2,500 experts from around 100 countries from science, business, politics and civil society discussed the most important issues of global health care and made recommendations.

The founders recognized that whilst similar gatherings of leaders were well established in fields such as economic development and technology, a global forum did not exist for medical practice, research and health care systems.

[citation needed] The summit was established under the patronage of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy.

[3] Four ministries of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany directly support the summit (Health, Foreign Office, Education and Research, Economic Cooperation and Development).

The outcome of each multi-sectoral Summit is intended to inform and influence decision-makers such as governments and supranational agencies, as recommendations for meeting future health care challenges.

From 2021, Professor Dr Axel Radlach Pries, dean of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin until 2022, is the standing World Health Summit President.

These are formulated by members of the M8 Alliance and also by the eminent academicians, researchers and clinicians who form the World Health Summit Council.

[9] The first World Health Summit under the motto "The Evolution of Medicine" took place October 14–18, 2009; 700 participants worked on concrete recommendations for dealing with pandemic planning, effective prevention strategies and climate change-related diseases.

The former element of this theme recognized that progress in research and technology development is occurring at an unsurpassed rate, while concurrently the challenges have never been greater, with new phenomena such as the health effects of climate change through the distribution of food and water, but also of vector-borne diseases.

The latter reflected that no country has yet discovered an ideal health-service model, and that therefore the links between evidence and policy on all levels (national and international) needed to be strengthened.

This recognized that unhealthy lifestyles are a main cause of these new epidemics, and promoted greater awareness of the global economic risks and human suffering related to the epidemiological transition, as well as the urgent need for sustainable solutions enabling healthcare systems to meet the challenge of non-communicable diseases and conditions.

Instead, heightened emphasis was put on the four thematic tracks, structuring the program: Research and Innovation; Education and Leadership; Evidence to Policy; Global Health for Development.

2,400 participants from 100 nations listened to presentations by 300 speakers, including Jens Spahn and Elizabeth Blackburn, on a wide range of global health issues.

[29] Traditionally, the co-presidency institution hosts the annual M8 Alliance planning meeting in its own home city in spring, preceding the event in October of that year.

[30] The second World Health Summit Regional Meeting – Latin America, was held in São Paulo from April 6–8, 2014, gathering 1,000 participants from 30 countries.

It was organized along three tracks: "Challenges in a Rapidly Aging Society"; "Preparedness & Resilience to Disaster"; "Fostering the Next Generation of Global Health Leaders".

[34] In 2017, the fifth WHS Regional Meeting was held in Montreal, Canada, under the Theme "Health and Healthcare Delivery in Pluralistic Societies".

[37] 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.

[40][41] The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2023 took place on April 13 in Washington DC, USA and online.

[42] In 2024, the World Health Summit Regional Meeting will be hosted by Monash University in Australia and take place from April 22-24 in Melbourne.

[46] 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.

[48] 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.