IntraHealth and Global Development.

• Author: Schoonover, Brenda Brown

IntraHealth, originally known as Intrah, the Program for International Training in Health, was created in 1979 to train health workers and enhance the skills and champion health workers in overseas countries in areas where they are most needed. Intrah grew out of a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) cooperative agreement with the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC).

Much of IntraHealth International's success in global development is due to its President and CEO, Pape Amadou Gaye, who is stepping down after 16 years heading the organization. I first met Pape Gaye in the late 1990s, when he was Regional Director for Intrah's West and North Africa programs in Lome, Togo, where I was U.S. Ambassador.

Pape was appointed President and CEO of IntraHealth in 2004 after Intrah separated from UNC and was incorporated into an independent, stand-alone non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) renamed IntraHealth International. He is very proud of the fact that since he took the helm, IntraHealth's budget has grown from $18 million to $115 million. Among its donors are USAID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Gates Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. The organization also gets support from the French, Canadian, Dutch, and British governments for its work in Francophone West Africa.

IntraHealth is currently present in over 25 countries and over the years has worked in more than 100 countries. According to Pape, the NGO has thrived in the last few years, establishing itself as a leader in the area of Human Resources for Health. IntraHealth is currently responding to the shifting paradigm in global development including the push for localization by its major donors and the increasing search for more sustainable approaches to development, including market-based solutions.

In 2017, IntraHealth entered into an affiliation with Development Alternative Incorporated (DAI), a 50-year-old development organization and one of USAID's largest contractors working in areas such as agriculture, governance, security, education and private sector development. In a recent interview, Pape described the move as "a bold strategic partnership between a non-profit and a for- profit enabling both entities to broaden their global health initiatives and amplify their impact. Working together, taking advantage of DAI's scale, we will be better positioned to pursue our shared vision of a better world...