Barbara Bush Addresses the Importance of Empowering Youth at CGI

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Barbara Bush spoke this afternoon at the Clinton Global Initiative's session on Harnessing Human Potential about engaging and empowering young people from around the world to help solve today's global health challenges. "The lack of access to good health care is a barrier to growth and opportunity in too many countries around the world," Bush said.  She was joined by her mother, former First Lady Laura Bush and her sister, Jenna Bush in discussing health, education and women's empowerment. Global Health Corps just launched the second class of fellows working in Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Uganda, and in the United States in Boston and Newark.  Every team includes one fellow from their home country partnered with an international fellow.

Global Health Corps (GHC) aims to mobilize a global community of young leaders to build a movement for health equity.

The extreme disparity in health outcomes and access to healthcare that exists today between the world's rich and the world's poor is unjust and unsustainable. These global health challenges are embedded in a diverse set of social, political and economic contexts that require strong leadership and innovative approaches. The complexity and scope of these challenges necessitate participation from a wide range of fields beyond medicine. Individuals with skills from supply chain management to computer programming to monitoring and evaluation will be essential in remedying the unacceptable inequity of today.

Yet opportunities for individuals with backgrounds outside of medicine to use their unique skills in public health are scarce. Too many skilled and ambitious young professionals are unaware of or unable to achieve their potential impact in the health field, prolonging the creation and implementation of innovative solutions.

GHC believes that a global movement of individuals and organizations fighting for improved health outcomes and access to healthcare for the poor is necessary in order to change the unacceptable status quo of extreme inequity. GHC works to build this movement by recruiting, training, and supporting the movement's future leaders and by diversifying the pool of young people working in global health.

GHC provides opportunities for young professionals from diverse backgrounds to work on the frontlines of the fight for global health equity in year-long fellowships. Our fellows will have a measurable impact on the health of the communities in which they work, and draw upon that experience and the GHC alumni network, to deepen their impact throughout their careers.

GHC will create as a pipeline of young leaders for the global health equity movement, and at scale will play a central role in sustaining and consistently reinvigorating this movement for change. This infusion of young, passionate, skilled leaders will help to tip the balance towards a more equitable and just global distribution of health services.

For more information: [email protected] or www.ghcorps.org

SOURCE Global Health Corps