GHMS is held under the Chatham House Rule, a protocol designed to help create “a trusted environment to understand and resolve complex problems,” according to the London-based policy institute that developed it. 

The rule reads: “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.” 

This allows candid communication at the conference. But it doesn’t prohibit social media posts or other public comments from participants, provided they abide by the rule in letter and spirit: they must not identify, directly or indirectly, who said what at any point during GHMS. The lone exception would be cases where a participant gives explicit, unequivocal consent for something to be communicated.  

Participants should follow the Chatham House Rule in all communications. They may use any nonconfidential information they receive, provided they refrain from disclosing the identity and affiliation of the speaker (or of any participant other than themselves). 

In the interests of consistency and clarity, GHMS encourages any participant issuing a press release to include the following language after the main body of their statement: 

About the Global Health Market Shaping Conference: 

The Global Health Market Shaping Conference is a forum that brings together market shaping professionals committed to building sustainable and equitable markets for essential health products like vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and devices. Its goal is to ensure equitable access to health products in low- and middle-income countries by organizing, connecting, and developing the community of practice for market shaping. The inaugural Global Health Market Shaping Conference (known as GHMS 2024) takes place in Barcelona from March 4-6, 2024. GHMS is a component of the larger Market Ecosystem Thought Leadership (META) initiative, which is managed by Linksbridge SPC, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and guided by advisory bodies representing the diverse market shaping ecosystem. 

GHMS and its organizer (Linksbridge SPC) will not issue press releases about the conference. We may use social media to provide updates or answer specific questions 

Our official hashtag is #GHMS2024. Social media posts are welcome. Like all external communications about the conference, they must abide by the Chatham House Rule. This means they must not identify, whether explicitly or implicitly, who said what.