International health issues and humanitarian efforts – Page 3

Updated August 14, 2026

OneChild

OneChild is a global community of Child Champions giving of ourselves so children in poverty can thrive. We are sponsors, teachers, pastors, cooks, businesspeople, artists, social workers and many others around the world.

Mission: As a global community of Child Champions, to advocate for children in hard places and provide holistic care so they have hope and thrive.

OneChild is more than an international nonprofit bringing immediate relief to children in poverty. Our Child Champions bring holistic care to children.

Supporters help provide everything from school supplies to nutritional and spiritual care so that children flourish in every area of their lives to grow into the individuals God created them to be.

My husband with children in Vietnam, not affiliated with OneChild

How I Support OneChild

My husband and I have had the privilege of supporting these Child Champions and the children they serve.

But we do it without even leaving our house. Through monthly financial support we have helped children in India, Mexico, Honduras, and Ethiopia go to school, get medical care, and receive regular meals through an international organization named OneChild.

Like many similar organizations, OneChild, saw a decrease in donations during the pandemic in 2020. But the children’s needs have not decreased and neither has the organization’s commitment to taking care of them. OneChild released emergency funds to help provide food and other necessities to the children in our program and their families during the global pandemic.

How You Can Help OneChild

For a monthly commitment of $44 U.S. you can help a needy child. If you’ve ever wondered what you can do to make a difference in a hurting world, you can start making a lasting difference in the life of a child and family.

OneChild doesn’t stop with receiving your donation. You learn your sponsored child’s name and home country. They are even introducing video correspondence through the Bridgely platform.

If you sponsor a child elsewhere, or support other charitable causes, please continue. But if you aren’t, or can take on something else, I recommend OneChild without reservation. Check out their website and see if OneChild is a fit for you and your family. Sponsoring a child is an effective way to teach your own children about generosity.

Become a Sponsor HERE.

Exploring the HEART of Health

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Another post for you to enjoy

Sharing the HEART of Health in Panama

In this post I take you on a trip to Panama on a volunteer medical trip. And tour the Panama Canal. I challenge you to find a place that needs your service.

Keep reading

For an update on the 2026 Ebola outbreak, follow this link;

Bundibugyo virus: Why this Ebola disease outbreak is different

The Ebola Epidemics 2014-2019

In 2014 the world watched as Africa grappled with a deadly Ebola epidemic as the virus swept through Liberia, infecting and killing scores of people, including healthcare workers.

In 2019 the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda experienced the second largest Ebola outbreak in history. It began in the DRC the previous year, then spread to Uganda, since the countries share a border and people travel freely between them.

an electron image of the Ebola virus — this colorized transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion.
credit-CDC/ Frederick A. Murphy, microbiologist, public domain

The 2014 Liberian Epidemic

In 2014, the Ebola virus came to the United States when a volunteer physician working in Liberia contracted the virus and flew home for treatment, which proved successful. His illness and recovery from what is usually a fatal disease caught the world’s attention. Here is a summary of the dramatic story.

Dr. Kent Brantly -Physician and Patient

Dr. Kent Brantly awoke feeling ill- muscle aches, fever, sore throat, headache and nausea. As his condition progressively worsened to include difficulty breathing, he learned the cause of his illness- the Ebola virus. Having spent the past few weeks caring for patients caught up in the Ebola epidemic that swept Liberia in the spring of 2014, Dr. Brantly had contracted the disease himself and would likely die, as almost all victims do.

Dr. Brantly, a graduate of Indiana University’s School of Medicine, had volunteered to work at ELWA Hospital in Liberia, which was receiving aid from Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization. This hospital served as Monrovia’s Ebola treatment center, and Dr. Brantly headed the unit.

As his condition deteriorated, his physicians decided his only hope for recovery was use of an experimental drug, ZMapp, previously untested on humans. Since otherwise he was likely to die, he received the drug by infusion into a vein. By the next morning he felt well enough to arise from bed and shower. Unknown to him, thousands of people around the world had been praying for him.

During this time his colleague, nurse Nancy Writebol, was battling her own Ebola infection. She also was treated with ZMapp.

Samaritan’s Purse arranged for both of them to be evacuated to the United States. There, they could continue receiving supportive medical care, as well as allow infectious disease specialists to learn from their conditions. It also would relieve the workload on the doctors who continued to care for Ebola patients at ELWA.

Hear Dr. Brantly describe what it is like to be ill from the Ebola virus.

Called for Life: How Loving Our Neighbor Led Us into the Heart of the Ebola Epidemic.

(affiliate link)

Five years after contracting the deadly virus in Liberia, Dr. Brantly served at Mukinge Mission Hospital in Zambia. Read the story here-

Dr. Kent Brantly returns to Africa

It’s not a matter of not fearing. It’s a matter of choosing to have compassion despite fear.
Dr. Kent Brantly, christian chronicle.org

The Ebola Fighters

Dr. Brantly and hundreds of other professionals who treated Ebola victims in 2014, the “Ebola fighters”, were named Time magazine’s PERSON of the YEAR for 2014.

Ebola is a war, and a warning. The global health system is nowhere close to strong enough to keep us safe from infectious disease, and “us” means everyone, not just those in faraway places where this is one threat among many that claim lives every day. The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight.
Nancy Gibbs, TIME magazine

An African doctor viewing xrays and MRI image. — World Medical Mission branch of Samaritan’s Purse serves as a lifeline to dozens of mission hospitals by providing millions of dollars worth of critically needed equipment and supplies.

Samarita’s Purse

“The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) gives a clear picture of God’s desire for us to help those in desperate need wherever we find them. After describing how the Samaritan rescued a hurting man whom others had passed by, Jesus told His hearers, “Go and do likewise.”

Samaritan’s Purse website

What happens when we stop to help-being a good Samaritan

“Who is your neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan to answer the question. The Parable (Story) of the Good Samaritan Luke chapter 10, NIV Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.…