The American International Health Alliance is a nonprofit organization working to advance global health by helping communities and nations with limited resources build sustainable institutional and human resource capacity. Through twinning partnerships and other programs, we provide technical assistance using the knowledge and skills of experienced physicians, nurses, administrators, educators, allied health professionals, and civic leaders. Our programs address critical issues such as HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, maternal and child health, primary care, emergency and disaster preparedness, and health professions education and development.

AIHA is unlike many organizations that provide technical assistance because our partnerships and programs often rely on the commitment of professional time and energy provided by volunteers on both sides. Most of our programs are based on peer-to-peer relationships among healthcare providers and policymakers who collaborate to find solutions to health services delivery issues that are technologically and economically sustainable in the host country. Our model presumes that healthcare professionals abroad are more receptive to new ideas and more willing to make changes when they work together with colleagues who face the same challenges in their day-to-day practice.

AIHA operates under various cooperative agreements and grants from US and international donor agencies including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); the World Health Organization (WHO); the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

 

 

WHAT WE DO

AIHA, its partnerships, and programs represent one of the US healthcare sector’s most coordinated responses to a broad range of issues affecting global health. Our programs contribute to sustainable change by providing the management and programmatic support to help donor institutions and health systems coordinate other forms of government or privately-sponsored development assistance.

AIHA’s technical assistance model provides an underlying structure that supports health reform, offering counsel and guidance based on five key pillars that serve as the basic framework for our programmatic work:

­   -introducing new models of care and services

­   -mobilizing communities for change

­   -building sustainable capacity among healthcare practitioners

­   -furthering the development of health-related professions

­   -expanding knowledge through effective dissemination of successful programs

Clinical and administrative programs established through AIHA partnerships and programs are more sustainable because the partner-recipients identify key issues and create their own solutions. Particular attention is focused on the need for low-tech, economically-viable programs that increase productivity and quality of care without imposing new burdens that would impede long-term success and feasibility. Our goal is to improve output and effectiveness to such a degree that the provision of essential health-related programs and services can be sustained independently within the host community.

 

Healthcare Partnerships

AIHA got its start creating partnerships linking institutions or community-based organizations that have implemented successful healthcare programs with counterparts in developing or transitioning countries looking to learn from that experience.

 

HIV/AIDS Twinning Center

The HIV/AIDS Twinning Center's partnership model draws on the more than 19 years of experience AIHA has amassed in creating and managing international healthcare partnerships. The Twinning Center also supports a broad range of projects that—while they fall outside the parameters of a traditional partnership—are still rooted in the flexible, collaborative, results-oriented process that is the hallmark of the AIHA partnership program.

 

Projects and Initiatives

Some of AIHA's capacity-building efforts fall outside the realm of our traditional partnerships. These projects and initiatives generally target a specific issue in a country or region and may involve multiple stakeholders. Often these stakeholders include institutions or individuals who have participated in AIHA partnerships in the past and can contribute a wealth of technical expertise based on years of hands-on experience in the field.