2026 UNC AMWHO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

what is amwho?

AMWHO is an authentic simulation of the World Health Assembly, the sole decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO). At the AMWHO International Conference, graduate and undergraduate participants will assume the roles of WHO ambassadors, non-governmental organization members, media correspondents, or industry representatives.

Participants will engage in debates and discussion surrounding our theme for this year- Global Child & Adolescent Health: Protecting the Next Generation In A Time of Crisis. Through collaboration, students will craft approaches to address our world’s pressing public health challenges and draft a final resolution to send to the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Throughout the weekend, students will have access to renowned professors from the Gillings School of Global Public Health and public health professionals from the Triangle. Students will hear from and talk to these guest speakers at the opening ceremonies and the Lunch and Learn event.

What is model-who?

concept

Model-WHO is a conference simulation of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the annual global health policy making forum of the World Health Organization (WHO). Students who register for AMWHO conferences are assigned either a WHO Ambassador, NGO Representative, Pharmaceutical Company, or Media Correspondent position, and must represent their role accurately throughout the course of the three-day conference weekend.

Delegates are split into five regional blocks: African Region (AFRO), Americas Region (AMRO), Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO), European Region (EURO), and Western Pacific & Southeast Asian Region (WPRO/SEARO). Prior to the conference, delegates research their position’s stance on the global health policy theme, and create resolutions with fellow participants. On the last day, all regions convene to debate their completed resolutions, emulating the true simulation of the WHA.
WHO AMBASSADORS

A WHO Ambassador is an individual representing a diplomat to one of the 193 Member States to the World Health Organization. Ambassadors have full voting rights within the conference, with a sole goal to pursue their nation’s health interests in the Assembly. These delegates are expected to conduct detailed, in-depth research prior to the conference on their nation’s position with respect to the conference theme, their allies and enemies, and how their nation would react to different proposals. Their main objective is to use the skills of negotiation and diplomacy to create sound, realistic, and effective resolutions with fellow delegates, who very well may hold differing opinions.
NGO Representatives

Delegates representing an NGO must embody the ideals, motives, and objectives of their organization. As an NGO Representative, they will receive a personalized schedule during the conference that allows them to rotate among all regional rooms, and debate with any WHO Ambassador. They must understand all resolutions being formed, with a primary focus in ensuring that each policy holds the ideals of their organization. Ultimately, these delegates provide seals of approval, or written acceptances of a resolution, before all resolutions head to the final plenary. They do not have voting rights, but are able to formally debate.
media correspondents

Media Correspondents are non-voting delegates that hold a unique role in the AMWHO International Conference. They perform research prior to the conference on their company views and biases around the conference theme, but their primary objective is to capture the news and highlights of the conference through video and blog form. They aim to provide news in the same journalistic manner of the company that they represent. Thus, these delegates must be well-versed in how to provide the news in respectful, but accurate way. Media Correspondents will receive assistance in capturing stories, conducting interviews with the voting and non-voting delegates, and presenting the exciting and often controversial happenings in other regional blocks.
industry representatives

Industry Representatives, also non-voting delegates, represent their industries in varied ways as it relates to the conference theme. Still, these players are critical to achieving partnerships with WHO Ambassadors, NGO Representatives, and Pharmaceutical Companies, and thus delegates must be well-researched on their company and its core values as it relates to the theme.

Source: https://www.amwho.org/about-us.php

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Eventzilla

Use the link above to register for the 2026 AMWHO International Conference through Eventzilla!

Registration opens on: Monday, January 12th, 2026 @ 12:00 am

Early Registration: Monday, January 12th, 2026 @ 12:00 am - February 2nd, 2026 @ 11:59 pm
Regular Registration: Tuesday, February 3nd, 2026 @ 12:00 am - Monday, March 9th, 2026 @ 11:59 pm
Late Registration: Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 @ 12:00 am - March 23rd, 2026 @ 11:59 pm
Observer Registration: January 12th, 2026 at 12:00 AM - March 23rd, 2026 at 11:59 PM

directors' Letter

Dear Delegates and Colleagues,

Welcome to the 2026 UNC American Mock World Health Organization (AMWHO) International Conference! As the founders of AMWHO, our university has had the opportunity to host several international, regional, and summit conferences. Over the last few years, we have learned the importance of global health governance in protecting population health and facilitating global cooperation to prevent future disasters. Now, we are so pleased and honored to invite you back in person, and we remain inspired by your dedication and passion to build a better future for public health. Our hope is that this conference will offer you a platform for you to engage with multifaceted and interdisciplinary public health issues and work alongside others to develop innovative policy solutions.

As Executive Co-Directors of the conference, we are excited for you to join us in this unique conference experience, modeled after the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. Our goal is to create an experience where delegates can explore the complexities of the social, cultural, political, and economic determinants of health, all while collaborating with key stakeholders and interest groups. To account for diverse perspectives that influence global health issues, delegates may represent either a member state, media organization, non-governmental organization, or private corporation. Delegates will also get the opportunity to interact with passionate peers and learn from distinguished speakers, who will engage delegates in thoughtful discussions rooted in their public health expertise. Through these interactions, we hope that you will gain knowledge and skills crucial to becoming a global health leader, allowing you to analyze public health issues through a holistic lens and address these issues through effective policy.

The theme for the 2026 UNC AMWHO International Conference is Global Child and Adolescent Health: Protecting the Next Generation in a Time of Crisis. There is a critical need for concerted efforts between countries across socioeconomic settings to promote child and adolescent health, especially in addressing socio-economic conditions, access to healthcare, and behavioral risks. We hope that through thoughtful communication and debate regarding interpersonal violence, sexual and reproductive health, vaccination uptake and infectious disease management, substance abuse, nutrition, non-communicable diseases, and the ongoing adolescent mental health crisis, we will foster multisectoral and sustainable solutions.

Lastly, we would like to acknowledge all the hard work that has been put into this conference by the 2025-2026 UNC AMWHO Executive Board and Conference Board: without their dedication over the past several months, none of this would have been possible. We would also like to thank all of you for your commitment to and passion for advancing global public health solutions. We look forward to welcoming you to the 2026 UNC AMWHO International Conference!

Sincerely,
Anya Abhayakumar and Amogh Rao
Conference Co-Directors
2026 UNC AMWHO International Conference

Anya Abhayakumar
Conference
Co-Director

Amogh Rao
Conference
Co-Director

theme introduction

The theme brief gives delegates an overview of the global health challenge that will be discussed and debated over the course of the conference. It includes sub-themes that break-down the intricacies of the problem and provides case studies that describe how countries in different regions of the world have been affected. Delegates may use the theme brief as a resource to write their position paper.

SUBTHEME 1: INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE

Case Study: Youth Gang Violence in Honduras
Case Study: Family Violence as a Developmental Risk Factor

SUBTHEME 2: SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS

Case Study: Child Marriage and Maternal Health Risks in Nigeria
Case Study: Exacerbated Gender-Based Violence and Menstrual Hygiene Barriers during Pandemic Isolation

SUBTHEME 3: VACCINATION UPTAKE AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Case Study: Re-Emergence of Vaccine-Eliminated Infectious Diseases
Case Study: Immunization Challenges Amid the War in Ukraine

SUBTHEME 4: SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Case Study: HIV Risks Amongst Injection Drug Users in Sub-Saharan Africa
Case Study: Adolescent Substance Abuse in Asia and the Pacific

SUBTHEME 5: NUTRITION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASE

Case Study: Micronutrient Deficiencies in LMICs and Adolescent Cognitive Function
Case Study: Behavioral Risk Factors for Noncommunicable Diseases in Latin America

SUBTHEME 6: MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Case Study: Mental Health Consequences of Displacement
Case Study: Social Media, Body Dysmorphia, and Eating Disorders

POSITION PAPERS ARE DUE Friday, April 10 at 11:59 PM!
CHECK DELEGATE HUB FOR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND EXAMPLES!

conference schedule

Day 1 - Friday

11:00 - 12:00 PM: Delegate Check-In
12:00 - 1:30 PM: Opening Ceremony
1:30 - 1:45 PM: Break + Walk to Committee Session 1
1:45 - 3:15 PM: Committee Session 1
3:15 - 3:45 PM: Break + Walk to Press Conference
3:45 - 5:00 PM: Press Conference
5:00 - 5:15 PM: Break
5:15 - 7:00 PM: Keynote + Banquet

Day 2 - Saturday

8:00 - 9:00 AM: Check In + Breakfast
9:15 - 11:00 AM: Committee Session 2
11:00 - 11:15 AM: Break + Walk to Lunch and Learn
11:15 - 12:45 PM: Lunch and Learn
12:45 - 2:45 PM: Committee Session 3
2:45 - 3:15 PM: Break
3:15 - 4:00 PM: Press Conference
4:00 - 6:00 PM: Committee Session 4

Day 3 - Sunday

8:00 - 9:00 AM: Check In + Breakfast
9:00 - 11:00 AM: Plenary Session 1
11:00 - 12:00 PM: Lunch
12:00 - 2:00 PM: Plenary Session 2
2:00 - 2:30 PM: Break
2:30 - 3:30: Closing Ceremonies

GUEST SPEAKERS

Keynote Speaker

Gavin Yamey MD, MPH is the Hymowitz Family Professor of Global Health and a Professor of Public Policy at Duke University. He is Director of Duke’s Center for Policy Impact in Global Health, an innovative policy lab that conducts research and policy engagement on the financing, organization, and delivery of global health—focused particularly on maternal and child health, neglected infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness and response, and universal health coverage. He is currently a commissioner for the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, which is exploring ways for all countries to halve their maternal and child mortality rates by 2050. He chairs the international advisory committee to the Lancet Commission on Global Hearing Loss and co-chairs the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health’s Finance & Economics Working Group. Dr Yamey is passionate about the public engagement of science, writes a column for TIME magazine, and is a frequent commentator on public radio and in the popular press. He co-hosts, with a Duke undergraduate, the radio show “Conversations on Healthcare” on WXDU.

Lunch and Learn speakers

Professor Ilene Speizer is currently a Research Professor of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Gillings School of Global Public Health and a Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center. She is a demographer and evaluation researcher and has led research and evaluation studies in Africa (Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Malawi, Togo, and South Africa), India, Haiti, and the U.S. Much of her work focuses on family planning, HIV prevention, the meaning and measurement of unintended pregnancy, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence. She has led a number of Gates Foundation funded projects on sexual and reproductive health and adolescent health. She is co-leading an International Union for the Scientific Study of Populations Panel on Measuring Family Planning with a Reproductive Rights and Justice Lens.

Dr. Ganga Moorthy is an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and an Assistant Research Professor at the Duke Global Health Institute. She also serves as the Associate Program Director for the Duke Pediatric Residency Program and as Medical Director of Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship at the Duke Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention.

Dr. Moorthy earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma and her medical degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at Duke University, where she also served as Chief Resident before pursuing fellowship training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. As part of her fellowship, she participated in the Global Health Pathway and earned a Master of Science in Global Health from Duke in 2023.

Her research spans both domestic and international settings, with a focus on improving the diagnosis and management of severe febrile illnesses in children, particularly in under-resourced environments. She conducts global health research in Moshi, Tanzania, in collaboration with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC). Her broader academic interests include combating antimicrobial resistance worldwide through evidence-based antimicrobial stewardship strategies.

Caitlin R. Williams, PhD MSPH, is the Founder and Principal of Mirae Insights, LLC – a boutique research, strategy, and advising firm focused on advancing health and wellbeing worldwide. With over a decade of experience working to align incentives within complex systems, Caitlin takes pride in helping clients design and execute transformative change. She brings deep training and expertise in implementation science, quality improvement, public policy, and mixed-methods research and evaluation.

Previously, Caitlin has worked with the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland); the Ghana Health Service (Accra, Ghana); the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (Buenos Aires, Argentina); the Latin American Center for Perinatology, Women’s and Reproductive Health (Montevideo, Uruguay); and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She has also contributed her expertise to multiple SCOTUS amicus briefs and documents for the US Office of Civil Rights and the Ways and Means Committee of the US House of Representatives.

Caitlin holds a PhD and an MSPH in Maternal and Child Health from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, and a BA in Global Studies from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a Royster Fellow and Robertson Scholar.

Nina Sun, JD, is a lawyer and advocate who has worked on global health law and policy for over a decade. Her experience includes legal analysis, human rights and gender equality work with international and non-governmental organizations, including the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Nina also keeps one foot in the academic world, engaging in fellowships at Stanford University and Duke University. An avid writer and scholar, she has published articles in the British Journal of Medicine, BMJ Global Health and the Journal of the International AIDS Society. Nina holds a J.D. from the University of Maryland and a B.A. from New York University. She is barred in New York and North Carolina, USA.

Amy Cubbage is the President of the North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC), leading Smart Start, North Carolina’s comprehensive early childhood system serving the youngest North Carolinians, their families, and all who care for and educate them. Smart Start is funded through a public-private partnership and consists of a state level organization, NCPC, and 75 local partnerships working in all 100 counties to advance a high-quality, comprehensive, accountable early childhood system that benefits each child in North Carolina beginning with a healthy birth.

Amy began her career as an early childhood teacher, following a family tradition of service to young children and families. She worked as a National Head Start Fellow for the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF), then consulted with early childhood education agencies on a range of topics. She taught advocacy and leadership courses at both Wheelock College and Eastern Connecticut State University, and researched and wrote about early care and education. Beginning in 2008, Amy’s work focused on the assessment and improvement of early childhood programs, joining the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education at the University of Virginia and then, in 2010, Teachstone. She served in various roles at Teachstone, managing teacher coaching, training, and professional development, as well as public policy, legal, and strategy work.

Amy completed her undergraduate study at Brown University and went on to complete a J.D. at Northeastern University and an M.S. in Leadership and Policy in Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College. Amy's husband started working in North Carolina in 2018, and Amy followed him and was honored to join Smart Start in August 2020. Their three adult kids have followed paths that bring them to NC frequently, with two in military service and one a graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill now working in emergency medical services. Besides working in the early childhood field, Amy can be found playing, coaching, and watching soccer, her other passion, whenever she can!

reviews, publications, & media

"Students said AMWHO had “revived [their] passion for diplomacy and advocacy,” and described the experience as one that “could not be found in a classroom” and “influential” for their future plans. 35 of 39 respondents (90%) rated the experience as “good” or better, and 38 of 39 (97%) would recommend AMWHO to a friend."

"AMWHO is a useful forum for students to improve their knowledge of global health issues, and sharpen their skills in diplomacy, communication, problem solving, and conflict resolution."

"The vast majority (98%) of respondents from the AMWHO 2014 conference indicated the conference as being "good" or "better", and 90% of respondents indicated they would recommend the conference to a friend... The American Mock World Health Organization fills a gap in global health policy education by providing students with the opportunity to develop skills essential to careers in global health governance."

"By encouraging students to network with current professionals, AMWHO facilitates collaboration and communication between passionate individuals working to make a difference. It is surreal to think that the friends I made over the three day conference can one day be colleagues, or the global health professionals I networked with could one day be mentors. Sitting in the conference, I envisioned the other students and myself one day becoming a part of the WHO in order to make meaningful change by helping those without health care access or affordability."

"Global health crises are unimaginably complex. In listening to and participating in discourse during AMWHO 2016, I was forced to consider interests beyond my own. I was reminded of the opening addresses by Dr. del Rio and Dr. Weiss. There are multitudes of stakeholders, each with their own, often conflicting interests. Resources are always limited and compliance is almost never guaranteed. Perhaps the greatest lesson I took away from AMWHO was how truly difficult it is to work in the field of global health. But having spent the weekend engaging with equally enthusiastic individuals and having passed a resolution together, I came away with a renewed sense of determination that solutions, while complex, are not beyond our reach."

"I think one of the problems with the undergraduate mindset is that we think we think we don’t have the tools to solve problems when we do," she said. "And I think events like this get undergraduates to realize that they can and will make a difference if they set their mind to it.”

faq

WHO CAN ATTEND?

AMWHO conferences are open to undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in public health, medicine, public policy, international relations, foreign diplomacy, and intergovernmental delegation. There is no required "major" or course of study that participants must have in order to attend an AMWHO conference. Students across the United States and abroad are invited to attend. A limited number of high school students will be able to apply to attend the conference at a later date (more information to come).

WHERE IS THE CONFERENCE BEING HELD?

The conference will be hosted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. For details regarding times and room assignments please check out our delegate guide under the Delegate Hub page.

WHICH ROLES CAN I CHOOSE FROM IN THIS CONFERENCE?

Delegates may choose to be WHO Ambassadors, NGO Representatives, Media Correspondents, and Industry Representatives. More information about these roles are included in the 'About AMWHO' section.

DO I HAVE TO BE IN AN AMWHO CHAPTER TO ATTEND?

If your university does not have an AMWHO chapter, you may register yourself as an individual participant.

HOW MUCH IS THE REGISTRATION FEE?

Early registration for UNC students ($55) and non-UNC students ($65) opens on January 12th, 2026 at 12:00 am and closes on February 2, 2026, at 11:59 PM. Regular registration for UNC students ($65) and non-UNC students ($75) runs from February 3, 2065, at 12:00 AM to March 9, 2026, at 11:59 PM. Late registration for UNC students ($75) and non-UNC students ($85) is open from March 10, 2026, at 12:00 AM to March 23, 2026, at 11:59 PM. Observer registration ($50) is available from January 12th, 2026 at 12:00 AM to March 23, 2026, at 11:59 PM.

Didn't answer your question? Please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

sponsorsHIP

The 2025 UNC AMWHO Executive Board would like to thank our 2026 AMWHO sponsors, without whom the 2026 AMWHO International Conference would not be possible. Please check back for updates on new 2027 sponsors.

For more information on how your academic institution or corporate organization can work with us, please email [email protected].