Vanessa Kerry, MD, director of the GHSM Program on Global Public Policy and Social Change and executive director of the Global Health Service Corps, announced the launch of the Global Health Service Partnership with the Peace Corps and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The partnership will place doctors, nurses, and other health professionals in developing countries as medical educators with the Peace Corps Response program. 

Dr. Kerry, Dr. Sara Auld, and Dr. Paul Farmer described their vision for an international service corps for health in the New England Journal of Medicine (363;13) in September 2010. Citing reports from the last decade that link improvements in health to reduced poverty and strengthened long-term development, they proposed that the United States target health care to meet diplomatic and humanitarian objectives. The health service corps would place American medical professionals in developing countries whose governments demonstrate commitment to serving the poor. While the participants might treat patients, their primary purpose would be to transfer knowledge and build local capacity.

The partnership will begin placing medical educators in Uganda, Malawi, and Tanzania in July 2013. Volunteers will be assigned for one year, with possible extension for a second year. Student loan repayment stipends, travel to and from the country of service, a living stipend, and health insurance would be provided to the volunteers during their service.

Additional information was reported in the Boston Globe, The Hill, and the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report.