Sustainability is a big buzzword in global health, and rightfully so. Global health is all about improving medicine and increasing access to healthcare on a global scale. If we have short-term fixes that aren’t sustainable, we aren’t fulfilling this goal. Beyond that, short-term fixes can actually have really bad long-term consequences.
When people think of global health, many people think of going on a short-term ‘mission trip’ to provide healthcare to people in developing countries. However, this can actually be more harmful than it is good. Setting up shop for a week or so has a lot of consequences. First of all, it takes away work from local doctors. Doctors that are also struggling to make ends meet in the developing country that they have poured their heart and soul into. Week-long trips also leave people feeling like they are ‘cured’ and then they are lost to follow up and their medical problems are not actually solved. You can’t fix chronic conditions with one trip to see the doctor.
So if short-term trips are so bad, what is the solution? Well, this is a huge question. But one thing that we absolutely need to do is to make sure that our global health practices are sustainable. This means working WITH local doctors. Helping to set up long-term clinics. Making sure that all the help we do is actually helping and working WITH the people who live in the places we are trying to help. So, short-term trips are not bad. You just need to make sure that the week or two of time that you are dedicating is with a practice that is sustainable.