAKER_01You've uh talked about some of the power imbalances and all of that. Will still be always there with us because not all countries are going to be equal. Uh so uh do you have any suggestions how um partnerships can be built even with that kind of uh power disbalance simply because of funding, or you know, not every country is on the same kind of level of development, etc. But the genuine partnerships need to be genuine partnerships. Do you have any reflections on how to do it?
SPEAKER_00Well, it we we are not talking about equality, so not all countries will be the same, but we're talking about fairness and equity. Right. So if you are living in a small country, that should not mean that you don't have the same access and so on and so forth. So we need a mechanism, a multipolar, multilateral mechanism assuring adequate rights for everyone. And uh there are big differences. You look at a country like Liechtenstein or so, with a very small population, relative to India with the biggest population in the world. So how can we have a fair discussion between those? So you can't give each one one vote in a let's say uh global committee or so, because the Indians are representing billions and the Liechtenstein people are representing thousands. So, but on the other hand, you cannot also not say the Indians can say what's happening, and the Liechtenstein people have to do it because they are then they are dominated. So we we can't accept a domination of the majority, okay, but also we can't uh accept a blocking of the minority. So we need to to exchange, and uh um already from my explanation, it's quite clear that this is a cumbersome and and difficult process. But the only alternative is an imperialism over the whole world. And you have seen Star Wars or whatever, uh, you know how it does. It doesn't end well. It doesn't end well, and and we don't want it. Uh, I mean it can be the easy mechanism for a while, but it's not good for mankind because we all have a brain, we all have our wishes, and we all want to participate. So we have to go the long way and discuss with each other whether you come from Liechtenstein and I come from India or vice versa.
SPEAKER_01Sure, sure. So one additional aspect that um uh requires a bit more framing as well, and let's uh let's uh unpack it a little bit. You wrote about that in in your piece in DevEx is the global health communication. Maybe you can share more about that and what you think that uh global health communication has fallen short or not, or what needs to be changing for the future.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Here I'm not talking about uh communication about um, let's say, health problems in global health, like the communication about malaria or so. That's quite okay. We we still have in uh in these areas a lot of problems with mis and disinformation, vaccine and so on and so forth. But here what I meant was the communication about the importance of global health. And as I said before, I have the feeling that even the term global health already is a bad communication. Uh-huh. Because many people understand when I say global health, what do you think is global health? If I go to the street, they say, okay, it's malaria prevention in sub-Saharan countries.
SPEAKER_01Which is not which is not true. This is not the only thing.
SPEAKER_00No, and they say it's not really really important for me.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00I I was talking to a young person wanting to come to the World Head Summit, and he said, okay, can you give me an interview? And the first question is, why should young people bother about global health? Uh-huh. And I thought that was a very, very relevant question. Because if you say, okay, it's malaria prevention in sub-Saharan countries, okay, if you study medicine or public health later on, you will come to this topic, blah, blah, blah. But at the moment you don't have to care for it. But it's at the same time mental health in Germany, or it is nutritional problems in whole Africa. It is uh soft drinks in the UK. Yeah, right. It's everything everywhere. It's at our doorstep. So glob it's not global health, it's health on a global level. It's not a small field for experts. It's a basis for good living for all of us. So we have to change the communication here. The second thing is we cannot address health globally only by the experts, by medical people, by public health people. We need the finance ministers, we need the technology ministers, we need the heads of state. Because um the the uh health sector, just if you look at it financially, uh, is the biggest in very many countries. Um but it doesn't get the attention.
SPEAKER_01So people are in countries not prioritize as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the prioritization is different. Nowadays, obviously, the military and the security has a very high priority because of threats, which is uh uh very understandable. Um areas like technology, or in Germany, we are uh focused on cars very much. So the car industry has a very high priority, but the health sector is bigger. And it's also very important, and what uh people um want to put it into a basket. Um I always say people want to be healthy, but they don't want to talk about it. They want to talk about their car, but they don't want to talk about the health. Okay. Yeah, because you want health to be able to do other stuff. You were uh talking about the art. So you want to be healthy to be able to go to a museum. Yeah. But you don't want to talk about health all the way to the museum. I mean, some people do, but uh um in principle, health is seen as a commodity which should be there without you bothering too much. Okay. But that's not gonna work. It's a little bit like in security, you also don't want the military. It's not fun. I mean, uh many aspects is it's not really fun. But you need to think about it to be able to be safe. You want to be safe, and you don't want to address what is needed for safe, safe to be safe. You want to be healthy, or you won't don't want to address that. So it's we need a different uh uh kind of narrative for it so people know how important it actually is. In the end, if you ask someone, do you want to have a new house plus cancer, or you want to stay in your flat healthy? So what is the what would you choose? It's obvious. You in the end, you say, okay, my health is more important than my house. My health is also more important than my car. But the car is more sexy than a CT machine. That's it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so just to wrap up, in the next few years with the summit, are you going to try and frame global health and engage sort of broader public and all of that? What what what are you planning for the next few years?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we we are constantly trying to involve that. We I would love to have more, let's say, finance ministers here. Okay. We have a lot of health ministers. We have one from Indonesia who is a banker, but he is a health minister. That's very much stimulating us because he brings in a different viewpoint. He goes exactly into that direction. Uh so I would love to have more finance ministers, more economy ministers, more foreign affairs ministers or stuff like that, and experts.
SPEAKER_01I say ministers, but it can be the whole thing to broaden the stakeholder field, and then that kind of also extrapolates to public and people that we work with.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay. And to do that, I think we have also to shift from curation more to prevention. You see it in the COVID thing. And people are not, that's an again a communication problem. People don't like to think about prevention. If there's something, uh a fire breaks out, they want to to look at it and and make sure it's not burning the house. But but then if the fire is gone, do we really need a fire brigade? Therefore, fire, it's well very well established. But for health, you see it in the pandemic uh preparedness uh discussions. It's very difficult to keep up the the uh let's say the energy to to look into that. And we want to address all these things: more prevention, broader basis for for uh in the society, and and then more fair and transparent solutions.
SPEAKER_01Great. So good luck with all of that for the next few years. Thanks for giving us this insight into your work and how you're really thinking of and how uh World Health Summit it really is uh an important feature of global health and health globally. So thanks for this conversation. So, our listeners, we were just um hearing it was really a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_00It was stimulating for me. Also, your questions were very stimulating.
SPEAKER_01Great. So, to our listeners, you were just listening to a quick conversation with Axel Priest, who is the president of the World Health Summit. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Trailblazers with Gary, brought to you by the Global Health Matters podcast. The audio and video versions of this episode are available wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to visit the Global Health Matters webpage for more information about my guests in this series.
