Saudi Arabia health care summit to accelerate global COVID-19 fight

Saudi Arabia will this month host one of the world’s largest health care summits that aims to unite global efforts against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The event will bring together health care leaders and innovators from across the world to foster new collaborations and discuss the vital role of digital health in fighting pandemics.

Taking place online on Aug. 11-12, the Riyadh Global Digital Health Summit (RGDHS) will host directors from the World Health Organization and the UK’s National Health Service, IBM’s chief health officer, and Australia’s deputy chief medical officer.

The event’s flagship talk will be hosted by the Kingdom’s Minister of Health Dr. Tawfig Al-Rabiah, and will introduce the “Riyadh Declaration” — a roadmap for accelerating digital health innovations to fight the current and future pandemics.

Dr. Bandar Al-Knawy, president of the RGDHS, said the event was far more than a health care conference.

“It is a global digital platform bringing together people who have the ability to work collaboratively to accelerate our response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

“Health care professionals must now seize this opportunity to build on previous strides forward in digital health.”