Global Public Health Alliance Launches at World Congress of Public Health in Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa — 8 September 2026
Three major pillars of the global public health community formally joined forces today with the launch of the Global Public Health Alliance (GPHA) at the 18th World Congress of Public Health (WCPH) in Cape Town.
Bringing together the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), the Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH), and the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), the new Alliance aims to strengthen coordination across public health practice, academia and national public health institutions, creating a more unified voice and stronger capacity for collective action on the challenges facing people and the planet.
The dedicated 60-minute launch session took place on 8 September during the 18th WCPH, which brought the global public health community together under the theme “Health Without Borders: Equity, Inclusion, and Sustainability.”
The launch puts that theme into action: health challenges do not respect institutional, professional, or national boundaries, and increasingly require public health actors to work across them.
Public health is about saving lives, reducing disease and disability, and improving quality of life for all the people we serve, and for the health of our environment. The institutes, associations, and schools of public health are coming together to teach, train, research, and advocate for policies and services that improve and protect health. The new Global Public Health Alliance will create an effective common voice for better health for people and planet, now and for the future.
From parallel efforts to collective action
The global public health community possesses enormous expertise, evidence and experience, yet much of this knowledge and capacity remains distributed across different networks and institutions.
The GPHA was created to help bridge these divides by connecting professional public health associations, national public health institutes and academic public health networks around shared priorities.
Together, the three founding organizations represent more than five million public health professionals and more than 600 institutions across countries and continents.
The Alliance will provide a platform for greater knowledge exchange, coordinated advocacy, collaboration, leadership and action, with the ambition of strengthening public health systems and ensuring that evidence and expertise translate more effectively into policy and practice.
For too long, global public health has operated through parallel channels, practitioners, institutes and academics working separately on shared challenges. The Global Public Health Alliance transforms fragmentation into coordination by bringing together the strengths of these communities through a unified voice. This is not simply collaboration; it is an opportunity to build the collective infrastructure global public health needs to meet the challenges ahead.
The Alliance’s founding organizations bring complementary strengths to this effort.
The World Federation of Public Health Associations represents approximately 140 national and regional public health associations and more than five million public health professionals worldwide.
The International Association of National Public Health Institutes connects 129 national public health institutes across 107 countries, bringing together government-funded institutions responsible for strengthening public health capacity and preparedness.
The Global Network for Academic Public Health connects regional academic and public health networks across continents and represents more than 500 institutions, strengthening the role of education, research and evidence in public health.
A shared agenda for a changing world
The formal launch comes at a critical moment for global public health.
Health systems are confronting increasingly complex and interconnected challenges, from climate change and emerging infectious diseases to widening inequalities, declining health financing and growing pressures on the global public health workforce.
At the same time, the need to connect research, education, policy and implementation has never been greater.
During the launch session, representatives of the three founding organizations outlined their respective contributions to the Alliance before joining a high-level panel discussion on its vision, priorities and future direction.
The discussion explored how the GPHA can:
- build stronger connections between public health research, education, policy and practice;
- strengthen the global public health workforce;
- amplify the perspectives and priorities of low- and middle-income countries;
- translate evidence and technical expertise into policy and practical action;
- coordinate responses to major global and planetary health challenges; and
- engage governments, international organizations, civil society, communities and other partners in a shared public health agenda.
The session was chaired by Dr. Marta Lomazzi, with contributions from Professor Raman Bedi, Professor Bettina Borisch, Professor John Middleton, Professor Neil Squires and Dr. Laura Magaña.
Kenvue, a global leader in consumer health, was recognized as a Founding Sponsor of the Alliance.
A commitment that goes beyond the launch
The session culminated in the official signing of the Global Public Health Alliance Founding Charter by its founding organizations.
The signing marks more than the creation of a new organization. It represents a commitment to sustained cooperation across the three core pillars of the public health ecosystem and to translating that cooperation into stronger action at local, national, regional, and global levels.
National Public Health Institutes need a strong partnership with schools, agencies, and the public health workforce to improve health. This alliance represents collaboration, not competition, unity of purpose, not fragmentation. We are so much stronger working together.
As the 18th World Congress of Public Health brings together professionals from across the world in Cape Town, the launch of the GPHA offers a tangible expression of its central message: health without borders requires public health without silos.
The Alliance now invites governments, international organizations, civil society, communities, professional networks, academic institutions, and other partners to engage with its emerging agenda and help build a stronger, more connected global public health community.
About the Global Public Health Alliance
The Global Public Health Alliance (GPHA) brings together the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), the Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH), and the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI).
The Alliance connects public health associations, academic institutions and national public health institutes to strengthen collaboration, knowledge exchange, advocacy and collective leadership on major global health challenges.
Together, the Alliance’s three founding networks connect over 750 public health associations, national institutes, schools, and academic institutions, engaging more than five million public health professionals and serving populations of over six billion people worldwide.