The IH Communications Committee has developed a survey to learn how its members use and benefit from it communications platforms. The survey comes in two parts: the first asks about the Section’s traditional communications platforms (i.e. the website, newsletter and monthly emails), and the second is about the Section’s social media tools (Facebook, LinkedIn and the blog). Please take a few minutes to complete the survey – we value your feedback and want to know how to better communicate with you! The two parts of the survey can be accessed from the following links:
Traditional Communications
Social Media
The Section website has undergone a major reorganization to make sure that its information is up-to-date and relevant to Section membership. Certain areas are still under construction, but the site now has an updated leadership roster and current lists of committee and working group chairs. Additionally, the Section's history, developed in part by our archivist Ray Martin, has been posted (pdf). Please be sure to check out the updated Resources/Links page as well!
The following announcement, from Chad Swanson and Kaja Abbas, invites interested Section members to join a new working group on health systems strengthening. Kaja can be contacted by email at kaja.abbas@gmail.com.
Greetings, friends and colleagues. The purpose of this message is to invite you to join a new working group within the International Section of APHA: 'Systems Sciences for Health Systems Strengthening.' Please forward this invite to any and all interested parties. We hope that you will advertise this group widely on the various listservs and newsletters that you manage. As most of you know better than we do, the importance of health systems strengthening is increasingly recognized. However, health systems are incredibly complex, and there does not seem to be a consensus on the way forward. The so-called systems sciences provide unique approaches and methods to consider unintended consequences, delayed effects, and high-leverage points to strengthen health systems. You can learn more about the need for this working group and our objectives and plans on this Google document. We are very excited about the potential that this group will have in providing opportunities for collaboration, networking and advocacy at the interface of research, policy and practice of strengthening health systems in developed and developing countries. We hope that you will consider joining us; you don't need to be a member of APHA. If you are interested in the group, please join this LinkedIn group.
The following announcement, from Rose Schneider, invites interested Section members to join a new working group on climate change. Rose can be contacted by email at rschneider@jhu.edu.
The IH Climate Change Working Group, or CCWG, will serve as a focal point for climate change and health information for Section leadership and members. It will support advocacy on climate change issues within the Section and the broader APHA. The CCWG will serve as the IH Section’s link with the Environmental Health and other sections working on climate change, adaptation and mitigation. CCWG will also bring its international perspective to influence APHA’s institutional climate change policies, programs and advocacy. The CCWG is open to all IH Section members and members of other sections involved in climate change related issues. Rose Schneider serves as chair, with Hala Hazzam as co-chair and Christine Benner as student representative. We encourage and look forward to your active participation in this working group. The CCWG launched in early 2011. We invite those interested in joining or simply in knowing more about the exciting area of climate change and health to look for follow-up information on the IH Section blog.
The following announcement, from Eric Williams, calls for any IH Section members interested in assisting efforts to address federal global health and HIV/AIDS funding. Please see the text of the announcement below. Eric can be contacted by email at ericwms@gmail.com.
Dear Colleagues,
I’m writing to request assistance in a “grasstops” effort to address federal global health and HIV/AIDS funding. As you are likely well aware, there have been serious threats and concerns regarding global health funding over the last several years. There is a real need to mobilize influential members of our community in an effort to ensure that Congress does not backtrack on our global health commitments.
I am doing some consulting work with AMFAR, and they want to identify experts, donors, high-profile individuals and/or organizations in select states who can reach out to key Senate leadership. We need these individuals/organizations to show and voice their support for continued and sustained commitments for global health. States of focus include Nevada (Sen. Harry Reid), Iowa (Sen. Tom Harkin), and Washington (Sen. Patty Murray). We believe these senators are in key positions to influence appropriations decisions and shore up support for global health.
The aim of this effort is to:
1. identify grasstop individuals/organizations; and
2. plan, coordinate and carry out outreach efforts to Senate leadership in a variety of ways, including state-level meetings, Hill visits, op-eds, sign-on letters, and so forth.
If you are interested or able to provide assistance in helping to identify and/or reach out to the above stakeholders, I would be very interested in speaking. If there is strong support for this I would be happy to facilitate a conference call to discuss in full.
The IH Section has begun hosting topic-focused conference calls every other month. These calls will provide Section members with an opportunity to listen to a guest speaker or fellow Section member discuss current topics in international health and to ask questions. Our August call was cancelled due to many members being on vacation or outside of the country; however, the October call, on health systems strengthening with the leaders of our new working group Kaja Abbas and Chad Swanson, will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 12:30 p.m. EST.
TOPIC: System Science Health Systems Strengthening
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EST
PHONE NUMBER: (712) 432-1001 (please note that this is not a toll-free number)
PASSCODE: 477461343#
Announcements and summaries of the call can be viewed on the IH blog here.
- Many thanks to Dr. Susan Brems of USAID, who discussed the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review during the February call, and the invited speakers and panelists who talked about the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (the summary of which can be read on the IH blog here).
- Our second call was on the Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel in April. We had two excellent speakers (John Palen, Sr. Technical Advisor, State Department’s Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, and Pascal Zurn, World Health Organization’s Global Health Workforce Alliance team) in addition to a great panel (Polly Pittman, George Washington University; Cheryl Peterson, American Nursing Association; Estelle Quain, USAID; and Anke Tijtsma, Netherland’s Wemos organization), which generated a very productive discussion. Many attendees who called in to listen may have missed the discussion due to its late start; therefore, we have posted a detailed summary of the discussion (graciously recorded by Dr. Amy Hagopian) here.
- The third topic-focused conference call, on Current Developments in MCNH, took place in June. We had several members of the IH section offer their commentary and expertise on current issues concerning maternal and child health. Speakers included Laura Altobelli, Elvira Beracochea, Carol Dabbs, Miriam Labbock, and Mary Anne Mercer. Read the summary here.
Information regarding these calls will be posted to the Section blog and website and emailed to Section membership.