Increasingly the public health of our populations is influenced by regional and international factors. Therefore International Associations and Federations have gained relevance over the last decade. Examples for Europe are the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) and the European Public Health Association (EUPHA). Both have made efforts to enhance cooperation especially in the Eastern regions of the continent. In the former Soviet Baltic region even before the fall of the Berlin wall and in South Eastern Europe in the framework of the German financed part of the European Stability Pact. However, other continents caught up and there are encouraging movements now in the African and Pacific arena. Experience will be presented from Southern Africa and from the greater Pacific region. The discussion will centre around the questions on how to formalise and perpetuate these developments and ensure an increasingly globalised exchange of knowledge and best practice.