Congress has added $50 million to USAID's budget for infectious diseases abroad. This is evidence of growing understanding in the U.S. that health developments overseas significantly impact domestic public health. The four principle foci of this increase are a) control of TB, b) monitoring of disease outbreaks, c) control of malaria, and d) heightened efforts to detect and limit drug-resistant microbes. 

Barry Levy, immediate past President of the American Public Health Association (APHA), said that the establishment of an APHA Caucus on Public Health and the Faith Community was one of the positive developments of recent years. He was delivering the keynote address at the opening of the APHA annual conference in Indianapolis in November 1997. He believes it will help counter the decline in our civic and non-governmental organizations which contributes to an unraveling of the fabric of our society.

CCIH is perhaps not big enough to have viable chapters at the local level. We nevertheless encourage individual and institutional members to build alliances with like-minded partners to further the mission of international health from a Christian perspective. One way of doing that would be to co-sponsor local events.

National Council for International Health (NCIH) is working with dozens of institutions and interest groups nationwide to produce "Local-Global Health Forums." The purpose is to provide networking opportunities for health professionals in each U.S. state, and to educate the public and US policy makers on the why and how to improve global health conditions.

NCIH can provide you with a manual for organizing an event, possible speakers in your region on a variety of topics, and support materials to help you document specific local health benefits. Contact Chuck Woolery, NCIH Advocacy Coordinator, at Chuck@ncih.org.