44th World Hospital Congress Kicks Off with Healthcare Leaders Coming Together for Four-Day Event

The 44th World Hospital Congress (WHC) organized by the International Hospital Federation (IHF; Geneva, Switzerland) kicked off in Barcelona, Spain, a year later than originally planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WHC is a unique global forum connecting leaders and decision-makers of hospitals, health services, and healthcare organizations to share knowledge and good practices, exchange new ideas and innovations, and network with other senior executives from across the international healthcare community. The WHC is the premier event in the IHF calendar and their organizing partner and host for the 44th WHC is La Unió Catalana d’Hospitals (UCH). For the first time, the WHC is fully hybrid, facilitating the participation of more than 1,200 delegates from over 70 countries in the entire program whether they attend in-person and virtually over a period of four days from 8-11 November.

The theme for this 44th WHC is “People on board: Transforming healthcare by blending agility, responsiveness, and resilience”. For four days, leaders and decision-makers in the healthcare community will share knowledge and good practices, exchange new ideas and innovations, and network with other senior executives. The 44th WHC features more than 70 plenary and parallel sessions, 300 speakers, 200 posters, 60 paper presentations, 60 lightning talk presentations and 30 exhibitors.

Dr. Enric Mangas, President of the UCH and Chair of the Organizing Committee, underlined the importance of knowledge exchange between hospital leaders as they focus their efforts on building back from the pandemic:

“In Barcelona we have an outstanding opportunity to move forward together in improving healthcare. And we’ll do so with a firm commitment to people. We propose a journey through all the opportunities offered by technology and knowledge, with an incursion in humanism, to ensure there is health and social care of value for everyone and anyone who needs it. And put in place learnings on how we can transform our healthcare services to be agile, responsive and resilient to meet people’s needs.”

“The World Hospital Congress gives us the chance to reflect on our accomplishments and progress, learn from one another and better navigate what lies ahead,” added Deborah Bowen, FACHE, CAE, president and Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Healthcare Executives Federation who will commence her role as President of the IHF at the closing ceremony.

Related Links:
The International Hospital Federation