Medical Missions 101

Facilitating Empowerment of Local Healthcare Systems

One point I have tried to make over the years is that global health programs will build confidence in the local health workers, or they will diminish it. The amount of direction and ownership that the local health system has over the global health project determines the resulting outcome.

The Church and Global Access to Health Care

Christian Mission hospitals and health programs account for about 50% of all healthcare delivered in Sub-Saharan Africa (Olivier, et al., 2015). That figure is probably closer to 70% of the truly functional healthcare services delivered. Sadly however, many of these facilities have closed, those that remain are fighting for survival.

Creating Empowering Cross-cultural Partnerships

Creating empowering partnerships cross-culturally that are based on mutual design sounds easy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Mutual design based on community participation is one of the most difficult and complex aspects of designing and implementing global health initiatives. Avoiding Manipulation in Community Development If done well,

Ensuring Safe Short-term Surgical Initiatives

Ensuring adherence to clinical practice guidelines, clinical pathways, and other evidence-based recommendations could not have more value than it does in short-term surgical initiatives. Few if any global health initiatives have as much to offer as surgical initiatives, however they also represent the highest potential for adverse outcomes.

Short-term Surgical Missions: How can we make them safe for patients?

Are we prepared to care for surgical patients in developing countries. Have we thought about the challenges of operating on malnourished children, the delayed healing process from poor nutrition, need for longer post operative admission because patients will often need to walk home, or be transported long distances across challenging terrain etc.

Community Assessment

In designing and planning global health initiatives, figuring out who the stakeholders are is a critical first step. Each community has leaders and influencers, and those involved in healthcare are critical for this kind of project. Partnership begins with identifying stakeholders and assessing their needs.

Something is Better Than Nothing; Right?

I believe patient safety is an achievable goal in medical missions, even in short-term work. But how?

What are Vertical and Horizontal Approaches to Health?

Vertical and horizontal approaches to health have some fundamental differences. Vertical programs often have a preventive focus but they stem from a curative care model. As such they employ a western problem solving approach, and are often disease or health issue specific, such as AIDS or malaria. In essence, they

Medical Missions and Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)

PLA Participatory Learning and Action has long been the foundation of best practices in community development. However, I believe it has practical application across all cross-cultural and global health work; in the community and in the hospital.

Community Based Health Care

The best single resource for learning and understanding Community Based Health Care (CBHC) programs is a book entitled Setting Up Community Health Programmes: A Practical Manual for Use in Developing Countries by Dr. Ted Lankester. It is available in the US through the Hesperian Foundation (see www.hesperian.org). In Chapter 1