AVPN

The Next Frontier in Global Health: Convergence, Prevention, and Innovation

Event summary article 

Held from 25–27 August 2026 under the theme “A Blueprint for Action in Asia,” the AVPN conference brought together leaders from philanthropy, investment, policy and social impact to explore what practical, scalable action could look like. AVPN is Asia’s largest gathering of social investors and impact leaders, this year it was hosted in New Delhi, and we joined them. 

We hosted a compeling session titled “The Next Frontier in Global Health: Convergence, Prevention and Innovation.” Imperial was the only university to host a session and used it to ask a pressing question: what will it take to scale health impact across Asia and beyond? The answer that emerged was ambitious, but grounded in practical realities. Convergence science, paired with more coordinated capital around shared missions, can create new possibilities for earlier diagnosis, affordable prevention and more equitable innovation. But none of that will matter unless systems are built to help good ideas travel from the lab to the community. The discussions that followed, across a moderated panel and three structured roundtables, consistently reinforced this framing. 

Key takeaways:

• Discovered practical cross-sector partnership opportunities to drive health impact in Asia
• Shaped future health initiatives through peer learning and co-creation
• Explored innovative models to scale and finance solutions across diverse health systems

Scaling health impact in Asia and globally requires moving from pilots to systems, from fragmented funding to lifecycle financing, and from collaboration to true convergence around community-centred, equitable and scalable health innovation.

Alumni Event "Knowledge on the Rocks: From Bones to Bugs – Engineering the Future of Human Health" involving Director Anthony Bull and Co-Director Faith Osier also took place during this trip to India.