Highlights of the IANPHI Executive Board Meeting
The IANPHI Executive Board held a virtual meeting on June 29, 2021. IANPHI President Duncan Selbie welcomed board members, as well as the chairs and vice-chairs of the IANPHI Regional Networks, representatives of the IANPHI Foundation, IANPHI's staff, strategic adviser, and guests of member national public health institutes (NPHIs) from Colombia’s Instituto Nacional de Salud, Public Health England, the German Robert Koch Institute, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and Santé publique France.
1. Presidency Update
WHO-IANPHI Partnership
D. Selbie and J. Fugier of the IANPHI Secretariat met with representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva on September 7-8, 2021 to further discuss the partnership with WHO, in particular areas of potential collaborations.
IANPHI Contribution to the Global Strategic Preparedness Network
The Secretariat has had several meetings with WHO representatives to ascertain IANPHI’s role and added-value to the Global Strategic Preparedness Network (GSPN). Once more information is gathered by the Secretariat, there will be a follow-up with the Executive Board to define an effective way of contributing to GSPN activities.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenge on Integrated Surveillance
The IANPHI Secretariat has submitted a proposal to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The first objective of the proposal is to support countries who have been invited to submit proposals to the Grand Challenge to develop integrated surveillance at the country level. The second objective is to develop the link between NPHIs and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence given its strategy for better data, better analytics, better decisions.
2. IANPHI Action Plan 2022-2023
The Action Plan for 2022-2023 was presented to the Board, highlighting the timeline, expected outcomes, key performance indicators, the operating model for implementation, the critical success factors for achievement, and the risk and mitigation measures. The Action Plan is based on a scaled-up approach in which the initiatives match the resources to carry them out. The critical success factors capture the establishment of a knowledge platform for members, sustainable income generation, scoping investment models, and strengthening the IANPHI Secretariat. A final version of the Action Plan will be circulated widely at the General Assembly during the IANPHI Annual Meeting in December 2021.
3. Winding Down of the IANPHI Foundation
The IANPHI Foundation is winding down and is in the process of closing the bank account. The funds from the Foundation account will be liquidated in spring of 2022 and be transferred to the IANPHI bank account. The initial funding to open the Foundation will be returned to the THL Foundation, the foundation of the Finish institute for health and welfare.
4. Membership Requests
The Secretariat has been approached by the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) asking for membership. EMPHNET is an umbrella organization for a field-epidemiology training program based in Jordan that collaborates in over 12 countries (Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen, and Bangladesh). After the review of the application by the Secretariat, the most appropriate designation for this organization would be to become an IANPHI partner, which entails drafting a memorandum of understanding to support the partnership and implement joint activities.
5. IANPHI Annual Meeting 2021
The IANPHI Annual Meeting will be held on December 1-3, 2021, hosted by Brazil's Fiocruz, and will focus on health equities. The first day will be dedicated to internal IANPHI matters with the General Assembly and a presentation of the Action Plan. The second day will feature two sessions, one on NPHIs’ experiences tackling COVID-19 through a health equity perspective and another on health equity indicators, proposed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The third day will offer a session on integrating health equity into NPHIs’ climate and environmental action and the closing session. A declaration on NPHIs and health equity, prepared by Fiocruz, could be announced during the closing session.
6. Establishment of IANPHI Committees
The process to delineate the formal structure and the procedures of the Committee started in June 2021 with consultations with the IANPHI Secretariat, U.S. Office and Executive Board, spearheaded by colleagues from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The terms of reference (ToRs) and rules and procedure were created thanks to an iterative process. The comments received from the Board to “de-bureaucratize” the structure and membership of the committees, topic selection, and procedural rules are now included in the latest version of the ToRs and rules. This updated version was sent to the Secretariat by RKI and will be circulated to Board members.
7. Public Health Professional Development Committee
The Board accepted the proposal to change the name of Training Working Group to the Public Health Professional Development Committee, which is aligned with the IANPHI Strategy 2021-2025.
8. Public Health Professional Development Committee
The position paper titled “IANPHI Roadmap for Action on Health and Climate Change” was formally launched on November 10, 2021 at a side event at the COP26 WHO Health Pavillion. It is available in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arabic.
An additional Executive Board meeting was scheduled on November 5, 2021 to present the final version of the Action Plan and the budget proposal for 2022. Both were approved unanimously.
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.