International Institute for Health Promotion

American University  *  Washington D.C

History and Purpose

The founding and development of the IIHP in 1996 was a logical strategic international extension of the prior sixteen years of academic and research activities conducted by the National Center for Health and Fitness (NCHF) at American University.  Founded in 1980, the central purpose of NCHF was to provide leadership for the United States in the areas of health risk identification and lifestyle improving activities and to stay abreast of the growing and changing needs of the health and fitness industry and in particular health promotion professionals. To that end, in 1980 the American University, as a central activity of the NCHF also established an interdisciplinary Master of Science Program in Health and Fitness Management (now a MS in Health Promotion Management).

 

 

IIHP Network Connections: 2007

Today the NCHF continues to strive to stay at the forefront of the health promotion movement and the many issues that face the US population while at the same time maintain its established leadership position as one of the premier health promotion academic centers.

The onset of globalization and in particular the internationalization of the workforces of the worlds coupled with the increasing requests for information from the  international community with respect to Health Promotion activities served as the impetus for the establishment of the IIHP at American University. Thus, starting in the 1988 the founder of the NCHF embarked on a systematic process of evaluating the merits of officially establishing a global network of institutions and individuals to respond to the every increasing needs of the global community with respect to quality Health Promotion programs and the educational preparation of professionals entering this rapidly emerging discipline. The culmination of this process was the founding meeting of IIHP held at American University in June of 1996.  Today the IIHP is comprised of some 200 institutions, organizations, and individuals that represent more that 50 countries.

 

Currently the IIHP is establishing IIHP Regional Centers so as to bring the collective resources of the membership of the IIHP closer to select regions of the world.  The University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany will be the first IIHP Regional Center in Europe. The following global map represents the delineation of the global regions for the IIHP.