Frequently Asked Questions

We give physicians in Malawi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Haiti a $100 USD monthly stipend. In Malawi and Sierra Leone, this triples a doctor's salary. In Liberia it doubles it. And in Haiti, it provides a 50% increase. In exchange for this monthly financial aid, doctors in our program sign a contract agreeing to stay in their country and practice medicine for a period of 7 years. We continue to fund them as long as they stay in the country. The contract stipulates that if a doctor leaves before the 7 years to pursue a more lucrative career in another country, he or she must eventually pay back all of the financial aid they have received from us until that point.

We ask people to "adopt a doctor" by contributing $100 per year for 7 years. This pays for one month of a doctor's salary each year. For every 12 people who make this commitment, we are able to fund one doctor. Some people give us the $700 up front so we can put it in the bank and earn a little interest on it. Others prefer to be reminded each year to send the next installment of their pledge. Very generous individuals or organizations have "adopted" a full doctor by themselves, contributing $1200 each year for 7 years. One hundred percent of every one of these contributions made directly for doctors goes into the pocket of the doctors. We do not take ANY of it for administrative expenses. We even fund the money transfer costs (wire transfers, Western Union, etc.) from our own administrative expenses so that the doctors receive the full $100.

Our criteria for selecting doctors for the program are simple. The individual must have a medical degree, practice medicine at a clinic or hospital in one of our target nations (Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Malawi), and agree to abide by the terms of our contract (they agree to stay in their country for 7 years, and we pay them $100 per month for that entire period. If they leave to pursue a more lucrative career elsewhere before the 7 year period, they are required to pay us back all of the money that we have given them.) As you can imagine, there are very few doctors in most of these countries, so we cannot be overly selective at this time.

We originally started with 10 target nations, including Uganda, Rwanda, Nepal, Cambodia, and Ethiopia. Because our organization is new and still quite small, we had difficulty managing efforts for so many nations. Thus, we reduced our target nations to four. However, we do hope to add new target countries as we expand in the future. There are indeed many nations that could desperately use help in the form that we are providing.

We have begun to receive inquiries from premedical and medical students regarding working with doctors in our target nations. We are more than willing to put students in touch with physicians in our program. The students will, however, be on their own in formulating a program of work/study with the physician directly. We also do not have any funds to support this type of endeavor.

In most of these countries, physicians earn between $50 and $200 US monthly. By offering a $100 monthly stipend, we are doubling, if not tripling the doctors’ salaries in most cases. If a doctor earns $100 per month and pays $50 per month in rent, her disposable income is $50. If we double her salary to $200, her disposable income is tripled to $150, providing a significant boost in her standard of living and ability to perform as a physician.