Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública

The Mexico National Institute of Public Health (INSP) hosted the Seventh Annual IANPHI meeting in Mexico City from September 30th to October 3rd. IANPHI, the International Association of National Public Health Institutes, is a global initiative that aims to develop stronger and more coordinated public health systems through the development and support of national public health institutes – or NPHIs. It is also a professional association for NPHI directors, which provides a platform for advocacy and collective action in addressing public health challenges and opportunities. IANPHI spearheads improvements in national public health systems and training through a peer-assistance evaluation, grant support and efforts focused on NPHI advocacy, collaboration and sustainability.

As the host of this year's annual meeting, Dr. Mauricio Hernández Ávila, Director General and Dean of the Mexico National Institute of Public Health, welcomed 78 of the world's public health leaders from 44 countries to Mexico City for three days of networking with colleagues, sharing challenges and solutions, and building stronger partnerships. The 2012 event focused on  “NETWORKING TO ADDRESS GLOBAL HEALTH CHALLENGES” which addressed topics such as, training in public health, innovative approaches to improved health outcomes, complex problems of obesity and malnutrition and the roles of NPHIs, modern surveillance for developing countries, international partnerships between institutes, and much more.

Dr. Romeo Rodríguez Suárez, Head of the National Institutes of Health and High Specialty Regional Hospitals Coordinating Commission (C.C.I.N.S.H.A.E), inaugurated the prestigious event. Following, Dr. Mauricio Hernández Ávila presented the Plenary Address on the subject: Innovative Approaches to Improved Health Outcomes in Mexico: Making NPHI’s count.

The meeting entered into full throttle when the IANPHI members divided into the following three concurrent work sessions on Networking between NPHIs:

1. Effective Networking for Bio-surveillance for Health Security, moderated by Dr. Celia Alpuche, INSP Faculty Staff and Former Director of the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Referral (InDRE), and Dr. Hugo López-Gatell, Director of National Health Surveys at the INSP;

2. Training in Public Health: Challenges and future scenarios, moderated by Dr. Laura Magaña, Associate Dean of the School of Public Health; and

3. Tracking Obesity and Malnutrition, moderated by Dr. Juan Rivera, Director of the Center for Nutrition and Health Research, INSP.

Also, Dr. Jaime Sepulveda, Executive Director of Global Health Sciences at the University Of California and Dr. Juan Rivera gave concurrent technical sessions on Public Health Surveillance in the National Institutes of Public Health, and the Complex Problems of Obesity and Malnutrition and the Role of NIPHs, respectively.

Plenary sessions were given on the burden of disease measurement and how to use data to influence policy by Dr. Christopher Murray, Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington and Institute Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME); and on the transition of NCD: challenges after the NY Summit, which was given
by Dr. Pekka Puska, Director General of the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland (THL).

Other Plenary Sessions included:

1. IANPHI Member Accomplishments 2012
by Jeffrey Koplan, Director of the Emory Global Health Institute and Vice President for Global Health at Emory University; and
2. Translating policy to action to improve health systems, by 
Carel IJsselmuiden, Director of the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED).

The final Concurrent Technical Sessions covered:

1. Tools for Developing External Evaluations of Public Health Institutions, moderated by Jean Claude Desenclos, Scientific Director at the French Public Health Surveillance Institute (InVS); and Anne-Catherine Deputy Director of Science and Quality Management at InVS; and

2. Public Health response to Humanitarian Crises, 
moderated by Mark Salter, Consultant for Global Health for the Health Protection Agency (HPA), UK, with the participation of Peter Bloland, Director of Division of Public Health Systems and Workforce Development at the CDC; Jean-Luc Poncelet, Area Manager, Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief, PAHO; and
 Virginia Murray, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection, HPA, UK.

The General Assembly voting process resulted a new IANPHI president, Pekka Puska from the National Institute for Health and Welfare-THL, Finland, who will succeed Jeffrey Koplan, and Mwele Malecela from the National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania as vice president, replacing Dr. Puska. Also Mauricio Hernandez was confirmed as a new Executive Board member replacing Mario Henry Rodriguez, former INSP Director. A standing ovation was given to Jeffrey Koplan when the outgoing founding president of IANPHI received a silver medal from the INSP IANPHI 2012 host, Mauricio Hernandez.

The IANPHI Participants also enjoyed a unique opportunity to visit the National Museum of Anthropology, one a Mexico's greatest historical treasures, topping the evening off with authentic Mexican cuisine set in the museum’s gardens accompanied by the violin section of the renown Mexican Navy Symphonic Orchestra. The meeting was concluded on Wednesday when 40 members also visited the extensive INSP headquarters in Cuernavaca where they were given an overview presentation of the INSP organizational structure, a tour of the facility and a farewell lunch to sample the unique gastronomy from the Yucatan.

IANPHI Presentations

http://www.ianphimexico2012.org