Some things are universal.

Love, joy, fear — all cross language and environmental boundaries. So too, does our desire to live happily and healthily. We need not look alike nor share the same beliefs to appreciate that health equity is a fundamental human right.

Within our global community, we are tightly bound to each other in a common experience that goes far beyond poverty or politics, beyond culture or conflict. It’s simply a human experience. And in that sense, regardless of where we call home, we are all neighbors.

Yet health inequities persist.

At EVMS, our Global Health programs teach students to reduce health disparities, to strengthen local healthcare systems and to address biosocial threats to health worldwide — including non-communicable and infectious diseases, forced displacement and poverty. For us, incorporating Global Health training, service and research into the EVMS curriculum does more than just build our capacity to sustainably improve the health of each of our patients and communities — be it in Eastern Virginia or East Africa. It also makes us better neighbors.

The majority of our work takes place in Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore of Virginia with communities that lack access to quality healthcare, including immigrant, migrant worker and refugee communities. EVMS Global Health training and experience is broadened through the rural health missions we support throughout Virginia, our Border Health Initiative in El Paso, Texas, and the longitudinal clinical and research initiatives we sustain through community partnerships in numerous international global health sites.

We have the opportunity, responsibility and privilege of connecting with and caring for these communities and strengthening the healthcare systems within which their citizens may thrive. Join us as we explore some of the ways EVMS helps make the global community a healthier place for everyone.