Health and Development News

Winter 2009

Steps are under way to strengthen International Health Ministries' engagement in Ethiopia and Sudan. IHM health consultants in Africa met with PC(USA) church partners in January to assess their priority needs and capacities in southern Sudan and in the Gambella region of Ethiopia, near the Sudan border. New mission personnel Nathanel Veltman in Ethiopia and Nancy McGauhey in Sudan will begin service in February, following an orientation trip with IHM Coordinator Bob Ellis.

Fall 2008

Beginning in 2009, International Health Ministries (IHM) will intensify its program work in Southern Sudan, an area ravaged by years of war and drought. IHM will support the IMA World Health Multi-Donor Trust Fund Basic Health Services program in the Upper Nile and Jongei States, which over the next three years will establish a health system in an area served by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan. IHM will collaborate with IMA World Health, ACROSS, and other church, governmental and nongovernmental organizations working in the area to establish primary health care centers, reference hospitals and water and sanitation systems in the two easternmost states of South Sudan.

Summer 2008

A Spirit-filled group of new PC(USA) mission co-workers completed Orientation in July and are ready to answer God's call to service around the world. Among them are three whose work will relate to International Health Ministries: Rev. Paul and Darlene Heller (pictured below), who will serve at the Ministry of Hope Crisis Care Nursery in Mzuzu, Malawi, and Denise England, RN, (pictured above), who will serve as a geriatric and health management consultant with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt.

Spring 2008

The commitment of International Health Ministries to support the work of PC(USA)'s overseas church partners was affirmed in February when IHM officially became a program office of the World Mission ministry area. The realignment of IHM to World Mission is a final step in the restructuring of the offices of the General Assembly Mission Council.

One of the goals of restructuring is to enhance responsiveness to the varied World Mission constituencies and strengthen collaboration among program offices.

Fall 2007

The commitment of the Presbyterian church to global mission was celebrated and reaffirmed in October when more than 600 church members, pastors, mission leaders and current and former missionaries gathered for "World Mission '07: A Celebration of Grace."

The event, Oct. 2-6 in Louisville, featured plenary presentations and workshops on a host of mission-related topics, the commissioning of 48 missionaries for "Mission Challenge '07", meetings of 20 Mission Networks, and reunions of former missionaries.

Spring 2007

The shared commitment of International Health Ministries, Presbyterian Women and the Medical Benevolence Foundation to our partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo was demonstrated and strengthened during a two-week trip in DRC in May. An eight-person team traveled throughout the country, meeting with church leaders, key personnel in projects for women and at mission hospitals, and with mission co-workers, at a wide range of institutions and project sites.

Winter 2007

Lack of adequate funding to assure an uninterrupted term of service has delayed placement of three prospective health missionaries in the field.

Denise England, a nurse, is ready to serve the Synod of the Nile in Egypt as a consultant to the American Mission Hospital at Tanta, the Cairo Medical Center and the Cairo Geriatric Center. She has already completed Mission Co-Worker orientation and is awaiting sufficient funding to begin her service.

Fall 2006

In communities of the former Soviet Union, Christian ministries are helping men and women who struggle with HIV/AIDS, alcoholism and drug addiction. Healing and hope are replacing despair and isolation in a variety of programs supported by PCUSA's new partner, the Belarus and Russian Orthodox Church Roundtables. In September, IHM Coordinator Bob Ellis made the first official visit on behalf of a PCUSA program office to the Round Tables' leadership and several of its ministries.

Summer 2006

The PCUSA General Assembly and the Presbyterian Women's Churchwide Gathering, nearly back-to-back events, made for an eventful summer season and were a springboard for IHM work related to HIV/AIDS home-based care and malaria prevention. The summer months also concluded the annual IHM grant process on behalf of health and development projects of our overseas partner churches, and marked the end of another successful NetWorkers Mothers Day Project. Read about these activities, and other news, in the Summer 2006 newsletter.

Spring 2006

Visits to see the health and development work of PCUSA partners in Sudan, Ethiopia, China, and South Korea are reported on in the Spring newsletter, as well as details of funding awarded through IHM for HIV/AIDS prevention and care ministries in Africa. The good news of an important training event funded by the Presbyterian Women's Thank Offering, and the return of PCUSA missionaries to Haiti is also highlighted in the Spring 2006 newsletter.