A number of organizations, researchers, government officials and others have established an informal international network of that shares information and promotes collaboration to support the health, safety, learning, social development and environmental citizenship of young people through effective school-based and school-linked programs, policies and practices. The people that initiated the ISHN were drawn primarily from the health promotion and education sectors but recognized that health is intertwined with many other forms of human development and that if we are to work effectively within education systems, we will need to align our efforts.

The International School Health Network is part of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Community and School Health based in British Columbia, Canada and is affiliated with the Centre for Educational Leadership and Policy, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada  

A Shared Vision, Values and Interests

We all support comprehensive approaches, coordinated agency-school programs and whole school strategies that address the needs of the whole child through coordinated school health programs delivered by health, education and other systems to create sustainable health-promoting schools. Based on our work within our own countries, we share common beliefs and values such as optimal health and literacy for all, empowering young people, involving parents and developing community capacity. Collectively, at the international level, we share a common interest in:

• enabling organizations, governments and professions, particularly those in developing countries, indigenous nations, countries affected by conflict or disasters  and disadvantaged communities, to strengthen their capacity to promote learning, health, safety, equity, social and sustainable development through schools
• identifying, developing and sharing evidence on effective and sustainable school-based and school-linked interventions
• encouraging the sharing of knowledge and skills
• anticipating future demographic, economic, social and technological trends that will affect schooling and young people.

The individuals and organizations that created the network thought that the ISHN should:

• include national school health and public health organizations, government officials, researchers and other networks who work at the national and international level that are concerned with specific health and social issues
• be a loose, informal, voluntary network
• have a steering committee representing world regions and diversity
• be linked to WHO, World Bank, OECD, and interested agencies such as UNESCO and IUHPE, as well as non-governmental organizations and networks, and health & education ministries

ISHN Roles

1. Promote exchanges of information and dialogue by:
   - creating and maintaining a member blog and information service on school health, safety, equity, educational, social abd sustainable development issues (See www.schoolhealthinsider.org)
   - organizing SH sessions and satellite conferences in conjunction with IUHPE Conferences (e.g. IUHPE 2004, 2007, 2010)
   - periodically hosting online discussions of items of shared interest that would benefit from international perspectives
2. Develop a research agenda and identify potential projects or topics that would benefit from international collaboration by:
   - developing a research agenda in cooperation with relevant academic centres and networks (See the 2007 paper developed by a researchers network in Canada that ISHN members reviewed in a symposium)
   - posting collections of literature reviews, reports and resources on a wiki-based, collaborative web site (See www.schools-for-all.org)
   - seeking the means to facilitate multilingual knowledge exchange
   - creating a sub-committee of researchers and research agencies interested in international research activities
3. Develop means to promote development and training capacity, models and materials by:
   - finding non- electronic means to communicate with developing countries and communities
   - strengthening existing regional school health networks and linking with networks that are focused on specific health issues regarding school health
4. Inform policy development and policy-makers about the evidence on effectiveness, benefits and lessons learned/promising practices in school health promotion by 
   - collating and maintaining a list of key studies and landmark reports
   - collating and disseminating information on national and state/provincial policy and major program initiatives
   - communicating with international education, health and other stakeholder organizations as well as international agencies that can support school health promotion 
   - examining the evidence of effectiveness, cost-benefits and other matters of specific interest to policy-makers