10 Ways to Give the Gift of Global Health This Year

‘Tis the season of gift giving! Finding the perfect gift is hard — you’ve run through the stores on Black Friday, broke the internet on Cyber Monday, but today is #GivingTuesday, and you might not realize it, but this year, you can give a gift that can change the world:

the gift of global health.

Making a donation in a friend’s name is one of the most creative and generous things you can do this holiday season. There are so many excellent organizations out there that it can feel overwhelming to figure out who to support, so we put this list together for you as a great place to start:

1. Solutions for global health challenges need multi-faceted, innovative approaches, including new designs for the actual structures where care is delivered. With a $50 donation to MASS Design, you can contribute to the construction of a building that is using architecture to help solve health inequity.

2. Not sure how to best support the Ebola response? Donate $100 to Last Mile Health, a grassroots organization that recruits, trains and supports Frontline Health Workers in Liberia working in the most remote, or “last mile” villages.

3. Still in college and ready to start engaging in global health? Join your university’s chapter of GlobeMed, Timmy Global Health, Student Global AIDS Campaign or Health Leads.

4. Population Media Center develops serial radio dramas, which leverage the power and pervasiveness of radio to teach health information by weaving it into the story. With a tribute donation, you can help fund the production of an episode and PMC will send a card in your name but will not disclose the gift amount. It’s a great way to share your concern for the planet and honor someone you care about.

5. Don’t just give during times of emergency. Disaster relief organizations need ongoing support so they can react as soon as a crisis unfolds. Every dollar you donate to International Medical Corps — an organization that not only sends in first responders, but stays to help rebuild after the disaster is over — unlocks, on average, an additional $30 in grants from institutions, donated medicines, and supplies — multiplying the impact of your gift.

6. People can’t access health care if they don’t have a way of getting there! Working in Southern Africa, Riders for Health does emergency pick-ups, gets people to clinics, gets community health workers to home visits, and manages medicine supply chain.

Just $15 can equip a community health worker with fuel to provide services for patients for the entire month.

7. Are you a clinician looking for opportunities to treat underserved communities? If you want to be stationed abroad, check out SEED Global Health and if you want to get more involved domestically, look at advocacy or work opportunities with Doctors for America.

8. Are you a coder? There is a huge open source movement called ICT4D and mHealth and you can help design useful technological interventions for organizations in your spare time by getting involved in OpenMRS and FrontlineSMS.

9. Mental disorders are one of the top causes of disability both in the US and abroad, yet few organizations are focused on providing mental health programs. Donating to Teen Support Line can help pay the salary for a call taker on a psychosocial hotline for adolescents living with HIV in Southern Africa.

10. Get involved with Global Health Corps, a global movement working to bring health equity to all. Apply to work as a fellow in a high-impact role in a health-related organization; volunteer to be a mentor; or fund a fellowship!