What is the Global Health Action Network?
The Global Health Action Network (GHAN) is a national grassroots education and advocacy program that mobilizes support for improved global health, with an emphasis on the developing world. GHAN provides its members with the resources and tools to communicate effectively with elected officials and others about urgent global health matters, including maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, and infectious disease.

Who can volunteer?
Anyone who has a passion for international health with an interest in promoting the importance of global health policy among local communities and policy makers in the U.S. can volunteer. Advocates must be willing to support the Council's position on specific international health policies that relate to one of Council's five areas of focus: Child Survival, Maternal Health and Survival, Reproductive Health and Family Planning, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Disease.

What is expected of Global Health Action Network volunteers?
Council staff will work with volunteers to ensure that they have the information and skills available to be confident, informed, well-organized advocates for global health. Volunteers will receive up-to-date information on federal legislative issues and activities, background information on international health issues, letters to Congress, editorials, and press releases, lobbying training, and the opportunity to come together with international health advocates from around the country.

Volunteers can work with the Council on educating their colleagues, their community, and their elected officials about the need for a more proactive approach to global health by agreeing to participate on one or all of the following committees:

• Congressional Contact
  There are 535 members of Congress who need to hear from their constituents about the importance of global health to their districts. We will provide you with updates, talking points and background information on pertinent international health issues. You will be asked to contact your senators and representatives using one or all of the following methods:
  
  - Send a letter, fax, or email
  - Make a phone call
  - Visit district or national office
  
  
• Media Network Volunteer
  Letter-to-the-Editor/Op-Ed Piece writer. There are issues relating to international health that are deserving of constant media attention or explanation. The Council will provide you with pre-written articles that you can modify to fit local interests for submission to your local newspaper.Once you have successfully placed your article, you will be asked to send a copy to the Council to be included in our records.
  
  
• Local-Global Health Forum Organizer
  The Council and its local partners committed to promoting "health for all" will host health forums to inform communities around the U.S. of the vital connections between international health issues and the quality of life in our local communities. You can take a leadership role and help organize a forum in your community.
  
  
• State/Congressional District Coordinator
  State/Congressional District Coordinators will serve as the liaison between the Council and other volunteers in the state/district. These coordinators will be expected to recruit other participants from their state or region, to help train and educate volunteers in the district on appropriate lobbying techniques, and to provide ongoing encouragement and support for volunteers in their state/district. Coordinators will be invited to participate in an annual advocacy training workshop in June in Washington, D.C.

For More Information
To join the Global Health Action Network or for more information, email Joshua Lozman at jlozman@globalhealth.org