Highlights of the IANPHI Executive Board Meeting

The IANPHI Executive Board (EB) held a virtual meeting on April 26, 2022. IANPHI President Duncan Selbie welcomed EB members and chaired the meeting. 

1. IANPHI Advocacy, Visibility and Prospecting New Membership

IANPHI contributed to the Global Climate and Health Policy Roundtable at Expo 2020 Dubai (March 4, 2022).

On April 8, 2022, IANPHI participated and co-hosted with Santé publique France in Paris a one-day event dedicated to climate change and public health, titled "Health as a Lever for Action on Climate Change". Organized on the occasion of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, the event was attended by 1,100 public health professionals, environmental professionals, decision-makers, researchers and stakeholders from 65 countries.

With regard to the professionalization of the workforce and the competency-based training with WHO and ASPHER, a working group is finalizing the roadmap, with the view to launch it in advance of the World Health Assembly to be held in mid-May.

2. Regional Networks' Activity Update

The annual IANPHI European Network Meeting will be held from May 19-20, 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia, hosted by the Estonian Institute for Health Development. This year’s theme will cover the role of national public health institutes (NPHIs) in crises, both in preparing for and responding to crises. Sub-topics include the war in Ukraine and the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The IANPHI Latin American Network is preparing a meeting around the theme “The role of NPHIs in Facing Health Inequities in Latin America”. Five main objectives have been outlined: 1) to describe the role of structural, social, and economic inequities in the outcome of disease in Latin America, 2) to establish the strategic action lines to reduce inequality in the region, 3) proposals to generate national and regional inequity observatories in Latin America, 4) to outline the roles of NPHIs in the creation and maintenance of inequity observatories in the region, and 5) to analyse the alternative sources for funding to implement and develop the observatories.

3. IANPHI Initiative to Support the Public Health Center of Ukraine

With regards to the war in Ukraine, several meetings took place and a Ukraine support group now meets every week to discuss the needs of partners in Ukraine, Poland and other neighbouring countries and European initiatives. The group has identified four types of potential assistance: 1) share information, 2) ad-hoc support upon requests, 3) evidence synthesis, 4) assess request for support.

In the long term, IANPHI and its European network considers following activities:

• Prepare for rebuilding the Public Health Center of Ukraine (PHCU) and other public health-related institutions and functions in the country;
• Identify and prioritize the most urgent needs, organize implementation activities, collaborate with other actors on filling the gaps, train various kinds of public health experts;
• Identify other actors in Ukraine, which are supporting PHCU, and collaborate and coordinate with the country offices of the World Health Organization, the European Union, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Norway, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

4. IANPHI Membership

Following the sending of the 2022 membership fees invoices to members, the IANPHI Secretariat received two requests for discount and waiver of the membership fees.

After reviewing the membership payment rules and the situations of the requesting members, the EB approved the discount and waiver requests.

Following the current geopolitical context and the Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 2022, the membership of the National Research Centre for Preventive Medicine and the Research Institute for Healthcare Organization, and the Medical Management of the Moscow Department of Healthcare was discussed.

5. Use of Budget Savings

In view of the IANPHI Annual Meeting, which will take place on November 30 - December 2, 2022 in Stockholm, the EB has approved the change in grant policy. In 2022, grants will be given only to the participants from low-income countries.

Based on the savings made during the first four months of 2022, the EB approved the use of funds on 1) the registration site for IANPHI events and 2) the subscription to the Shutterstock for two months to buy additional pictures to represent IANPHI in communications materials.

6. Dissemination of the IANPHI Report on Lessons Learned from National Public Health Institutes’ Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak

Considering our unique international membership network, IANPHI is keen to communicate in different languages. Several member institutes are exploring the possibility of translating the report into Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. IANPHI expresses its gratitude to the Public Health Agency of Canada, which has already confirmed the possibility to translate the report into French, and will acknowledge all NPHIs supporting the translation.

7. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Project – IANPHI Support to WHO/Berlin

The EB received an update on the implementation progress of the IANPHI project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports the understanding of Integrated Disease Surveillance (IDS) from an NPHI perspective and the opportunities and challenges that countries face in establishing IDS. 

This online version of the IANPHI Executive Board meeting report reflects actions taken at the most recent meeting of the IANPHI Executive Board and is provided for the convenience of IANPHI members. This online document is not the official, complete record of the actions of the IANPHI Executive Board, it is merely a summary of actions taken. The IANPHI Executive Board’s official minutes, in their entirety, are on file with the IANPHI Secretariat. Should you have any questions about this online summary of the agenda, actions taken, or the minutes of the meetings of the IANPHI Executive Board, please contact the IANPHI Secretariat at secretariat@ianphi.org.