Cooperating to Change Lives

June 08, 2010June is conference season for global health NGOs, so no one was surprised to hear I was going to DC for a conference last week. But several people asked why I was going to theInterAction Forum.What is InterAction?InterAction is a large coalition of NGOs dedicated to helping poor and vulnerable people —a rather broad mandate. IntraHealth is involved due to our work with improving health care systems in low-resource environments. But InterAction also includes groups working on environmental issues, human rights, food security, gender equality, disaster relief, and many more concerns.What does the spotted owl have to do with improving HIV testing rates in rural Zambia?At first glance, organizations such as the Sierra Club don ’t have a lot to do with IntraHealth’s work. There’s also been debate between some in health care development and some environmentalists over conflicting priorities and goals. Ambulances tend to run on petroleum-based fuel. Wetlands can be home to malaria-bearing mosquitoes as well as more cha rming forms of wildlife.  Why would we go to a conference together?None of our work is taking place in a vacuum, and none of us have expertise in all areas that need to be changed to improve people ’s lives in low-resource areas. Partnerships that, on the surface, seem unlikely can turn out to be surprisingly supportive of each other. At the session entitled “Capitalizing on Convergence: Collaboration Among Development, Environmental and Huma...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: news