As national boundaries are fast diminishing due to globalisation, advocacy efforts in the health and development areas need to be taken up at both national and international forums. VHAI, as a serious health and development organization with the largest network of CBOs nation wide, has been making significant contributions in policy matters at both domestic as well as global levels, besides advocating grassroots level concerns.
 
During the year 2006-2007, VHAI was invited by the Development Research Centre (DRC) of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and the World Health Organization (WHO), Beijing Office, to visit the country to help in its health sector reform process and  share the Indian experience with China. DRC and WHO have conducted a joint research project on the “Integration of Health Reform and Socio-Economic Reforms in China”.

With growing awareness of global health trends in the context of the huge burden of lifestyle-related health problems on developing countries, health promotion is one of the primary issues on the global health agenda for the future. As a part of the WHO Regional Consultation on Regional Strategy for Health Promotion for South East Asia region, held at Chiang Mai, Thailand, VHAI made a noteworthy contribution on the policy front of the World Health Organization. The Consultation had 61 participants from the 11 member countries of the region representing Ministries of Health and Education, NGOs, experts, Universities and representatives from UN agencies. Dr Catherine Gales Le-Camus, Assistant Director General of WHO, Geneva, visited VHAI and its projects, Aparajita in Orissa and KHOJ in Jodhpur, to understand the field realities. VHAI is now in dialogue with WHO to find ways by which it could enhance the movement of grassroots organizations in the field of health promotion and development.

Continuing with its efforts in addressing the issue of Government, Public and Private Partnership globally to develop an appropriate and sustainable health care system, VHAI as a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), Paris, raised its concerns during a Board meeting held at Nairobi, Kenya. As an extra effort, the research unit of VHAI brought out a double issue of its bimonthly magazine, Health for the Millions on Public and Private Partnership, with articles by some eminent bureaucrats and academicians.

Keeping in view the present political and socio-economic scenario, VHAI collaborated with IUHPE, Paris, to initiate a dialogue on Public and Private Partnership to develop an appropriate and sustainable health care system. The project attempted to explore and address relevant issues involved in both the Indian and European context. The Chief Executive, VHAI was invited as a Plenary Speaker, to IUHPE’s European Conference on Health Promotion and Education, held at Budapest, Hungary in October 2006, to address and share with the participants the summary of the findings of this significant endeavour.

VHAI was also invited by the Geneva University Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva, to share its concerns “Innovative grassroots-level initiatives to address the challenges of social determinants of health in under-developed areas in India”.