Global Health Partnerships and the Brocher Declaration: Principles for Ethical Short-Term Engagements in Global Health.

Short- term experiences in global health (STEGH), also known as short-term medical missions continue to be a popular mode of engagement in global health activities for students, healthcare providers, and religious groups, driven primarily by organizations from high-income countries. While STEGH have the potential to be beneficial, a large proportion of these do not sustainably benefit the communities they intend to serve, may undermine local health systems, operate without appropriate licenses, go beyond their intended purposes, and may cause harm to patients. With heightened calls to "decolonize" global health, and to achieve ethical, sustainable, and practical engagements, there is a need to establish strong guiding principles for global health engagements.

Guidelines for responsible short-term global health activities: developing common principles.

Background: Growing concerns about the value and effectiveness of short-term volunteer trips intending to improve health in underserved Global South communities has driven the development of guidelines by multiple organizations and individuals. These are intended to mitigate potential harms and maximize benefits associated with such efforts.

Method: This paper analyzes 27 guidelines derived from a scoping review of the literature available in early 2017, describing their authorship, intended audiences, the aspects of short term medical missions (STMMs) they address, and their attention to guideline implementation.

Join the Mission-Margin Discussion.

Recently I traveled with Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, CHA’s president and chief executive officer, to St. Francis de Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where we met with the three priests who have responsibility for management and direction of the hospital.

Short-term volunteer health trips: aligning host community preferences and organizer practices.

Background: Short-term medical missions (STMMs) are quite common and largely understood to be a response to health needs in low-income countries. Yet most information about STMM practices is anecdotal. Even less is known about the preferences of in-country host communities regarding STMMs.

Children Use Art, Puppetry To Express Themselves.

Children are resilient. For those of you who have participated in medical mission trips or other programs where you have traveled to low- and middle-income countries, you most likely have noted or commented upon the children you encounter. I often hear, "They're so happy!"

Thinking Globally: To Welcome 2017, Stop and Reflect on Our Vocation.

The new year is an invitation to renewal, conversion, reflection. For those of us working in global health, it’s an opportunity to go forward, unwavering, in the belief that we are to share the Earth’s resources with all of God’s people, be it by reaching out in times of disaster, medical mission experiences, twinning programs, funding or other means.

Thinking Globally: To Welcome 2017, Stop and Reflect on Our Vocation.

The new year is an invitation to renewal, conversion, reflection. For those of us working in global health, it’s an opportunity to go forward, unwavering, in the belief that we are to share the Earth’s resources with all of God’s people, be it by reaching out in times of disaster, medical mission experiences, twinning programs, funding or other means.

Thinking Globally: To Welcome 2017, Stop and Reflect on Our Vocation.

The new year is an invitation to renewal, conversion, reflection. For those of us working in global health, it’s an opportunity to go forward, unwavering, in the belief that we are to share the Earth’s resources with all of God’s people, be it by reaching out in times of disaster, medical mission experiences, twinning programs, funding or other means.