WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

Access to health care is fundamental to our quality of life and, for the world's poorest, it is essential in the daily struggle for survival. Yet, three billion people live without basic health care services.

In all nations, human beings - physicians, nurses, dentists, physical therapists and other professionals - are the foundation of health care systems. The delivery of services pivots on the availability of these trained professionals to provide care.

Yet, this foundation is crumbling. Africa, alone, has a shortage of one million health providers. World-wide estimates indicate that 4 million additional health workers are needed to provide adequate coverage for an ever growing population. We are at a critical juncture in which the crisis of low numbers of health workers in high-need regions must be addressed to face the health challenges of this generation and the next.

For the past two decades, Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) has worked to increase health care access in developing countries through clinical training and education programs in child health, primary care, trauma and rehabilitation, essential surgical care, oral health, infectious disease, nursing education and burn management. In more than 25 resource-poor nations, HVO trains, mentors and provides critical professional support to health care providers who care for the neediest populations in the most difficult of circumstances.

Our goal at HVO is not only to train new health care providers, but also to encourage and to sustain current health workers so that they can continue to practice in their home countries where their skills are most urgently needed. By increasing the total number of trained health workers in high need areas, we improve access to care and the health of the world's poorest.

All of us have a role to play in improving global health by educating ourselves and others about the vast unmet needs, volunteering our time and expertise as health care providers and supporting those who work to make a difference in the lives of others. By harnessing the power of a vital human resource - health care providers - we believe that it is possible to break the vicious cycle of poverty and illness endemic to developing nations.