Birth of a Maritime Health group
Because of the international dimensions of seafaring, coordinated action and consistent standards of maritime health practice have long been desired. There is a long history of efforts to effect such changes and developments. In 1963, professional nautical medicine activities in Europe commenced at the First Meeting of the International Symposium on Nautical Medicine in Heiligendamm, in the former German Democratic Republic.

That meeting was the start of a series of International Symposia on Maritime Medicine which subsequently took place in the former Eastern Block countries every two years. Subsequently, Western European practitioners decided to organize their own meetings starting with the First European Nautical Medical Meeting in Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany in 1978.

Like its Eastern counterpart, meetings were held every two years. It was not until 1991 that both the East and the West decided to merge their biennial meetings in order to increase international cooperation. The very first International Symposium on Maritime Health with both Eastern and Western delegates participating equally was held in Turku, Finland under the auspices of the Turku Regional Institute of Occupational Health, with support coming from the WHO, ILO, and the IMO.

Organized by Dr. Heikki Saarni, with Dr. Ward Gardner as Rapporteur, the meeting was seen as a success by all the delegates. Following these developments, representatives of ILO, WHO and the IMO encouraged the symposium organizers to start an association which could be a source of continuing expertise in maritime health and medicine. The International Maritime Health Association was founded on June 22, 1997 during the Fourth International Symposium on Maritime Health in Oslo, Norway, on the initiative of seven founding members. Its first set of rules were drafted by a workgroup chaired by Dr. Saeme.

The International Maritime Health Association or IMHA, was registered in Belgium as an international association by Royal Decree of July 14, 1998 and is subject to the Belgian Act of 1919 as amended in 1954 with a registered office at Italiëlei 51, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium. Subsequently, it was decided that the IMHA General Meeting was to be held every two years thereafter to coincide with the ISMH ■