Note from the Editor : Detailed accomplishments and future work plans for each of the Membership Committees have been presented in earlier issues of the APHA-IH Section Newsletters and as such are not repeated here. Only new information is included in this issue. Readers are encouraged to see earlier issues of the Newsletter at www.apha-ih.org

ACTION BOARD COMMITTEE

The Action Board currently has four formal Committees – Advocacy and Resolutions, Information and Communication, Organization and Management, and Policy and Advocacy. 

1.  ADVOCACY AND RESOLUTIONS

Chair: Amy Hagopian, hagopian@u.washington.edu

Co-Chair: Leonard Rubenstein, LRubenstein@phrusa.org

Members

Donna Barry: dbarry@pih.org

Edna Jonas: edna.jonas@verizon.net

Elvira Beracochea: elvira@midego.com

Martin Gittleman: gittem01@med.nyu.edu

Mary Anne Mercer: mamercer@u.washington.edu

Meredith Fort: meredithfort@yahoo.com

Miriam Labbok: labbok@email.unc.edu

Sarah Shannon: sarahs@hesperian.org

Wendy Johnson: wjohns@u.washington.edu

2.  INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

Chair and Web Site Manager, Eckhard Kleinau, ekleinau@masimax.com

Co-Chair and Newsletter Editor: Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd, ippolitoshepherdj@yahoo.com

3.  ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

Chair: Carol Dabbs, dabbscj@state.gov

Co-Chair: Elvira Beracochea, elvira@midego.com 

Secretary: Amy Hagopian, hagopian@u.washington.edu 

4.  POLICY AND ADVOCACY

ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Chair: Omar Khan, okhan.jhsph@jhu.edu

Co-Chair: Mike Bailey, mbailey@jhuccp.org

Committee Members:

Carlos Castillo-Salgado castillc@paho.org

Elvira Berocachea Elvira@midego.com

Malcolm Bryant malcolmbryant@comcast.net

Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd ippolitoshepherdj@yahoo.com

Dory Storms dstorms@jhsph.edu

To date:

• Put out call for papers supporting APHA’s 2009 theme of water & public health.
• Program Committee approved our sub-themes.
• Program Committee and IH Section leaders invited to submit invited sessions ahead of time to ensure maximum consideration. Late submissions to be considered with the general pool of submissions.
• IH leaders requested space for Working Group Meetings; these were all approved.
• All papers reviewed and graded.
• All graded papers assigned to appropriate panels.

At present:

• All paper sessions have been finalized.
• All invited sessions submitted by leadership ahead of time were approved .
• A few invited sessions have yet to finalize their papers.

Preliminary statistics:

• We received 470 submissions (slightly up from last year: 460 in 2008).  We think this was due to the east coast location, which offset (a) the general decrease in scientific conference attendance this year (e.g., ASM in Philadelphia, May '09, was down by 40 percent), and (b) the fact that we don’t have an “IH theme” as we did last year
• We believe the Section marketed the water theme effectively as being relevant to IH in a variety of ways.  Most effectively, all of us on the leadership group have put on panels, gotten colleagues to present, and forwarded the program to others, so that type of marketing has got us some great presentations. 
• Nine poster sessions.
• Forty-one paper sessions.
• Three business meetings, two working group meetings, one workshop,one social, one lunch.
• IH film festival of three full sessions.
• We again expect approximately 180 paper presentations and 90 poster presentations, for the same final number of 270 we had last year. The no-show rate was very low last year.  This was helped, we think, by selecting moderators/chair ahead of time and sending them the e-mail addresses of their panelists. They were asked to connect with the panelists in advance, which probably helped with efficiency and cut down on unexpected dropouts.

The IH Section Program is viewable for all at: http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/webprogram/IH.html 

--Omar Khan, MD MHS FAAFP; E-mail: ih.apha@gmail.com; okhan.jhsph@jhu.edu

AWARDS COMMITTEE

Chair: Paul Freeman, freeman.p.a@att.net

Co-chair: Padmini (Mini) Murthy, minimurthy@aol.com 

Members:  H. Azzam, T. Baker, G. Berggren, M. Bryant, E. Coates, M. Forzley,  N. Pielemeier, W. Reinke, G. Sankaran, R. Schneider, L. Smith, C. Swezy

There were four outstanding candidates for the Lifetime Achievement Award and three for the Mid Career Award. Twelve members of the Committee were involved in the voting. The final recommendations for the Awards are:

• Life-Time Achievement Award in International Health: Dr Tom Hall.
• Mid-Career Award in International Health: Dr Padmini Murthy.
• Distinguished Section Service Awards: Dr. Elvira Beracochea & Dr. Paul Freeman.
• Certificate of Recognition for their Dedicated Service in Support of the International Health Section: Ms. Morgan Taylor & Ms. Vina Hulamm .
• The Gordon-Wyon Award for Community-Oriented Public Health, Epidemiology, and Practice, awarded by the CBPHC Working Group: Dr. Henry Perry.

COMMUNITY-BASED PRIMARY CARE COMMITTEE

Chair: Paul Freeman, freeman.p.a@att.net

Co-Chair: Malcolm Bryant, malcolmbryant@comcast.net

Past Chair: Henry Perry

Secretary: Connie Gates

List Server Administrator: K. Chitnis

Members: I. Aitken, R. Martin, L. Altobelli, J.  Capps, A Hershberger, S. Hoar, E. Kleinau,

S Lamstein, R Mataya, J Mouch, E. Peca, S. Ruiz

GLOBAL HEALTH CONNECTIONS COMMITTEE

Chair: Gopal Sankaran (gsankaran@wcupa.edu)

Co-chairs: Hala Azzam (hala_azzam@yahoo.com) and Padmini Murthy (minimurthy@aol.com)
Members

The list is extensive and is available from the Chair.

 
Purpose

To increase efficiency of resource utilization and given the overlap between some of the goals and functions of the Global Health External Connections Committee and the Global Health APHA Connections Committee, it was agreed that the two connections committees would merge and consolidate their efforts. The new combined committee will be known as the Global Health Connections Committee (GHCC). The GHCC was constituted in November 2008.

Overall Vision and Mission

Promote global health solutions by connecting people in the following areas: education and training; policy and advocacy; research; and service.

Strategic Priorities
Goal 1. Promote intersectoral collaborations/partnerships within APHA.
Goal 2. Increase participation of overseas members in all activities of APHA including the Annual Meeting.
Goal 3. Facilitate joint sessions at the APHA Annual Meeting.
Goal 4. Keep Connections Committee members stay connected.

Plan of Action for 2008-2009

Available at International Health (IH) Section Web site (http://www.apha.org/NR/exeres/C9460DFA-4AE4-4659-810C-07F18A91A548,frameless.htm?NRMODE=Published)

Accomplishments

Goal 1

Sent a request to Chairs of all Sections, SPIGs, Caucuses and Forums to nominate a liaison to IH Section.  An updated list of all liaisons was developed, shared with members and posted on the IH Section Web site.

The New York Medical College School of Public Health held thematic presentations/panels on Children’s Environmental Health and Careers in Public Health on March 31, 2009 and April 2, 2009 respectively.  Additionally, a screening of Super-Size Me was held on April 1, 2009 to relate to the theme of National Public Health Week 2009 – Building the Foundation for a Healthy America.

Committee members evaluated abstracts submitted to the IH Section for the Annual Meeting, reviewed APHA policies considered for archival, and continued to facilitate dialogue, collaboration and concerted action among members of various APHA units on issues pertaining to international/global health.

Goal 2

A survey to assess the needs of the overseas members is in preparation.  With the help of Morgan and Vina, our APHA Staff liaisons, the survey would be shared with all overseas members (over 650) through SurveyMonkey.  Activities will be planned based on assessed needs.

The Committee’s efforts have led to a separate Welcome Counter, to be located in the Registration area, for all overseas participants at the 2009 APHA Annual Meeting. The Committee expresses its thanks to Dr. Georges Benjamin and staff of APHA and notes that this is the first time that such a Welcome Counter is being included at an APHA Annual Meeting.  Request for staffing the Welcome Counter is being made.

The Committee continues to advocate for lowered registration fee for overseas members from resource poor settings. The downturn in economy has made it impossible to offer discounts for the 2009 Annual Meeting.

Goal 3

The Committee continues to work with other APHA units for joint sessions at Annual Meetings and serves as a liaison to connect the different APHA units with the Program Chair of the IH Section.

Goal 4

Continue to hold conference calls every two months.  Summaries of Conference calls are disseminated to all members and posted on IH Section Web site. Developed the GHCC Mid-year Report and disseminated it to members and posted it on IH Section Web site. The Chair presented the Mid-year Report at the IH Section Mid-year Meeting in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 2009.  Promoted IH Web site and IH Blog among members and requested them to contribute materials for both.

We welcome student members to actively participate and strengthen the work of GHCC. Conference calls are held every two months. Please join us!

Business Meeting

Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009, 11.00 a.m.-Noon at APHA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia

--Gopal Sankaran, Chair GHCC; Telephone: (610) 436-2300

GLOBAL HEALTH STRATEGIES COMMITTEE

Chair: Miriam Labbok, labbok@unc.edu

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

Chair: Rose Schneider, rschneider@jhu.edu

Co-Chair: Alison Gernand, agernand@jhsph.edu

Member: Curtiss Swezy

NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE

Chair: Mary Anne Mercer

Vice-Chair: Wendy Johnson

Members: A Hagopian, M Fort, S Shannon, M Labbok, C Prophete

Serving as an officer in the IH Section is a great way to get to know other members of the Section and become involved in Section activities. The Nominations Committee solicits candidates for office and presents them to the administration of APHA, which organizes an election of officers every spring.  The goals for the APHA IH Nominations Committee for 2008/09 included selecting qualified, well-matched candidates for the routine 2009 elections and addressing a gap in Section Council seats due to early resignation of one Council member.

The election was held in spring 2009.  Results of the election are as follows:

For Secretary-elect: 

Jean Meyer Capps

For Section Council:  

Helene Carabin

Jirair Ratevosian

David Fitch (for a one-year term)

For Governing Council:

Wendy Johnson

Amy Hagopian

Laura Altobelli

Nominations are now open for the 2010 election.  Interested members should send an e-mail to the Nominations Chair at the address below.  The Nominations Committee also welcomes additional members.

The goals for the APHA International Health Nominations Committee for 2008/09 included:

Activities for this past half-year:

Goal #1: Select qualified, well matched candidates for the 2009 elections

Activities:

• Sent out a mass e-mail to the section asking for people who wish to run for office.
• Committee members solicited persons they think would be good candidates.
• Slate of candidates drawn up (see below).
• APHA sends out the routine election notice.

Goal #2: Address 2009 gap in coverage for section council due to early resignation of one elected member:

• Reviewed existing candidates for Section Council.
• Notified APHA of early resignation.
• APHA determined that the top three Section Council candidates would be elected to SC post (two regular members and one to substitute for the early resignation).

The Nominations Committee welcomes additional members.

--Mary Anne Mercer, IH Section Nominations Chair mamercer@u.washington.edu

PHARMACEUTICALS COMMITTEE

Chair: Maggie Huff-Rousselle, mhuffrousselle@ssds.net
Vice-Chair: Annette De Mattos, ademattos@ssds.net

As of this summer, we have approximately 250 people on the distribution list for the APHA Pharmaceuticals Interest/Working Group.  This group has sent e-mails, and the content is generally something that one member has sent in and is then routed on, or something from the coordinator.  The membership on this list has extended beyond International Health, and includes members from other sections, particularly Medical Care.  A few members are very active, and the majority are passive (i.e. have signed up and receive e-mail only).  We avoid duplicating what other groups (e.g., e-drug and NLARx) are already doing, and e-traffic is relatively light through most of the year.

Although e-mail traffic is light, there has been an increasing exchange about U.S.-domestic issues around pharmaceuticals and global issues (intellectual property rights, access because of high prices, and global safety issues).  Most members from International Health appear to be largely concerned with supply chain issues around the supply of the “new essential drugs,” especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB drugs (basically those funded by PEPFAR, the Global Fund and other donors).  Much of the e-mail traffic is a good example of civil society critiquing the pharmaceutical industry and the lack of good regulation and/or incentives provided by government to help better align industry and public health goals, with specific examples of this.

We organized a panel for the World Federation of Public Health Associations Conference held in Istanbul in May, Public Interests & the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Changing World for Public Health? The panel presenters examined the intersection of the pharmaceutical industry and public health priorities from four perspectives: (1) an economic-market perspective, considering the distortions and failures that mean the pharmaceutical sector can never be a truly open competitive market; (2) the changing face of the industry as generic competition, compulsory licensing and the rise of new players change the face of industry; (3) trade and intellectual property rights and the shifting ground and perspective around those; and (4) Brazil’s experience, as one of the ground-breaking national experiments.  A number of the participants at the session later requested PowerPoints for some sessions, and presentations are being translated in Portuguese and other languages.

We have been much more effective this year in succeeding in getting panels organized and placed in different Sections for the conference.  The IH Section has one pre-planned panel: Global Pharmaceutical Issues.  The Medical Care Section has a pre-planned panel where state legislators will present their strategies to regulate Big Pharma: Evidence Based Prescribing and Conflicts of Interest in Drug Policy & Pharmacy Services and a second panel Drug Policy & Pharmacy Services that will have both a U.S. and global focus. There are also four students whom we have supported who are making pharmaceutical-related presentations, three as posters, and one as a presentation on a Trade and Health Forum panel.  Finally, the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Section has a panel that we were not involved in but will promote: Prescription Drug Misuse: A continuing challenge in the new millennium.

We intend to have a meeting at this year’s conference to discuss what other activities we might take on, and how we can more effectively create synergy across Section boundaries.  These might include future panels, publications, and position papers.

--Maggie Huff-Rousselle, mhuffrousselle@ssds.net
--Annette De Mattos, ademattos@ssds.net

TRADE AND HEALTH LIAISON COMMITTEE

Chair: Mary Anne Mercer, mamercer@u.washington.edu