Our History

In 1972, Dr. Ada Fort and Miss Virginia Proctor, two administrators at the Emory University School of Nursing, recruited and inspired a group of leaders from Atlanta’s health, religious, business, and education communities, to establish Global Health Action’s precursor, the International Nursing Services Association (INSA). INSA was founded to help foster healthier communities around the world and initially focused on health education and management training for nurses from developing countries. The idea was to not only improve the participants’ technical skills but, more importantly, to build their administrative and leadership skills enabling them to return to their home countries and multiply their impact on the communities they served. The organization continued to evolve over the years to adapt to the changing world environment and to meet new needs, and in 1993, the name was changed to Global Health Action to better reflect our broader purpose and global outreach. Today, we build on this history by linking evidence to policy and practice, expanding the knowledge and effectiveness of in-country health leadership, and promoting community-driven solutions for addressing barriers to health.