The Journey

The journey that has led to this compendium began nearly two decades ago when a group of like-minded professionals came together to create the Virtue Foundation. Our idealism of wanting to serve those in need in resource-poor regions around the world was soon to be confronted with the challenging reality of making these interventions effective, ethical, and lasting. It was not long before I began questioning the long-term value of discrete missions and their potential harm on the communities they were intended to serve.

These concerns led me to reconsider the pursuit of short-term interventions in favor of complex but sustainable training programs overseas. Such efforts would require the cooperation of governments, international and national stakeholders, professionals, and philanthropists. Yet I was confronted time and again with seemingly insurmountable obstacles to effecting sustainable change in dynamic socio-political environments. As it soon became apparent, many long-term projects remained too heavily dependent on a complex set of factors to remain truly sustainable. Beyond the cacophony of well-intentioned voices calling for lasting change was an unsettling landscape dotted with graveyards of unfinished buildings and abandoned projects. Without such critical factors as a stable government, sustained economic support, personal security, protection from corruption, and community buy-in, even the most laudable philanthropic efforts would be destined to encounter insurmountable headwinds. Perhaps this explained the uneven presence of non-governmental organizations in well-known metropolitan centers despite rural and at times large population areas with greater need.

This concern was the core impetus behind the present compendium. Collaborating with a group of academics and professionals in fields ranging from healthcare and economics to data science and analytics, we thus sought ways to help optimize our interventions and engagements around the globe. To our great surprise, we found a dearth of practical resources to provide satisfactory answers to our questions. The search for solutions led us on a decade-long journey, beginning with data mapping projects and culminating in the adoption of machine learning and artificial intelligence as a means to better define need and intervention opportunities worldwide. This compendium represents one of the first products of this Actionable Data Initiative and provides perhaps the world’s most comprehensive compilation of healthcare facilities and nonprofits in low and lower-middle-income countries. The first volume of this compendium— Insights in Global Health—was published by Taylor & Francis and included 24 low-income countries as defined by the World Bank. This expanded edition includes an additional 48 lower-middle-income countries along with a companion digital platform, VFMatch.org.

This compendium offers a fresh perspective on global health interventions. Philanthropic interventions need not conform to an all-or-nothing model whereby they are considered either ineffective short-term neocolonial voluntourism, or complex, bureaucratic and inefficient undertakings marked by inertia and inflexibility. By making data accessible, the information age promises customizable and targeted matching of needs and resources at the individual and organizational levels, thereby reducing the inefficiencies that have historically plagued international healthcare philanthropy.

As a practicing physician for over two decades, I continue to believe that even a single life transformed reaffirms the inherent value of philanthropic medicine. Yet, by cooperating together and harnessing the power of data, we can exponentially expand our impact far beyond what any one individual can do alone. For me, this book is a testament to the power of collaboration in bringing about meaningful change.

Ebby Elahi