Highlights of the IANPHI Executive Board Meeting

The IANPHI Executive Board held a meeting on October 27, 2020 via conference call.

IANPHI President André van der Zande welcomed board members, as well as the Latin American Network Chair, representatives of the IANPHI Foundation, the IANPHI Secretariat, and guests of IANPHI member national public health institutes (NPHI) and partners. The quorum to vote on the decisions was reached with seven members in attendance out of 14, additional to one proxy.

1. Preparation of the 2020 IANPHI General Assembly

This Executive Board meeting was the main step in the preparation of the 2020 IANPHI General Assembly. As it had been previously decided that the IANPHI General Assembly would vote electronically the different strategic decisions concerning IANPHI this year, the Secretariat prepared different documents to be submitted to the General Assembly.

Decision: The IANPHI Executive Board approved the following documents to be voted by the IANPHI General Assembly:

  • the updated budget 2020 and the budget proposal for 2021;
  • the payment policy document;
  • the document Secretariat and Offices;
  • the discharge of EB members 2019;
  • and the draft of the Annual Activity Report 2020.

The Secretariat received two applications in reply to the call for the Presidency and five applications in reply to the call for the Executive Board renewal. The Secretariat also received two applications for the positions of chair and vice chair of the IANPHI Asian Network, and two others for the positions of chair and vice chair of the IANPHI Latin American Network.

Decision: The IANPHI Executive Board approved all the received applications to be submitted to the General Assembly.

During their meeting in June, the Executive Board members decided to offer the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to become a partner, instead of an Associate Member, as this status would be more adapted to CARPHA as a regional organization. Moreover, the Secretariat received an application from the Austrian NPHI (Gesundheit Österreich GmbH) to become a National Member.

Decision: The IANPHI Executive Board approved to submit the applications of CARPHA and of the Austrian NPHI to the General Assembly.

2. IANPHI Strategic Vision

As IANPHI has a new legal entity as an international non-profit association since 2018, the revision of the IANPHI Strategic Vision aims to provide an external facing strategy for current members, new members and partners.

Five strategic priorities were identified by the working group:

  • SP 1. Strengthen the professional relationships within IANPHI’s unique global forum;
  • SP 2. Harness the collective expertise of members to develop global health capacity;
  • SP 3. Engage and support IANPHI’s diverse and unified membership base;
  • SP 4. Advocate as IANPHI in support of NPHIs as key public health actors;
  • SP 5. Build an agile association to support its members through change.

These five priorities will be the basis for drafting a final Strategic Vision document, which will be shared with the General Assembly and discussed at the Annual Meeting 2020.

3. IANPHI “Code of Practice for an NPHI” Proposal

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health introduced its proposal of a "Code of Practice for an NPHI", inspired by the code of practice developed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which obliged all countries to have a statistical bureau. Such a document aims to guarantee the scientific independence of NPHIs, although they are funded by governments. The Norwegian Institute’s working group established three sets of core factors, which aim to be the basis of the development of the document by a small working group.

The IANPHI Executive Board acknowledged that this initiative fits well into the work on the revision of the Strategy of the Association, and should be included in the COVID-19 Lessons Learned report. Several IANPHI Executive Board members supported the proposal and offered to be part of the working group.

4. Launch of a Collaborative Project between IANPHI and the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation

IANPHI, thanks to its partnership with the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), is a member of the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA), which is a summative and formative accreditation agency and very much involved in peer-to-peer review and peer-to-peer support. The IANPHI Executive Board was informed by the APHEA Director that a working group, regionally represented by IANPHI members and coordinated by the Centre for Disease Control of Saudi Arabia, was launched on October 26, 2020, to identify the priorities and the gaps of IANPHI members in term of training, as well as the potential use of APHEA accreditation.

The IANPHI Executive Board members praised this initiative and acknowledged the importance of this partnership and its benefits for IANPHI members.

5. IANPHI Participation in Major International Events

Prof. Duncan Selbie represented IANPHI at a high-level UN General Assembly side-event organized by WHO and the governments of Finland, France and Indonesia, entitled “Sustainable preparedness for health security and resilience: Adopting a whole-of-society approach and breaking the ‘panic-then-forget’ cycle”. This event gave the opportunity to the Association to present the many ways in which NPHIs are supporting governments in preparedness and responses to COVID-19 and how IANPHI has connected its membership to share knowledge and best practices.

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.

Share This Story