This special issue of The CCIH Forum focuses on the challenges and dilemmas facing church and mission hospitals in developing countries in a time of declining resources, priority given to primary care, nationalization of management, and new problems such as AIDS.

Since so many national churches and mission agencies are struggling with these issues, CCIH has launched a research process to:

 • examine systematically the issues, 
 • assemble a database of real world experience, 
 • develop tools to analyze the situation and devise solutions,
 • analyze what works and what does not work, 
 • discuss new paradigms of the role of hospitals; and
 • disseminate experiences and tools for widespread application.

This study, entitled “The Future of Christian Hospitals in Developing Countries,” is the first of what we hope will evolve into a series of studies and research projects on compelling issues in international health from a Christian perspective. 

With funding from the Health and Healing Mission Team of the World Council of Churches and several committed CCIH organizational and individual members, we gathered fifteen experts from around the world to work on this project as the Core Research Group (see list of members on page 2). 

In addition, we obtained input from many more experienced leaders by email questionnaire. The study process is not yet complete. We welcome you to join. You can: 

 send your experiences, ideas and suggestions to CCIH;

 send feedback on this issue of The CCIH Forum;check our website, www.ccih.org, for more resources;

join an email listserve to receive and send messages on this topic, send an email to hospitalstudy@listbot.com;

 let us know if you want to receive future publications from this project (we will produce a full report, study guides for self-analysis, descriptions of alternative models, and proposals for future directions); and

 share this issue of The CCIH Forum with people in government and secular non-governmental organizations because many of the issues are similar.

 

Members of the Core Research Group

Dr. Raj Arole, Comprehensive Rural Health Project, Jamkhed, India Dr. Godfrey Biemba, Churches Medical Association of Zambia Dr. Dorothy Brewster-Lee, PCUSA Int’l Health Ministries, USA Dr. Elizabeth Bukusi, Christian Health Association of Kenya Dr. David Drake, The Evangelical Alliance Mission, USA Dr. Paul Hudson, SIM International, USA Dr. Rufi Macagba, Lorma Medical Center & Colleges, Philippines Dr. Hubert Morquette, World Relief, Haiti Dr. Varghese Philip, Emmanuel Hospital Association, India Mr. Lance Renault, American Leprosy Missions, USA Dr. Emmanuel Rudatsikira, Loma Linda Univ. (Rwanda national)  Dr. Duale Sambe, USA (Congo national) Dr. Howard Searle, USA (former missionary to India) Dr. Vinod Shah, Emmanuel Hospital Association, India Dr. Cornelius Walter, The Leprosy Mission South Asia, India Dr. Richard Crespo, Marshall Univ. Sch of Med, USA (facilitator)

This issue of The CCIH Forum begins with a short, real world, report from David Hilton illustrating many of the problems facing Christian hospitals in developing countries. The main body is a summary of the findings and recommendations written by the study coordinator, CCIH board member Dr. Richard Crespo. The issue concludes with some key points and recommendations that resulted from a relevant conference last year in Kenya.