Sustaining a Christian Foundation for Health in a Changing World

The first decade of the 21st century has seen an unprecedented increase in funding for international health programs. There has been a shift in emphasis and funding toward donor identified, time-limited projects, often following international trends, focused on a limited number of health problems, e.g., HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and immunizable diseases among others. Too often this has led to severe distortions in national health systems due to the draining of limited pools of skilled workers and incentives to achieve short term project outcomes.

Historically, Christians committed to health and development in the developing world took the long view, focusing on providing comprehensive clinical and community-based care as well as advancements in other basic needs areas such as water, sanitation and agriculture. Many established institutions to educate and train local communities and their leaders in the skills needed to sustain the programs in the long run. Christians working in international health became committed not only to the long-term physical development of their brothers and sisters in the global south but to their spiritual development as well, focusing on the whole person - mind, body and spirit – and partnering with communities to bring about real and lasting change.

In the current environment, however, Christian organizations are being encouraged to accept donor funds which may obligate them to implement donor-driven projects that are expected to produce particular measurable outcomes in short-term increments. Continuation and/or redesign of projects are often dependent upon external factors such as donor wishes or national and international policy or trends rather than on the needs and desires of the communities involved. This can lead to major challenges to the values and integrity of Christian organizations that seek to build long-term local capacity through wholistic and transformative development rather than by simply fulfilling donor objectives.

 Key issues to be addressed at the 25th CCIH Annual Conference include:

• How does a short-term vs. long-term focus affect the path that the Christian health & development community follows? Is there a way to build long-term needs into short-term projects?

• How can Christian organizations keep true to their mission and values while competing, often against each other, for donor support? How do we avoid “chasing the money”? What effect would collaboration have on this?

• What is the unique contribution that Christian individuals and organizations bring to health & development activities?

• How can local community capacity be developed in order to avoid or break free from dependency on donor support? Where does that leave us?

• How will changing demographics and epidemiological burdens of disease impact Christian health programs in the foreseeable future?

• How does work in Christian international health relate to larger questions of Christian theology? Are we being true to God’s plan?

Please plan to join us at our 25th Annual Conference as we discuss these and other issues June 9-12, 2011 at the Bishop Claggett Center near Frederick, Maryland about an hour north of Washington, DC.

For general information on the conference, click  here.