PIH is a non-profit, social justice, and global health organization. However, PIH is not the average medical organization, it is not the typical social justice organization, and it most definitely does not operate like a traditional NGO. Many social justice organizations focus most of their efforts in the advocacy space. Conversely, most medical organization limit their scope to direct delivery of care. PIH’s mission connects, rather uniquely, a broad social justice view of the world with a distinctive academic and clinical model for how to make it happen.

Our work is driven by a moral call to action and simultaneously powered by rigorous, evidence-based research and direct care delivery. Unlike other medical organizations, we focus on the holistic picture of social determinants that cause the global burden of disease. Our approach is dependent on many strong partnerships, comprehensive in scope, and not limited to medical treatment alone.

Our mission is social justice, and our goals are naturally very aspirational, even idealistic. Our work is medical and scientific and, therefore, necessarily pragmatic.

The result of combining idealistic aspirations with a very practical line of work has pushed PIH, perhaps more than any other social justice or medical organization, to dare to imagine a workable and replicable approach to address social injustice. Our main purpose is to prove that a scalable solution to universal health care is not only possible, but necessary to achieve social justice.

It is obvious to us that when we are sick or have to care for a sick family member, we cannot receive proper education, sustain ourselves economically, or have any hope to rise out of poverty. If we want to contribute to a more equitable world, we need to fight until every human being has the opportunity to be healthy and fulfill their potential in life.