Inteleos Earns UN ECOSOC Status to Advance Quality Care Worldwide

Special Consultative Status expands Inteleos’ ability to build health equity through global partners and policy

ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has granted Special Consultative Status to Inteleos, expanding the organization's ability to connect trusted health-workforce expertise with global partners and policy. The UN recognition supports Inteleos’ mission as a global nonprofit advancing equitable access to quality care through certification, learning science, and healthcare-community collaboration.

UN ECOSOC Designation

The designation recognizes Inteleos’ specialized expertise in health-workforce credentialing and quality assurance. It creates additional opportunities for Inteleos to participate in relevant international conferences and ECOSOC sessions, submit written statements, make oral statements where applicable, co-organize side events with UN Member State missions, and connect with civil-society organizations and global-health stakeholders.

Connection to Move Care Forward

“Quality care should be possible wherever patients are,” said Pamela Ruiz, Chief Business Development Officer at Inteleos. “ECOSOC Special Consultative Status gives Inteleos another way to connect trusted expertise with the people and systems moving care forward. Starting conversations, new access to listen, contribute, and work alongside partners–it’s how we can all strengthen the capabilities, standards, and relationships that help quality care reach farther.”

Recognized Certifications, Global Impact

Inteleos works across certification, assessment, learning science, technology, research, and global community to support the gold standard of care. The company’s certifications have helped healthcare professionals build and demonstrate meaningful clinical proficiency for over 50 years.

Trust as Health Infrastructure

The work begins with a practical truth: workforce trust is health infrastructure. When clinicians can build, validate, and maintain capabilities that health systems recognize, they are better positioned to deliver care with confidence.

In Kenya, Inteleos has seen how connection can create momentum. Working with government, professional societies, educators, clinicians, and other partners, the organization supported a multi-year pathway from stakeholder dialogue to national obstetric point-of-care ultrasound guidelines and certification implementation. The experience illustrates a core Inteleos belief: progress is strongest when it is shaped by the people closest to the work.

The Competency Dividend and Upcoming Conversation

The organization’s first public contribution after the announcement is The Competency Dividend, examining how validated clinical proficiency can support women’s health and women clinicians’ economic agency. The paper explores how independently validated competency, enabling policy, and locally relevant implementation can connect more women with timely diagnostic capability while expanding professional opportunity for the clinicians they trust.

Through ECOSOC engagement, Inteleos will contribute to conversations on health-workforce quality, maternal and women’s health, equitable access to care, and the systems that help trusted expertise reach more communities. Initial priorities include listening with partners, identifying opportunities for joint policy contributions, and exploring a future written statement to the Commission on the Status of Women.

“Care improves when trust travels,” Ruiz said. “Our role is to help connect the knowledge, standards, learning, and partnerships that make that possible.”

Learn more about Inteleos’ global-impact work https://www.inteleos.org/beyond/build-with-us/

About Inteleos

Inteleos is a mission-driven nonprofit organization working to ensure equitable access to quality healthcare worldwide. Through certification, continuous learning, and trusted data, Inteleos equips clinicians and institutions across global healthcare systems with validated standards of competence. It oversees the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS), the Alliance for Physician Certification & Advancement (APCA), and the Point-of-Care Ultrasound Certification Academy, collectively representing 150,000 certified medical professionals worldwide. The Inteleos Foundation manages the organization’s philanthropic initiatives. For more information, visit inteleos.org.

Media contact
Lisa Jordan
lisa.jordan@inteleos.org
(240) 386-1579