Medical missions & HPIC are helping to save lives and renew hope in high-risk communities during a global crisis
For 31 years, Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC) has been diligently working behind the scenes to provide and increase access to health care for the world’s most vulnerable communities regardless of age, race or religion.
Partnering with other organizations and individuals who share the values of our mission, HPIC has been equipping medical mission teams, stocking clinics and hospitals with medicines, and mobilizing immediate aid in times of crisis. In fact, since its founding in 1990, HPIC has been able to positively impact millions of lives around the world through its mission to restore health and give hope, having sent more than $600 million worth of medicines worldwide.
Still, it is projected over two billion people currently live without access to basic medicines. The world is now much more complicated, and with an unwelcome health crisis those communities who were vulnerable to begin with are once more even more at risk. Furthermore, in the face of a climate crisis increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters, a global pandemic, and ever-increasing humanitarian crises displacing more and more people, the need for medical missions is greater than ever.
In 2021 HPIC responded to 12 emergency situations around the world, providing immediate medical relief to many who were affected, in addition to evolving and enhancing our regular programs to attend current needs and delivering a total of $25.9 million worth of medicines.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted our medical mission program in 2020, the program was resumed in 2021 when travel restrictions alleviated and since then HPIC supported 34 missions to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, reaching 14,700 people.
HPIC’s Access to Medicines program provides Humanitarian Medical Kits (HMKs) to Canadian volunteers and health care professionals undertaking a medical mission. These kits can contain primary care items (basic but essential medicines and treatments) or specialized care items customized for surgeons or specialists to meet specific health needs in the communities they are visiting.
“Our HMK carriers are an integral part of our work,” says HPIC president Lois Brown. “These are people who volunteer their time and expertise to save lives. People who would otherwise not be able to access medication for themselves or their children are now given the gift of hope once again thanks to the work of our HMK carriers. I cannot think of greater impact than the one these selfless heroes can have in so many people’s lives, and indeed, on entire communities.”
HPIC works with faith-based groups and private citizens planning medical mission trips. When you partner with HPIC, you are investing in the health of millions of individuals living in crisis and unable to afford medicines for themselves or their families. HPIC strives to ensure no one is forgotten or left behind.We rely on medical mission teams to help further our impact – we share our natural calling to do good, restore health and share hope.