Global Health Service Partnership: A Model for Global Health
Global Health Service Partnership: A Model for Global Health
GHSP PCVs will receive Peace Corps benefits, including a living allowance, accommodation, malpractice coverage, and professional support. A core tenet of the GHS Corps mission is providing technical assistance to the Peace Corps and to GHSP PCVs. Furthermore, GHS Corps will provide a loan repayment stipend to eligible GHSP PCVs.
Both the Peace Corps and GHS Corps recognize that service is not always tenable when facing financial responsibilities such as educational loans or mortgages. On average, physicians graduate with $161,290 in educational debt. Capitalizing on the flexibility of a private partner, GHS Corps will be able to implement this incentive without the legislative action needed for a federal program -- legislation that could take months or years. The loan repayment model will be a catalyst for service for physicians and nurses whose debt would otherwise be a barrier to working abroad in some of the world's most challenged and yet needy teaching settings.
The GHSP's success will depend on the participation across the professional continuum, including recent residents to mid-career and senior faculty who have extensive experience in medical and nursing education. To encourage sabbaticals and more senior faculty to participate, GHS Corps has committed to expanding the stipend for education loans, mortgage support, or other forms of appropriate debt relief.
To date, GHS Corps has worked closely with the Peace Corps on country selection, developing recruitment processes, and scheduling site visits to clarify needs and refine plans for each site in the first year of deployment. Simultaneously, GHS Corps has begun planning with the Peace Corps the US and in-country orientations and is working to define the strategies for field support, monitoring, and evaluation.
An ambitious 5-year growth trajectory is planned. Provider roles are hoped to grow from physicians, nurses, and midwives to include pharmacists, physical therapists, health administrators, health technologists, social workers, and nutritionists, as well other relevant health professionals. Growth is targeted to expand the number of professionals overall, the types of health professions represented, and the number of countries to which the volunteers are deployed. The exponential power of this teaching model in each setting where it is implemented will have a profound impact on access to care where it is most needed.
Finally, the GHSP will be more efficient and cost-effective than current approaches to deploying human resource support for capacity building. Current US government costs for smaller programs deploying Americans abroad for nonclinical education are approximately $250,000 per individual. The GHSP will deploy volunteers at current Peace Corps living allowance of approximately $12,000 (the rate is determined to be commensurate with compensation of in-country counterparts), the cost of debt repayment stipend of $30,000, and a smaller administrative cost.
"I Can't Afford to Volunteer"
GHSP PCVs will receive Peace Corps benefits, including a living allowance, accommodation, malpractice coverage, and professional support. A core tenet of the GHS Corps mission is providing technical assistance to the Peace Corps and to GHSP PCVs. Furthermore, GHS Corps will provide a loan repayment stipend to eligible GHSP PCVs.
Both the Peace Corps and GHS Corps recognize that service is not always tenable when facing financial responsibilities such as educational loans or mortgages. On average, physicians graduate with $161,290 in educational debt. Capitalizing on the flexibility of a private partner, GHS Corps will be able to implement this incentive without the legislative action needed for a federal program -- legislation that could take months or years. The loan repayment model will be a catalyst for service for physicians and nurses whose debt would otherwise be a barrier to working abroad in some of the world's most challenged and yet needy teaching settings.
The GHSP's success will depend on the participation across the professional continuum, including recent residents to mid-career and senior faculty who have extensive experience in medical and nursing education. To encourage sabbaticals and more senior faculty to participate, GHS Corps has committed to expanding the stipend for education loans, mortgage support, or other forms of appropriate debt relief.
To date, GHS Corps has worked closely with the Peace Corps on country selection, developing recruitment processes, and scheduling site visits to clarify needs and refine plans for each site in the first year of deployment. Simultaneously, GHS Corps has begun planning with the Peace Corps the US and in-country orientations and is working to define the strategies for field support, monitoring, and evaluation.
An ambitious 5-year growth trajectory is planned. Provider roles are hoped to grow from physicians, nurses, and midwives to include pharmacists, physical therapists, health administrators, health technologists, social workers, and nutritionists, as well other relevant health professionals. Growth is targeted to expand the number of professionals overall, the types of health professions represented, and the number of countries to which the volunteers are deployed. The exponential power of this teaching model in each setting where it is implemented will have a profound impact on access to care where it is most needed.
Finally, the GHSP will be more efficient and cost-effective than current approaches to deploying human resource support for capacity building. Current US government costs for smaller programs deploying Americans abroad for nonclinical education are approximately $250,000 per individual. The GHSP will deploy volunteers at current Peace Corps living allowance of approximately $12,000 (the rate is determined to be commensurate with compensation of in-country counterparts), the cost of debt repayment stipend of $30,000, and a smaller administrative cost.
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