About Us

WHO WE ARE:

The International Health Organization, (IHO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and well being of underserved populations around the world, principally the Indian sub-continent, developing countries and disenfranchised populations in the United States. From its global head-quarters in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) and regional offices in India, IHO implements its public health programs for the past 25 years, through its cost-effective, self-help model for improving the health of poorest communities around the world.

IHO was incorporated in 1992 in Boston, Massachusetts as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization by a group of international health experts from Harvard University. IHO’s experts are drawn from a multidisciplinary pool of professionals in international health, public health, clinical medicine, laboratory sciences, health education, and health policy and health program development and analysis. IHO works with the help of a large number of volunteers at very level – from board members to village level in developing countries. 

IHO’s PHILOSOPHY:

An integrated, holistic approach to improved health: Since 1992 IHO has advocated, developed and implemented health programs that are closely integrated with rural community development programs.

IHO believes that the serious health problems experienced by disenfranchised people in rural communities derive from and are often perpetuated by their poverty and environmental conditions. As a result, isolated attempts to treat diseases from a health perspective alone or to improve only certain aspects of their health will not be successful over time unless there are parallel improvements in the economic and environmental conditions which perpetuate the cycle of poor health, impoverishment and premature death by preventable diseases.

A contaminated source of water

A contaminated source of water

before IHO’s Program

A Villager using an IHO installed

A Villager using an IHO installed

pump and deep water well

As a result, while IHO helps people through its public health programs, it simultaneously helps communities by improving their environmental and economic health as well. This philosophy forms the basis of IHO’s integrated and holistic health programs.


Disease prevention through access to local healthcare: While IHO does provide clinical services; its major emphasis is upon the prevention of disease by increasing access to existing local healthcare. It does this by linking rural communities with health care services that, at the present time, do not reach those communities. This method of disease prevention is successful, as well as cost-effective, because while it is managed by world-class health professionals, it’s staffed “in country” by people familiar with local cultural practices and procedures and makes use of local resources.

IHO serves as a network of physicians, educators and public health officials that can rapidly coordinate people and resources to help communities with a high incidence of preventable disease. IHO can coordinate primary health care, program design and management, or in-depth health interventions for at-risk populations with other organizations who want or need these services.

Details of our successful programs have been presented and discussed at several national and international meetings, including the annual conferences of the American Public Health Association (APHA) in the United States and the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) in Indonesia.

Current status: IHO currently runs its programs in several countries of the Indian sub-continent, several states of India, many developing countries, and disenfranchised population in the United States. IHO has served over one million people directly or indirectly through its health interventions.

To learn about how IHO got started, please click here.

 

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