Global Health must first and foremost make a strong case for health-in-all policies. This will inevitably clash with powerful players and vested interests, as it touches the core of today's global economy, the prevailing growth model and ultimately the distribution of power. To emerge stronger and more visible from the current COVID-19 crisis, global health has to become more straightforward, more explicit regarding the social determination of health, more critical about the securitisation of health, and ultimately more political.