The Pacific Island Health Officers Association (PIHOA) is dedicated to the health and well-being of the Pacific Island populations. PIHOA serves as a unifying voice and credible authority on issues of regional public health significance. Execution of this charge is attained through collaborative and cooperative efforts in capacity building, advocacy and policy development, to provide medical care, promote healthy lifestyles, prevent disease and injury, and protect the environment.

PIHOA (a non-profit association) represents the collective health interests of the three U.S. Flag Jurisdictions {the Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and Territory of American Samoa}, and the three Freely Associated States {the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau (ROP)}.

PIHOA is an association of the six principal/executive health officers from the six United States Pacific Jurisdictions; this is the PIHOA Board of Directors. PIHOA’s other members are its Associate, Affiliate, and Honorary Members. PIHOA’s Associate Members include the health directors from the Federated States of Micronesia’s four states (Yap, Chuuk, Kosrae, and Pohnpei); the Director of Guam’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse; the Chief Executive Officer of American Samoa’s LBJ Tropical Medical Center; the Secretary of Health from the Republic of the Marshall Islands; the Palau’s Director, Bureau of Hospital and Clinical Medicine; Palau’s Director of Public Health; CNMI’s Deputy Secretary of Public Health; the CEO/Hospital Administrator of the Guam Memorial Hospital. PIHOA’s Affiliate Members are non-profit Pacific health related organizations contributing to PIHOA’s cause. PIHOA’s present affiliate members are the Pacific Basin Medical Association (PBMA), the American Pacific Nursing Leaders Council (APNLC), the Pacific Basin Dental Association (PBDA), the Pacific Substance Abuse Mental Health Collaborating Council (PSAMHCC), the Cancer Council of the Pacific Islands (CCPI), and the Pacific Islands Primary Care Association (PIPCA). PIHOA’s Honorary Members include Dr. Eliuel Pretrick from the FSM and Dr. Caleb Otto from Palau.

For the past 20 years, PIHOA has served as the regional health policy body for the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands. The Association has been able to bring together (at our semi-annual meetings) Pacific Island health leaders with representatives of federal agencies to discuss issues of mutual concern. At these meetings, officials from the U.S. Federal Government, i.e., the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and its Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Office of International and Refugee Health (OIRH), the Department of Interior (DOI), and the DHHS Region IX offices have been able to have substantial dialog with Pacific Island health leaders.

PIHOA’s meetings have not only facilitated communication among the various federal agencies and programs in the Pacific Islands, but have also brought together other partners working in the region: the Pacific Basin Medical Association (PBMA), the Pacific Basin Dental Association (PBDA), the American Pacific Nursing Leaders Council (APNLC), the Fiji School of Medicine (FSM), the University of Washington (UOW), the University of Guam (UOG), the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii (JABSOM), the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC), the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and numerous others.