NEJM -- The New Medical "Missionaries" -- Grooming the Next Generation of Global Health Workers

NEJM -- The New Medical "Missionaries" -- Grooming the Next Generation of Global Health Workers
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Historically, so-called missionary medicine was focused on spreading religion as well as compassionate care. Today, the forces behind global health efforts are more secular. Nonetheless, the movement continues to be motivated by a sense of mission — a word with a Latin root, mittere (to send), that suggests an important question: If there is new fervor for global health on the part of medical professionals and international policymakers, shouldn't the "sending" process be more organized — and the vision bigger and bolder?
In a 2005 report, the Institute of Medicine recommended establishing a federally funded U.S. Global Health Service that would send midcareer professionals overseas to help augment local responses to human immunodeficiency virus infection and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria; provide fellowships and partial repayment of student loans; foster international health care partnerships; and create a global health employment clearinghouse for paid or volunteer positions.4 The establishment of such a federal program would offer some hope of support for young professionals who are ready to dedicate themselves to global health.