International Health Committee

The mission of the International Health Committee shall be to promote environmental health in the international setting in order to prevent death and disease commonly associated with poor environmental conditions.

To meet our mission, the IHC has three main objectives:

Education:  The IHC develops presentations on international health issues that are presented at the annual education conference (AEC) and at regional WSEHA meetings.  Updates to this website include links to technical resources that WSEHA members can access to learn more about international health issues and best practices in basic water and sanitation.

Outreach:  The IHC is developing strategic partnerships with sister organizations, such as the Washington State Public Health Association (WSPHA), to better utilize resources to promote environmental health in an international setting.   Updates to the website include links to many nongovernmental organizations in both overseas relief and development.  The IHC also holds silent auctions on an annual basis at the WSEHA AEC and/or JCH to not only raise money for overseas projects but to increase awareness of international health issues.  

Assistance:  WSEHA has for many years donated funds annually to Public Health International (PHI) to help in their efforts to improve environmental health conditions, mainly in Latin America .  WSEHA has also worked with PHI to recruit volunteers whenever humanitarian emergencies occur, such as exodus of Cambodian refugees into Thailand in 1979, the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980's, and the Rwandan genocide of 1994.  IHC’s first silent auction raised over $2000 to help replace a water system in the village of Los Manguitos , Ecuador , that was lost to El Nino flooding.  Subsequent silent auctions have raised funds to assist an orphanage for AIDS-affected children in Chipole, Tanzania, to repair a water treatment plant for a village in the Bay Islands of Honduras, to rehabilitate a pre-school in the Pancasan barrio of Santo Tomas, Nicaragua, build boats for Tsunami victims in Thailand, provide medical services for a clinic in Quito, Ecuador, provide water and sanitation to a girls’ school in Afghanistan, as well as village-level water projects in India, Bolivia, and Laos.  In all of these instances, the IHC has partnered with an agency working where the money is going that has a local tie in Washington State .

We welcome involvement and contributions from WSEHA members and others interested in international health issues. 

International Health Committee Co-chairs:

Ross Lytle                                                        Susan Camp

lytler@health.co.kitsap.wa.us                           secamp2@hotmail.com