Seed Global Health, formerly known as Global Health Service Corps, is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

started in 2011 which helps to provide nursing and medical training support in resource-limited countries. Seed Global Health collaborates with the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

to create the Global Health Service Partnership (GHSP). This program has established the first "Peace Corps for doctors and nurses". Since launch, GHSP has had 97 volunteers train more than 8,300 students in 5 African countries.

History

The Global Health Service Partnership was developed from efforts dating back more than half a century. Building on a vision outlined in a 2 am speech, U.S. President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

created the Peace Corps by Executive Order in 1961."President John F. Kennedy's University of Michigan Speech." Youtube.com. Uploaded by Peace Corps. Oct. 13, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydTaoZ9JSGk (Accessed August 1, 2012). In 1979, Senator Javits proposed the International Health Act of 1979, which aimed to build an International Health Service program. The act never passed. Finally, in 2003, the US government established the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the first major health program of its scale."PEPFAR: Working Toward an AIDS-Free Generation." The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. http://www.pepfar.gov/ (accessed August 1, 2012). This established a need for increased human resources to help execute the program. In 2005, the Institute of Medicine released its influential report, Healer’s Abroad: Americans Responding to the Human Resource Crisis in

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, which detailed a Global Health Service Corps that would send full-time, paid professionals abroad not only to address in-country health care needs, but also to offer clinical, technical, and managerial guidance to foreign health care workers. That same year, Senator William Frist (R, Tennessee) introduced a bill in 2005 which legislated for a Global Health Corps “…to improve the health, welfare, and development of communities in select foreign countries and regions…”To establish the Global Health Corps, and for other purposes. S. 850, 109th Cong., 1st Sess. § 273 (2005). To achieve this goal, the Global Health Corps would send volunteers abroad to address a range of needs, including but not limited to, health care treatment and education,

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

and food preparation training,

disease surveillance Disease surveillance is an epidemiological practice by which the spread of disease is monitored in order to establish patterns of progression. The main role of disease surveillance is to predict, observe, and minimize the harm caused by outbrea ...

, and technical health support. Between 2005 and 2010, many of the original authors and champions of Healers Abroad continued their campaign. Notably, Fitzhugh Mullan, Chair of the Healers Abroad Committee, wrote an opinion-editorial for the ''

Journal of the American Medical Association ''JAMA'' (''The Journal of the American Medical Association'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of ...

'' in which he described other nations creating GHSP-like programs and proposed a model that blended the strengths of the Peace Corps and the National Health Service Corps. Another bill was drafted in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in 2008 and in 2010, a bill was being scripted in the House. Between 2009 and 2010, the Institute of Medicine released two reports, of which one focused on the importance of health to international development and diplomacy, and the other on the critical need for health-based human resources to strengthen the HIV/AIDS,

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

efforts. Furthermore, in September 2010, physicians

Paul Farmer Paul Edward Farmer (October 26, 1959 – February 21, 2022) was an American medical anthropology, medical anthropologist and physician. Farmer held an MD and PhD from Harvard University, where he was a Harvard University Professor, University ...

, Sara Auld, and

Vanessa Kerry Vanessa Bradford Kerry (born December 31, 1976) is an American physician, public health expert, and advocate. She is a founder of the non-profit Seed Global Health, director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change at Harvard Medi ...

’s Perspectives piece in the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2023 impact factor was ...

'' reinvigorated the argument for a program comparable to GHSP. It noted the importance of health to development and of the possibility of sending U.S. doctors, nurses, and other health professionals abroad in a partnership program to provide education, investment in capacity of local health professionals, and support for health system strengthening. It outlined a vision of loan repayment to ensure that financial obligations were not a barrier to service. The piece gained attention and GHSP planning efforts resumed. Vanessa Kerry and Sara Auld started a grassroots campaign online, created a petition, and began to connect to many of its original champions. Among them were Fitzhugh Mullan,

Michele Barry Michele Barry is a professor of internal medicine, medicine. She became Stanford's inaugural Senior Associate Dean of global health in 2009 anstarted the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Healthin 2010. Prior to this, she was a professor at ...

, Senior Associate Dean for Global Health and Director of Global Health Programs in Medicine at

Stanford University School of Medicine The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fra ...

, and Ed O'Neil Jr., founder and president of OmniMed, and to those already engaged in similar work such as

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

and its

Pediatric Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

AIDS Corps. In an op-ed in ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'',

Anand Reddi Anand Reddi is a global health policy expert, public health advocate and biopharma executive. Reddi works on health system strengthening initiatives with a focus on global health, implementation science, health financing and public health advoca ...

proposed integrating the GHSC within the

President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the global health funding by the United States to address the global HIV/AIDS Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS, epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease ...

. In October 2010, the Institute of Politics at the

Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

hosted a forum with a panel that included three former directors of the Peace Corps and the current director,

Aaron S. Williams Aaron S. Williams is an international development expert and a former diplomat. He served as the 18th Director of the Peace Corps from 2009 to 2012 under President Barack Obama. Williams grew up in Chicago where he graduated from Chicago State U ...

. Vanessa Kerry and Sara Auld attended the event and asked the directors: "What did the Peace Corp directors think about sending doctors, nurses, and other health professionals abroad as Peace Corps Volunteer medical educators to invest in human resources for health?" All four directors responded favorably.

Volunteer deployments

GHSP was officially announced in March 2012. Applications for Global Health Service Partnership Peace Corps Volunteers (GHSP PCVs) opened in July 2012 and closed on December 1, 2012. In July 2013, the first nursing and physician volunteers were deployed. Since its launch it has grown exponentially, with 30 volunteers in the first year and 71 currently on deployment across its five countries. Seed, through GHSP, now supports medical and nursing schools in

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, and

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. The volunteers come from all regions of the U.S. and represent all stages of their careers.

Leadership

Seed Global Health is led by CEO

. Board leaders include Fitzhugh Mullan, former Assistant

Surgeon General Surgeon general (: surgeons general) is a title used in several Commonwealth countries and most NATO nations to refer either to a senior military medical officer or to a senior uniformed physician commissioned by the government and entrusted with p ...

and professor at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services,

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

, and Aaron S. Williams.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Seed Global Health official websiteVideo interview with Vanessa Kerry (November 20, 2012)
on Medscape
"A Peace Corps for Doctors Built by a Senators Daughter", interview with Vanessa Kerry

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's Health blog (September 26, 2012)
article on global health in "The Atlantic"Heraldnet articleSeed in Malawi
Non-profit organizations based in Boston Medical and health organizations based in Massachusetts

History

Volunteer deployments

Leadership

References

Further reading

External links