Program III
Gift of Health
Gift of Health missions support free patient care in communities with limited access to medicine, and give U.S. students a firsthand look at careers in medicine.
The Loyola Gift of Health team in Mexico, July 2024.
By the numbers
What the program adds up to.
4,014
patients served on six 2025 student missions
60,000+
patients at Nasir Hospital since 2018
326,500+
patients across Humanity First health programs
About Gift of Health
Medical missions where students support real patient care.
Three to five times a year, student teams travel with physicians to Guatemala and Mexico and work in the clinics: patient registration, vitals, scribing, patient education, and pharmacy. In 2025, six missions served 4,014 patients.
The missions are part of Humanity First USA's permanent global health infrastructure. Nasir Hospital, opened in Sacatepéquez, Guatemala in 2018, has served more than 60,000 patients; across all programs, Humanity First has seen over 326,500 patients through hospitals, mobile clinics, and 75 medical missions.
For pre-health students there is no closer look at medicine practiced where it is needed most. For the communities we serve, it is care those communities would otherwise go without: free screenings, consultations, medications, and hygiene kits.
How it works
From first step to real work.
- 1
Plan the mission
Campus teams plan their trips and fundraise for travel with the national team. It starts with a Gift of Health interest call.
- 2
Work in the clinic
Students take real roles: patient registration, vitals, scribing, patient education, the pharmacy table, and shadowing the physicians on site.
- 3
Serve where care is scarce
Three to five missions a year travel mainly to Guatemala and Mexico, and also to Guyana and Tanzania. In 2025, six missions served 3,219 patients in Guatemala and 795 in Mexico.
- 4
Fund the next one
Each summer the Gift of Health Gala brings students, physicians, and donors into one room to raise support for the missions ahead.
Part of Global Health
Student missions, permanent care.
Gift of Health connects students to Humanity First USA's Global Health program, which runs hospitals, mobile clinics, and medical missions year round. In Guatemala, Nasir Hospital has served more than 60,000 patients since it opened in 2018.
- Humanity First medical missions
- 75
- Humanity First medical missions
- Humanity First hospitals and clinics
- 3
- Humanity First hospitals and clinics
- Nasir Hospital opens in Sacatepequez, Guatemala
- 2018
- Nasir Hospital opens in Sacatepequez, Guatemala
Watch
On film.
Questions
Good to know.
- Who can go on a mission?
- Pre-health and medical students, organized through their HFSO or campus team. Book an interest call to learn what is coming up.
- Do students treat patients?
- Students support care under the direction of physicians: registration, vitals, scribing, education, pharmacy, and shadowing. Clinical decisions stay with the physicians.
- Can I support a mission without traveling?
- Yes. Give to student medical missions through the Gift of Health campaign, or attend the Gala.
- Who do I contact?
- Email students@us.humanityfirst.org or book a Gift of Health interest call on the scheduling page.
All programs