international ministries

Is health policy rational?

We kid ourselves we are rational beings, with a capacity for reason we use as and when we want. The World Bank sees health, nutrition and population as integral to its economic policy. It admits it does not have the technical competence of WHO, but it has a lot of...

Who is the true mission doctor in Africa?

Gone are the days when European doctors went out to join fellow senior staff in a remote but well-equipped and well organised mission hospital. Most nursing staff and many of the doctors are now locally trained, and a European may arrive to head a team of locals with little knowledge...

Handing on the Baton

In a mission hospital today the doctor needs a broad based clinical competency, and in addition often needs skills in personnel management, financial accountability, stock control, building maintenance, continuing medical education and liaising with central government about district health policies. One minute he or she will be devising staff rotas,...

Does Romania still need us?

Ten years ago we watched our television screens in amazement as Laszlo Tokes, a priest of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania, preached to his congregation in Timisoara. His faithfulness to the gospel and determination not to succumb to the directions of his bishop, who was a communist lackey, resulted...