Our Story

HealthBridge 1981 - 2006

HealthBridge (formerly PATH Canada) has been working since 1982 in Asia, Africa and the Americas. In the early years it undertook research and identified technologies and products that would improve contraception and health care in developing countries.

Over its 25 years, HealthBridge has evolved into an agile and efficient organization that aims to improve the health of vulnerable populations, including those at risk of malnutrition, infectious disease (particularly malaria and HIV/AIDS), and emerging epidemics, such as obesity and tobacco-caused disease.

It is known for undertaking pioneering research, identifying and deftly addressing critical gaps in achieving health and health equity in the developing world, working effectively with local partners to bring about change in policy, and bridging the gap.

HealthBridge's beginnings

HealthBridge's history now spans a quarter of a century, though it looks quite different today compared to where it began.

In 1976 a new US organization called PIACT - Programme for Introduction and Adaptation of Contraceptive Technology was formed. PIACT's mission was focused on providing safe and affordable contraceptive technology to developing countries.

Three years later, in 1979, PIACT added a health division called PATH - Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health. PATH was based in Seattle and affiliated organizations were established in Mexico, Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

PATH's Executive Director, a Canadian named Dr. Gordon Perkins, met with the Clifford Lee Foundation in Edmonton in 1980, and there agreed the creation of PATH Canada. The process was complete by 1981, and the newly established PATH Canada had the following goals:

To improve the availability, effectiveness, safety, consumer acceptance, and continued use of contraceptive and health products in developing countries.
To identify, develop or adapt technologies and products that will improve the availability of primary health care.
To disseminate the results of studies and distribute scientific and technical data on appropriate health technology.

PATH Canada's early work in health products and technologies took on new contours and deepened by the mid 1990s under its second Executive Director, Tim Stone, when the organization's reputation as an independent and pioneering organization began to form. Important new work in the area of food and nutrition, and an emerging focus on encouraging men in gender and reproductive health issues, gave definition to the organization's evolving programs. The organization was shaken by Tim's tragic death in an African airplane hijacking in 1996, but the foundations were strong, and the staff and board of directors were committed.

Small and nimble

After Sian FitzGerald was confirmed in the role of Executive Director in 1997, PATH Canada continued to strengthen those foundations and to define its contributions in key program areas.

The organization quickly secured a style and method of working which has continued to the present day:

A small, knowledgeable, and effective global staff team;
An organizational framework which is strategic and unencumbered by bureaucracy;
An approach to addressing key gaps in health equity and programming around the globe based solidly on research, development and action;
A pattern of identifying and working with effective local partners who can deliver programs and affect local policy;
Identifying key policy inputs to influence elements of global health and development.

The most obvious external features which have grown and changed over time for the organization are its staff team and Board and the program areas in which it is active.

Throughout its life, the organization has been able to place key program staff and consultants in the countries where it has operated on a temporary basis (eg Brazil, Tanzania), while also maintaining a small core staff in Ottawa, where it is based, and in Bangladesh, India and Vietnam. Today the Vietnamese staff team numbers ten, illustrating the strong program base for HealthBridge's work in the region.

The organization has benefitted from a mix of long-standing and new staff members over the years, and this is echoed in the organization's Board of Directors.

Many of the men and women who make up HealthBridge's Board are leaders in their technical area of expertise, and all bring connections to the NGO community, international health, government and the corporate community. Together these individuals help to extend the organization's profile and reach and provide guidance on the organization's mission and core activities.

The program areas addressed by HealthBridge have grown over the years to encompass:

New projects and project strands have tended to grow organically out of these program areas and are implemented after careful analysis by staff and Board. Today the list of projects and documented research, knowledge and progress presented in the organization's reports, publications and website, together paint a picture of integration, innovation and positive advancement.

In 2006, as the organization prepared for its 25th anniversary, it paused to help its primary audiences and others around the world to recognize its niche and its contributions by rebranding itself. The name HealthBridge Foundation of Canada and the arcing bridge of its new logo were adopted to better reflect the work that it does to improve health around the world.

Bridging the gap

The work of HealthBridge is full of simple and potent images:

a bicycle, a symbol of healthy living and green transport options
an iron cooking pot, a simple tool for delivering micronutrients to vulnerable populations
a mosquito net, for protecting children and mothers from the ravages of malaria
a breastfeeding baby, showing a simple path to good nutrition

These images represent simple existing tools which have been given new life and meaning by HealthBridge’s research, development and programming, and made more accessible by its work with local policy makers and advocates. They represent the bridges used to effectively address key gaps in health policy services affecting the lives of millions in developing countries.

Today HealthBridge continues to build on its past work and success as it moves forward to address new or persistent health issues where it can have the greatest impact.

An increasing integration and cross-pollination of its program is occuring, as HealthBridge looks to weaving a nutrition focus into agriculture interventions, modeling an ecosystems health approach to improving the wellbeing of local people, and as it continues to address a panapoly of related issues through its Liveable Cities program.