Created in 1948, the World Health Organization has its headquarters in Geneva. Throughout the year, it is the seat of an intense technical and diplomatic activity which allows to define the public health programs. In May of each year, the World Health Assembly brings together the delegations of its 194 Member States to decide on the major political orientations of the Organization.

To facilitate working relations with WHO, many organizations involved in health have established their headquarters or a liaison office in Geneva. It is estimated that more than 300 global health organizations are present in Geneva (United Nations agencies involved in health, international organizations, private public partnerships, NGOs, academic institutes, professional federations, etc.).

The Geneva region and more broadly Western Switzerland is home to a rich ecosystem of companies involved in life sciences. This hub, called Swiss Health Valley, includes nearly 1,000 companies employing more than 25,000 people.

This rich environment, unique in the world, allows Geneva to be defined as the international capital of health.

This directory will allow you to find the main actors of the Geneva Health Hub.

  • It concerns the actors involved in global health. The definition of global health has not yet reached an international consensus. In this directory, the notion of global health refers to the definition of the School of Geneva defined in this article.
  • It concerns the actors involved in global health located in the Greater Geneva area (Grand Genève in French). Some of the actors are noted in this directory even if their offices are outside the Greater Geneva area because they develop activities in the Greater Geneva area.
  • This directory does not include all players in the for-profit sector. We only select companies that are involved in global health. For more information about the actors of the Swiss Health Valley, we propose you to see the directory maintained by BioAlps.