A concise 60 minute webinar distilling highlights from the careers of 4 experts with a lifelong experience of working in global health settings in various parts of the world. Their stories span across different types of crises triggered by a range of threats — earthquakes, pandemics, conflict etc. — but, in all these settings, across the different territories and cultures with whom they have had the opportunity to work, common public health principles apply.

Co-hosted by the Department of Public Health, within the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery of the University of Malta, and the EUPHA Global Health Section, this session brings together four distinguished voices, each offering a fifteen-minute window into a defining strand of their work:

Global health diplomacy during a crisis — Prof Gauden Galea, University of Malta, drawing on his decades-long engagement at both country, regional and global level with WHO at the highest levels of multilateral health, during a full spectrum of crisis types, including being at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic as it happened.

WASH in the aftermath of an earthquake: avoiding an outbreak — Prof Lee Presley Gary, Tulane University, USA (Fulbright Scholar, University of Malta), on a uniquely hazardous water, sanitation and hygiene challenge encountered in post-earthquake Haiti.

Moving vaccines at outbreak speed amidst mistrust and conflict — Elisabeth Wilhelm, University of West Attica (UNIWA), Greece, drawing on years with CDC, UNICEF and USAID delivering immunisation in some of the most demanding emergency contexts in the world.

Meeting the needs of the community in its diversity during a crisis from a public health lens — Prof Dilek Aslan, Hacettepe University, Türkiye, on the often-overlooked human needs that surface in earthquake settings, informed by her broader work on risk communication, including experience of the devastating 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye.

Together, the speakers will trace the threads that bind these very different settings — preparedness, communication, equity, stewardship and the courage to act with imperfect information. The session is designed for students, early-career professionals and seasoned practitioners alike, and will close with a moderated Q&A to draw out lessons that travel across borders.

Chaired by Prof Neville Calleja, Head of the Department of Public Health, University of Malta, and part of the Executive Team of the EUPHA Global Health Section.