Global Health Immersion Programs

Child Family Health International is a global family of committed professionals and students who work at the grassroots level to promote the health of the world community.

Child Family Health International (CFHI) is the leading nongovernmental organization (NGO) placing health science students in global health education programs in ways that are socially responsible and financially just. We model best global health education practices that demonstrate a priority commitment to community engagement and local integrity.

Global Health Immersion and the Work of CFHI

CFHI intentionally works to make its Global Health Education Programs into Global Health Immersion Programs.  This change in wording implies an emphasis on immersion into the culture and immersion into the healthcare system.  The relationships within the CFHI global family offer participants in these Global Health Immersion Programs an observer role at the front lines of the delivery of healthcare in a given country.

Strength-Based Engagemet

Building strong, long-term relationships with underserved, resource-poor communities is the foundation of our work.  At CFHI, we believe finding and building on the strengths of the local community is the best place to start.

Instead of just conducting a needs assessment to find what a community is lacking, CFHI takes more of an asset mapping approach to begin with a community’s strengths rather than its weaknesses.  We believe this is the more sustainable approach. As the work is driven at a pace that is consistent with local capacity, the community takes ownership much more quickly, and an inherent check is placed on the donor organization from imposing its agenda, consciously or unconsciously.  We also find that it is a healthier approach.  Participating in projects that consistently approach issues from the perspective of what the community doesn’t have can create a mindset that unconsciously promotes a neediness and dependence on help from outside the community.  Approaching the same issues by intentionally seeking, celebrating, and building on the strengths of the community can engage people in a process that implements successful development, while at the same time builds self-esteem, and local pride and ownership.

Local Heroes and Heroines

Many local communities in the Global South (be they urban or rural) have their own health professionals who work every day with very few resources and in difficult working conditions to care for their communities.  They are strongly dedicated to serving their people, and have decided to remain in this service instead of emigrating to more lucrative environments.  CFHI seeks out these local health professionals who have a life of commitment to their own communities.  These are the local unsung heroes and heroines whose work we are proud to help support.  Often they go unnoticed and give their professional lives in great service with little recognition because they do not seek it.  We have found their contributions to be remarkable, and we believe others can learn a great deal from their examples.  This creates an important learning ground for the health professionals of tomorrow to learn from the dedication of the present and a commitment rooted in the past.

Respectful Engagement

Many international health rotations find students from ‘developed’ countries heading to the Global South, where they have great and profound experiences, while people in host communities are left with feelings that remind them of colonialism.

CFHI’s strength-based approach attempts to address this problem by recognizing the local health professionals as the experts in their own environments.  We tremendously value the local health workforce and ask them to share their commitment, dedication, and knowledge  with our students.  This creates a culture of respect from the initial encounter that  we hope permeates our organization and each of our programs so that students are learning respectful engagement, cultural humility, and a sense of perspective that will serve them in their future careers.  We know that this kind of engagement also produces a tremendous sense of success, satisfaction, and a new-found local respect for the community’s own medical professionals that exponentially increases the strength of the local community and its own belief in itself.

Hope for a Better World

So as the world becomes smaller and as the global threat of disease increasingly permeates borders, we hope that global health immersion experiences will create a global family of health professionals, at all levels, who are uniquely enabled to allow knowledge, innovation, and the lessons of local successes to permeate borders at an ever increasing rate and thus improve not only the heath of local communities but also the health of the world community.

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CFHI currently has Global Health Immersion Programs for students of the health professions operating in Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, and South Africa.  You can learn more at our website.