About Us

Our History

CSIH was founded in 1977 as the “Canadian Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health”, a division of the Canadian Public Health Association. The society was established to respond to the increasing need for advice and treatment of Canadians traveling and working in tropical areas. Eleven years later, in 1988, the society became an independent organization and was named the Canadian Society for International Health. The membership of CSIH has since grown six-fold, and the number of staff has increased steadily to support the growing number of activities with which we are now engaged.

Many things have changed since CSIH first joined the emerging field of international health. The economic, cultural, social and political dynamics of globalization has had a dramatic effect on individual and community health, both within countries and globally. Health disparities are on the rise.  CSIH has evolved to meet the challenges of global health trends, and has adapted the focus, methods and guiding values of its work accordingly.

In the last decade, CSIH has also placed increasing importance on building collaboration and exchanging learning between global health practitioners, researchers, educators, policy makers, and community advocates. Since the late 1990s, CSIH has hosted the only annual conference in Canada focusing on issues at the intersect of health and development, with a significant number of participants from developing countries. The Canadian Conference on International Health is the only Canadian peer review forum for knowledge building, program development, and policy impact resources related to global health and development and global health research.

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