MINUTES IH SECTION MID-YEAR MEETING, June 1, 2007

(Washington, D.C., Omni Shoreham Hotel – Executive Room, 12:45 – 2:15)

Opening remarks - Samir Banoob opened the meeting asking for a minute of silence in memory of Al Henn, who died in the Kenyan Airlines crash last month. He also invited Ray Martin to say a few words to remember Al Henn’s life and many achievements. Al was awarded an additional Lifetime Achievement Awards, a plaque and  homage during the APHA Annual Meeting this year.

The meeting agenda was approved unanimously.

Samir Banoob summarized the state of the Section this year, establishing three new outreach committees for global health connections and strategies. New activities included discussions with the Global Health Council (GHC), after meeting with its leaders to strengthen the collaboration and synergy between the International Health Section of APHA and the Council’s work. As a model of that, this mid-year meeting was conducted as part of the GHC conference program and hosted by GHC that lead to its success and increased attendance by more than 80 members and visitors.  Sarah Albert, the GHC director of public outreach, and Leanne Rios, director of community outreach from the GHC, attended the meeting and presented the conclusions that emphasized the many opportunities to collaborate, particularly in policy coordination, advocacy and community outreach and MCH/FP policy.

Samir reported on the World Health Assembly 2007 meeting in Geneva. He noted that more resources are being directed to Africa and to new initiatives: action in crises and emergencies, neglected diseases, revisiting PHC, new ICD-11, pandemic flu and diabetes and other chronic diseases. He also met with Dr. Kent Hill, assistant administrator of global health at USAID; Lou Valdez at DHHS; Dr. Mirta Roses, PAHO/WHO regional director; and Dr. Christina Beato, PAHO/WHO deputy director, to explore various potential partnerships and collaboration. These organizations expressed interest in collaboration with the Section in several ways, including sharing draft strategies, participating in its meetings and involving the Section in its various activities.

Committee Reports - The following committees and working groups reported briefly on their progress during the first half of the year:

• Program Committee - Chair: Malcolm Bryant, MBBS, MPH; Co- chair: Omar Khan. The Committee received over 100 more abstracts than last year and therefore, the Section will have at least two more sessions is next year’s Annual Meeting according to APHA rules. Also, the Committee is very grateful for the support of the many reviewers who volunteered their time to review the submitted abstracts. This allowed for each abstract to have about five reviewers.

• Nominations Committee: Chair: Mary Anne Mercer DrPh; Co-chair: TBA. Please be reminded to vote before the June 22.

• Membership Committee: Chair: Rose Schneider, RN, MPH; Co- Chair: Alison Gernand.   Rose reported on the Committee’s efforts to increase membership. They are working to spread more information about the Section’s activities to attract members from other Sections and returning and new members. They liaise with the GHC and other organizations. They will work with Information and Communication Committee to strengthen our Section’s Web site.

• Awards Committee: Chair: Luis Tam, M.D, DrPh; Co-chair: Paul freeman, DrPh, MBBS, MHP. Paul reported that the Committee has made its recommendations and a second Lifetime Award will be awarded to Al Henn, the first one for William Reinke. The Section Distinguished Service Award was shared between Mary Anne Mercer and Amy hagopian. Jean capps was awarded the Mid-Career Award. Researchers will be given a Special Award for Research in Conflict Epidemiology at Risk. The chair approved these recommendations and asked for the vote of the Section council. The vote carried by consensus.

• Information and Communication Committee: Chair: Eckhard Kleinau;  Co-chair and Newsletter Editor:  Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd PhD.  Web site update procedures will be strengthened now that APHA has completed the migration of the Web site to the new content management program. Eckhard will contact APHA to follow up on this. With Josefa, the Newsletter editor, in a new post, there may be a need for a co-editor to help produce our Newsletter, especially for getting submissions.

• Advocacy and Resolutions Committee: Chair: Amy Hagopian, MHA, PhD;  Co-chair: Diana Silimperi, MD. Diana reported on progress in the Committee’s five focus areas: advancing humanitarian agenda, health workforce capacity, universal coverage, aid effectiveness and MCH. For more information, see the Committee’s Report.

• Emerging Global Health Professionals (formerly Students and New Professionals Committee): Chair: Sharon Rudy; Co-chair: Helene Carabin. This Committee is planning to support mentoring and sharing job openings.

• Committee on Global Health External Connections  Chair: Kyle Kinner;  Co-chair: Theresa shaver. 

• Committee on Global Health APHA Connections: Chair: Gopal Sankaran, MD, Dr.PH; Co-chair: Michelle Forzley, JD. This Committee is forming the APHA Global Health Consortium across all other Sections at APHA and is organizing a number of events at the APHA Annual Meeting, including a social hour on Nov. 4, 2:00 to 3:00.

• Global Health Strategies Committee: Chair: Miriam Labbok, MD, MPH, FACPM, FABM, IBCL; Co-Chair: TBA. The Committee is working on an International Health Strategy position paper.

• Section Organization and Management Committee: Chair: Betsy Bassan; Co-chair: Padmini Murthy, MD, MPH,MS. Betsy has been active in fundraising for the Section’s Awards meeting and other activities of the Section.

• Community-Based Primary Health Care Working Group: Chair: Henry Perry, MD, PhD, MPH;  Co-Chair: Paul freeman, DrPH, MBBS, MHP. Henry reported that the work of the Working Group is gaining momentum and completing the survey of CBPHC initiatives. Henry also reported on the progress of our Section mobilizing support for the U.S. Coalition in Child Health and encouraged Section members to support the ONE Campaign.

• Pharmaceuticals Working Group: Chair: Maggie Huff-Rousselle, MA, MBA, PhD; Co-chair TBA.

Samir repeated his request for more Section volunteers to cope with the new outreach plans that need new blood and more efforts by the different committees and working groups. He asked new members participants to sign up for the committees.

Dr. Barbara Hatcher reported on the Bellagio, Italy retreat of the World Federation of Public Health Associations to formulate its new strategies and the efforts to support PHA in Africa and Asia.

Meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.

MINUTES IH SECTION CONFERENCE CALL

(Conference Call[1] for July 25, 2007, 12 p.m. Eastern Time)

Present: Samir Banoob, Gopal Sankaran, Mary Ann Mercer, Morgan Taylor, Vina HuLamm, Donna Barry, Alison Gernand, Kyle Kinner, Theresa Shaver, Selin McCurdy, Martin Gittelman, Sharon Rudy, Amy Hagopian, Elvira Beracochea

Notes:  Samir would like to remind everyone to please appoint a representative for the call if you cannot join. Vina and Morgan will be busy during May and won’t be able to provide all the usual support. Please plan accordingly.

Reminder: Committees may use this toll number to have conference calls: (719) 867-7624. Use the same code. Please note this call is not free but you can have a conference call. When funding permits and we have a fundraising plan, the committees’ conference calls will also be toll free. Please let Morgan Taylor (morgan.taylor@apha.org) know when you plan to have the call to make sure there are no conflicts.

SHOWCASE YOUR WORK AT THE IH SECTION BOOTH
Every year the IH Section has a booth at the APHA Annual Meeting. For the last two years, we have also showcased the work of the Section's members. We always have very good contributions and excellent feedback on the display.

On behalf of the IH Section, I would like to invite you again to share a year's worth of peer-reviewed papers, books, other publications and innovative perspective papers at the International Health Section Booth at the upcoming APHA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Any paper that has been published with the last three years is admissible for showcase at the IH booth. Please send your paper, book, manual, monograph, etc. to Dr. Elvira Beracochea at elvira@midego.com and bring hard copies to the booth on Saturday, Nov. 3 or Sunday, Nov. 4.

Please include your contact information in case people attending the booth want to get copies or get in touch with you. As we did last year, we'll make a list of the titles and authors for easy reference.

The deadline for submissions is Oct. 27. Please come to the Section booth during the last day of the Meeting to collect your papers if you want them back.

Thank you very much in advance for your submissions. Our goal is to make the booth a dynamic venue for the Section. We appreciate your involvement and hope you enjoy the booth!