International Standards & Practice Guidelines (IS&Gs)

1. Improving health-care quality in resource-poor settings
2. Management for health services delivery programs
   —Important leadership and management topics
   —Ethics
   —Management of quality of care
   —Management of community health services
   —Management of resources and support systems
3. WHO Humanitarian Health Action Programs
   —Emergency Medical Teams and World Health Organization
   —Classification and minimum standards for foreign medical teams in sudden onset disasters
4. Integrated Health Services (2008)
5. Evidence-informed policy-making
6. Effective aid, better health
7. Aid effectiveness and health
8. World Medical Association Declaration with Guidelines for Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care
9.  WHO-Foreign Medical Team Working Group
   —Registration and coordination of Foreign Medical Teams responding to sudden onset disasters-The way forward 2013
   —Proceedings of the WHO/PAHO Technical Consultation on International Foreign Medical Teams (FMTs) Post Sudden Onset Disasters (SODs) 2010
10. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme
    —Joint programmes
    —Basic Social Services Global Program (See Section II “Past cooperation and lessons learned”  re Primary Care)
11. The Sphere Handbook-Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response See especially:
    —Minimum standards in health action
    —Core Standards
    —Core Standard 6: Aid worker performance  (Refers to: People in Aid Code of Good Practice )
12. Health systems topics
    —Guidelines on health systems
    —Systems Thinking for Health Systems Strengthening
    —The Alliance for Health Policy & Systems Research
    —Improving the quality of health care across the health system 2018
13. National quality policy and strategy: WHO initiative
    —WHO Handbook on national quality policy and strategy  2018
14. Delivering quality health services: a global imperative for universal health coverage 2018
15. WHO Global Learning Laboratory for Quality Universal Health Coverage
    —Compassion

Missions Specific Best Practices Documents

(Demonstrate Compliance with International Standards & Guidelines)

I. FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATION (FBO) OPEN-ACCESS DOCUMENTS:
A. American Society of Missiology
—Short-Term Medical Missions: Enhancing or Eroding Health?–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance

B. Best Practices in Global Health Missions (BPGHM)–Some of the following may contain no references to IS&Gs but appear to demonstrate compliance:
—Accord Network Principles of Excellence in Integral Mission
—Standards of Excellence in Short-term Mission (SOE)
—Avoiding Dependency–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance
—International Standards & Practice Guidelines & Health Missions
—Why Patients are at Much Greater Risk of Harm from Drugs in the Short-term Mission Setting
—Harm from Drugs in Short-term Missions–Review of the Medical Literature

C. Catholic Health Association of the United States
—Short-term medical mission trips: Recommendations for practice 2015
—A Reflection Guide for International Health Activities 2016

D. Christian Health Service Corps
—Operating Responsible Short-Term Healthcare Missions

E. Christian Journal for Global Health (CJGH)
—Principles to guide a volunteer humanitarian faith-based short-term medical mission in Nepal: A case study
—Systems Thinking in Short-term Health Missions: A Conceptual Introduction and Consideration of Implications for Practice
—Identification of Current Best Practices for Short-term Medical Mission Trips and Adherence to Current Common Principles and Guidelines
—Humble Thyself: The Imitation of Christ in Medical Missions
—Considering Medical Missions in all its Different Forms: A Viewpoint from the Asia-Pacific Region

F. Crossnetwork Journal (Discontinued precursor to CJGH)
Some of the following may contain no references to IS&Gs but appear to demonstrate compliance:
—Short-term Medical Missions–Some Quality of Care Issues
—Short Term Healthcare Missions–Legal and Ethical Considerations
—Editorial Comments on Short Term Healthcare Missions–Dan Fountain
—Reflections on Short-Term Medical Missions by a Long-Termer

G. Delta Ministries International (Corbett & Fikkert)
—Doing Short-term Missions without Doing Long-term Harm–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance

H. Evangelical Fellowship of Canada–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance:
—The Guide to Best Practice in Short-term Mission
—The Code of Best Practice for Short-Term Mission

I. Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
—Re-imaging Medical Missions: Results of the PRISM Survey

J. Global CHE Network / Medical Ambassadors International / Neighborhood Transformation
—How To Start CHE Programs Using Short Term Teams–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance

K. Global Connections (UK)
—Short-Term Mission Code of Best Practice–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance

L. Journal of Christian Nursing
—Evaluating Short Term Missions-How Can We Improve? 
—The Perils and Promise of Short-Term Healthcare Missions
—Potential Pitfalls of Short-Term Medical Mission

M. The Other Side
—Short Term Missions: Are they worth the cost?–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance

N. World Evangelical Alliance Resources —Some of the following may contain no references to IS&Gs but appear to demonstrate compliance:
—Code of Best Practices for Christian Refugee Ministry
—The Code of Best Practice in Short-term Mission
—The Code of Best Practice for Church to Church Partnerships
—Three Mission Eras (Ralph Winter)

II. SECULAR OPEN-ACCESS DOCUMENTS:
A. American Academy of Pediatrics
—Partnerships for Global Child Health
—Preparation for Working in Resource-Limited Settings
—Supporting Pediatric Global Health and the Pediatric Department Level: Why & How 
— Global Initiatives

B. American Academy of Physician Assistants Policy Manual
— Guidelines for PAs Working Internationally 2011–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance

C. American Journal of Medicine
—Rules of Engagement: The Principles of Underserved Global Health Volunteerism 2012

D. American Journal of Tropical Medicine
—Short-Term Global Health Research Projects by US Medical Students: Ethical Challenges for Partnerships   2010
—Ethics and Best Practice Guidelines for Training Experiences in Global Health 2010

E. AmeriCares
— Medical Outreach: Best Practices Study- A Literature Review 2013

F. BioMed Central Globalization and Health
—Applying global standards to short-term global health clinical experiences: the case of Project Salud y Paz 2019
—Guidelines for responsible short-term global health activities: developing common principles 2018
—Short term global health experiences and local partnership models: a framework 2015
—Brain Gains: a literature review of medical missions to low and middle-income countries –No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance 2011
—Fly-By medical care: Conceptualizing the global and local social responsibilities of medical tourists and physician voluntourists 2011 .
—The Perceptions of Short-term Medical Volunteer Work: a Qualitative Study in Guatemala  2009
—Health impact assessment and short-term medical missions: A methods study to evaluate quality of care 2008

G. International Conference on Humanitarian Medical Mission (Proceedings of Singapore Health Care)
—International guidelines for the successful organization of humanitarian medical missions (HMMs) during peacetime 2014–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance

H. International Pediatric Association (IPA)
—IPA Statements

I. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health–Global Health
—Ethical Challenges in Short-Term Global Health Training
—An ethics curriculum for short-term global health trainees

J. The Lancet-Global Health Series See especially:
—Indigenous Health 2009
—Treating Individuals  2005
—High-Quality Health Systems in the SDG Era  2018
—How could health care be anything other than high quality? 2018

K. Medical Clinics of North America
—The Ethics of Medical Volunteerism 2016

L. Advocacy for Global Health Partnerships
—Brocher Declaration
—Webinar Links
PQMD Healthcare System Strengthening / Medical Mission Initiative
—Literature Review for MM-HSS Inititative – PQMD
Global Health Action
—Short-term volunteer health trips: aligning host community preferences and organizer practices

M. Unite for Sight–No references to IS&Gs but appears to demonstrate compliance:
—Module 7: Ethical, Quality Volunteering
—Module 8: The Significant Harms of Worst Practices

N. World Bank Group
—Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. 2nd ed. 2006 See especially:
Chapter 70: Improving the Quality of Care in Developing Countries

O. WorldWideScience.org-The Global Science Gateway
—Sample records for short-term medical missions–Contains a number of documents, some contain no references to IS&Gs.

P. Cornell University Press
—Hoping to Help-Introduction  
—Hoping to Help–Chapter 8: Mutuality and Continuity-Two Pillars of Effective Programs
—Further information is available at Hoping to Help-The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering
—Also referenced in National Public Radio: Is It Time To Rethink The Fly-In Medical Mission?

Q. BioMed Central-Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines
—More harm than good? The questionable ethics of medical volunteering and international student placements

R. American College of Physicians
—Ethical Obligations Regarding Short-Term Global Health Clinical Experiences: An American College of Physicians Position Paper 2018

S. The American Board of Pediatrics
—Global Health in Pediatric Education: An Implementation Guide for Program Directors

T. Annals of Global Health
—Short Term Experiences in Global Health (STEGHs): Urgent Need for a Legal and Ethical Framework
—Not Above the Law: A Legal and Ethical Analysis of Short-Term Experiences in Global Health

U. US National Academies of Sciences.
—Crossing the global quality chasm: improving health care worldwide 2018

V. Hastings Center Report
—Scrutinizing Global Short-Term Medical Outreach 2007 Brief excerpt (Not available open access).