The Global Health Initiative offers residents the chance to experience different healthcare systems while delivering essential care and resources to underserved populations in Ghana and Panama.
Ghana:
In partnership with International Healthcare Volunteers Inc. (IHCV), a nonprofit that provides free healthcare to women and families in underserved areas, Cooper residents participate in a two-week program in Ghana. Two senior internal medicine residents work alongside attending physicians from obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, emergency medicine, and pediatrics to care for patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. The program allows residents to contribute to medical care while gaining valuable insight into healthcare delivery in a low-resource setting.
“Traveling with International Healthcare Volunteers (IHV) was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to practice medicine in an under-served part of the world. I met many amazing volunteers, medical staff, and patients along the way. Not only was IHV a great learning experience from a medical perspective, it was also a great learning experience from a cultural perspective. I came back from Ghana with expertise in malaria management, new international friends, and an appreciation for jollof rice.”
-Savi Racha Class of 2021
Panama:
The Global Health elective to Panama, launched in collaboration with Floating Doctors, gives Cooper residents the opportunity to provide healthcare to marginalized native communities. Two residents, along with students and an internal medicine attending, embark on a unique medical mission to remote communities like Nance de Risco, Rio Oeste, San Cristobal, and Tierra Oscura. Mobile clinics are deployed by boat or on foot to provide comprehensive care, including medical, dental, and community development services. Floating Doctors has been working in the region since 2011, reducing the disease burden and improving healthcare delivery in underserved, difficult-to-reach areas, where the visiting medical teams are often the only available healthcare providers.
