Sustainable Medical Missions

Local leaders who have participated in our training conferences took what they have learned and implemented their plans to address and eradicate the neglected conditions in their communities. While many of these efforts took place autonomously additional support was often needed for these leaders to be properly equipped to fully implement their plans. Consultation and continuous feedback were provided to the participants and their colleagues. Yet the depth and breadth of this work required some additional assistance in the field. Our African and Indian directors helped fulfill this need to quickly assess and assist with whatever issues were presented. This role also allowed for quick and efficient communications with those in Africa and Asia as well as increased accountability. Seed grants were provided to fill in the gaps in project design & implementation where no local resources were available. These grants were primarily catalysts to provide enough momentum and basic infrastructure for the local leaders to continue with their projects long after the grant funds were exhausted. Sustainable income projects were also funded to further enhance the longevity of the projects. 1,019,094 people received medical and spiritual care as a result of their efforts. Over 4 million lives were transformed since 2014.

Additional curriculum as well as key updates were developed for the training conferences during this period. Material was developed as medical modules and PowerPoints and previous material both simplified and translated for use in the village setting. Local leaders also created songs and even music videos to share these concepts. All material was fully annotated and include both best practices as well as current literature on the diseases. The material was written in collaboration once again with US African and Asian authors with full credit given to each author. Input was sought from indigenous medical and faith leaders. This was paired with the scientific research to create simple end-user documents for each disease.

Conferences were conducted in Burundi Congo DRC Ghana India Kenya Liberia Malawi Pakistan Rwanda Sierra Leone Tanzania Togo Uganda and Zambia for 8,693 indigenous faith and medical leaders. Attending were leaders from these specified nations. Demand again exceeded our capacity but we continued to keep our conferences small to invest deeply in those attending. Replication and discipleship allowed us to increase the number of those trained from the previous year while keeping the groups smaller. In-person conferences in Kenya Ghana Rwanda Sierra Leone and Tanzania followed the normal pattern with most expenses comprising of lodging food and transportation for each conference participant. Conference material focused not only on education but also on implementation strategies. Initial level conferences covered: an advanced medical process for care Zero in on Zero NTDs and what it means to be a Christian leader in a community from a medical and theological perspective. Advanced conferences focused on implementation and leadership while creating a platform for discussing both successes and challenges the participants had experienced over the past year.