Global public health network funded by $20 Million Gates Foundation
grant
18 January 2006 Atlanta, USA. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has
awarded a five-year grant of nearly $20 million to Emory University and
Finland's National Public Health Institute, KTL (Kansanterveyslaitos) to
support the International Association of National Public Health Institutes
(IANPHI).
IANPHI is an international alliance dedicated to optimizing public health
service delivery and decision-making globally by improving public health
infrastructure around the world. The cornerstone of the IANPHI approach is
a peer-assistance model for strengthening and enhancing national public
health institutes, with an emphasis on low-resource countries without a
national public health focus or with NPHIs in their early stages of
development. IANPHI was formally launched in January 2006 with 39 founding
members and a one-year planning grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation. With the five-year grant, the members will continue to expand
the association and implement their shared vision of an integrated global
network of strong and capable NPHIs taking action to address critical public
health challenges. Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH, vice president for academic
health affairs in Emory University's Woodruff Health Sciences Center and
former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
is IANPHI president and principal investigator for the IANPHI grant. "In
our increasingly interconnected society, the public health issues of one
country can quickly affect the entire world," explains Dr. Koplan. "A global
perspective is important not only in thinking about public health problems,
but also in developing and disseminating public health solutions. The Gates
Foundation grant will provide concrete tools for improving public health
infrastructure and capacity internationally and establishing a global
community for public health leadership and advocacy." IANPHI
co-investigators are Pekka Puska, MD, PhD, director general of KTL and
IANPHI vice-president, and Pekka Jousilahti, MD, PhD, KTL research professor
and IANPHI secretary-general.
Emory's Global Health Institute, directed by Dr. Koplan, is a
University-wide initiative recently established to develop innovative
research, training and programs to address the most pressing health
challenges around the world, particularly in poor countries.
More information:
www.whsc.emory.edu/globalhealth
www.ianphi.org
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