The Prince Mahidol Award Conference was first organized in 1998 to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Prince Mahidol Award, then again in 2002 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the award. To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the award and the 115th Birthday Anniversary of His Royal Highness Prince Mahidol of Songkla, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, President of the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under the Royal Patronage, requested the conference to be organized annually since 2007.

Since 2007, the Prince Mahidol Award Conference has been organized as an annual international conference focusing on policy-related public health issues of global significance. The conference is hosted by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, the Royal Thai Government and other global partners, for example the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Rockefeller Foundation, the China Medical Board (CMB), and other related UN agencies.

The general objective of the annual Prince Mahidol Award Conference is to bring together leading public health leaders and stakeholders from around the world to discuss high priority global health issues, summarize findings and propose concrete solutions and recommendations. It aims at being an international forum that global health institutes, both public and private, can co-own and use for the advocacy and the seeking of international advices on important global health issues. Specific objectives of each year’s conference will be discussed among key stakeholders and co-hosts of the conference.

The conference participants include ministers, senior government officials, intergovernmental organizations, international development partners, global health initiatives, health policy and health systems researchers and advocators, civil society organizations, and high-level stakeholders from developing and developed countries.