Project HOPE is an international health care organization founded in the United States in 1958; a humanitarian NGO, its founding and early years received strong support from private sector businesses and the U.S. government.
Industries, such as the Ex-Cell-O Corporation, used highly-publicized giving to Hope to promote their image and win business in America and also overseas. American government actors and agencies, from Eisenhower to Kennedy to USAID, saw Hope as an ideological Cold War weapon to fight communism, place America on the international stage, and garner public approval.
Its most visible project was the SS HOPE, the first peacetime hospital ship. The SS HOPE was retired in 1974, after sailing to Indonesia, South Vietnam, Peru, Ecuador, Guinea, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ceylon, Tunisia, Jamaica, and Brazil. On these voyages doctors, nurses, and technical staff provided medical care and training to people in each country visited. In its early years, there was muddling of humanitarianism with other agendas, e.g. business interests and fighting the Cold War. Although not necessarily directed by the CIA, multiple sources report that Project HOPE had been used as a CIA front organization. Charges of "shocking" American commercialism being exploited abroad by Project HOPE's administration were also levied. Project HOPE has been criticized for these conflicts of interest and noted to be "a cautionary tale for development organizations seeking mass appeal now." The SS HOPE was not replaced, and emphasis switched entirely to land-based operations. Today there are organizations in Germany and the United Kingdom, in addition to the original organization in the United States. Project HOPE helps different developing countries in efforts to eradicate infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. They also help educate parents on how to prevent and treat diseases for their children and themselves, and also train health professionals. Project HOPE also sets up village health banks, which give small loans to women so they can improve their health and family's health. The village health banks also educate women on health. Project HOPE is headquartered at Carter Hall in Millwood, Virginia.
Mission
Project HOPE works to achieve sustainable advances in health carearound the world by implementing health education programs and providing humanitarian assistance in areas of need. Project HOPE is unique among international organizations in that we have always worked across the health spectrum in a wide variety of settings, from the family and community levels to the tertiary care level, training traditional birth attendants and community health volunteers where resources are limited and cardiac surgeons and biomedical engineers where technology is appropriate. Project HOPE addresses infectious diseases, health professional education, women's and children's health, humanitarian assistance, and the need for health systems and facilities.
Sites
Project HOPE has programs in the following countries:
2006 — HOPE continues to provide aid to the people on the Gulf Coast who were hit by Hurricane Katrina. In the spring of 2006, they helped staff the U.S. Navy hospital ship, known as the Mercy, with volunteer physicians and nurses to South Asia.
2010 — In response to the January earthquake in Haiti, Project HOPE helped to coordinate volunteer medical staffers to fill out the complement of the USNS Comfort.
