Members of the executive committee have been involved with various projects to further the aims and objectives of IFHE, writes president Steve Drinkrow.
To publicise Prof Nagasawa’s position in the IFHE as second vice president, and to make IFHE objectives known, general secretary Bernard Shapiro attended a symposium “Designing for Sustainable Healthcare Facilities in Africa” which was held in conjunction with the 26th Annual Seminar of the International Union of Architects Public Health Group (UIA PHG) in Pretoria, South Africa, in August.
Consequent on the informal discussions at the 19th Congress in Cape Town with delegates from several African countries, and at the invitation of Dr Isakkov of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Eng. Philip Anyango Amoko of AMEK, I had the privilege of travelling to Kenya in August. I attended a symposium and workshop organised by WHO in my official capacity as the IFHE president, and had the opportunity to meet governmental officials and representatives of several east African countries. An offer was made by IFHE to those organisations representing Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to host a three day training workshop in Nairobi during 2007.
We are awaiting feedback from these countries on their specific training needs to enable us to continue with this project. In November I attended IHEEM’s Healthcare Estates Conference in Harrogate to strengthen our ties with this organisation in England. As one of the founding organisations, IHEEM, and its members, have played a major role – and continue to do so – in furthering the aims and objectives of IFHE.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bill Pym for the role he has played in providing administrative services to IFHE since 1999. Bill Pym has retired from the position of IHEEM’s chief executive and that of IFHE administrative secretary. His successor is John Long, MBE.
Lawrence Hadley, IFHE past president (1998-2000) also has decided to retire from IHEEM’s international committee and from IFHE affairs. On behalf of IFHE, I thank Laurie for his tremendous contribution, untiring efforts and his inestimable role in developing and sustaining our relationship with Touch Briefings. I trust he will enjoy his retirement without those IFHE responsibilities.
Looking back on 2006 I feel that we met our objectives and I am pleased to report that our organisation is healthy both in terms of its finances and outputs. We moved into 2007 with clear objectives and a motivated executive committee.
