2019 Annual Report

From massive migrations in Venezuela to devastating storms in Mozambique and the Bahamas, it’s easy to look back on 2019 as a year of incredible challenges. But it was also a year of remarkable progress.

There is so much to be proud of in what we accomplished last year, including our rapid responses to disasters like Hurricane Dorian and Cyclone Idai. But as much as anything, I’m proud of the hunger I saw in our teams for Project HOPE to evolve as an organization — a hunger for our field programs to be recognized and acknowledged as the center of everything we do.

Many of the world’s biggest health crises find their roots in larger forces like conflict, poverty, and inequality. At the heart of these problems, however, is a threat that lies at the heart of Project HOPE’s mission: an extreme shortage of health care workers worldwide.

Every day, Project HOPE places power in the hands of health workers to save lives in communities that need it most. In Colombia, we’re strengthening hospitals as they provide a lifeline to Venezuelans who have left everything behind in search of better care. In Sierra Leone, we are providing nurses and midwives with techniques they desperately need to save mothers and infants. In 100 countries and counting, our response to COVID-19 is delivering millions of pieces of personal protective equipment and expert virtual trainings straight to doctors and nurses on the front lines. More than anything, this is what makes us Project HOPE.

The threats to global health are many. But every day, I see us building a different world: a world where no mother or newborn dies of preventable causes. Where health systems are prepared for disasters and pandemics. Where health care workers practice innovative solutions in their communities — and then teach them to others.

That’s what hope looks like. Thank you for helping us pass it on.