Project HOPE

Project HOPE began working in Ukraine in 2002 with a life-skills program focused on drug use prevention, HIV prevention, and education for children in primary schools.[4] In 2007, Project HOPE began a five-year, USAID-funded HIV/AIDS Service Capacity project in Ukraine focused on community mobilization for the country’s most at-risk populations.[5]

From 2012-2017, Project HOPE helped improve the health of Ukrainians by enabling the Government of Ukraine to decrease the burden of TB and lower TB morbidity and mortality.[5]

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Project HOPE launched a response within Ukraine and in the neighboring countries of Moldova, Poland, and Romania to provide health and humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians, including refugees fleeing the invasion.[6][7][8]

Project HOPE has since delivered more than 300 pallets of medicines and medical supplies inside Ukraine, including trauma supplies, insulin, needles, hygiene kits, and more; launched multiple mobile medical units (MMUs) to provide primary health care to populations impacted by the violence; provided a trauma training course for trauma surgeons and students in Ukrainian health facilities; and completed multiple reconstruction projects in hospitals in Irpin and Bucha cities.[5][9]

Project HOPE launched a global response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support frontline health care workers, expand vaccine access, and provide medical surge support where needed.[10]

Project HOPE and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at the Watson Institute of Brown University developed and released a self-paced eLearning for health care professionals, as well as a “Training-of-Trainers” model to provide the critical skills and knowledge necessary for health workers to respond rapidly and efficiently to COVID-19 in their workplaces and communities, while protecting their own health.[11]

Through a program funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Project HOPE is working within five high-priority states of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia to provide resources, training, and support to CHWs to educate and assist individuals in receiving COVID-19 vaccinations, with a focus on vulnerable and medically underserved communities, including racial and ethnic minority groups. Project HOPE has engaged a network of Free and Charitable Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers in these 37 counties with the highest unvaccinated but willing populations, to implement the outreach work and engage the community.[12]

Project HOPE has activated its global roster of medical volunteers to provide staff surge capacity and mobile testing in hard-hit areas including Houston; Chicago; Navajo Nation; and Montgomery County, Maryland.

Project HOPE's founding began with the SS HOPE, the first peacetime hospital ship (converted from the USS Consolation (AH-15)). Project HOPE's founding and early years received strong support from private sector businesses and the U.S. government.[13]

The SS HOPE was retired in 1974, after sailing to Indonesia, South Vietnam, Peru, Ecuador, Guinea, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Tunisia, Jamaica, and Brazil. On these voyages doctors, nurses, and technical staff provided medical care and training to people in each country visited.

The SS HOPE was not replaced, and emphasis switched entirely to land-based operations.

Project HOPE has active programs in the following locations:

• 2005 — When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, HOPE sent volunteer medical response teams to the area, where they provided nursing care to people in need.[40]
• 2006 — HOPE continues to provide aid to the people on the Gulf Coast who were hit by Hurricane Katrina. In the spring of 2006, they helped staff the U.S. Navy hospital ship, known as the Mercy, with volunteer physicians and nurses to South Asia.
• 2008 — Project HOPE's Chief Operations Officer, C. William Fox Jr., BG, USA (Ret.), was injured by an IED in Basra where the organization was assisting in building a new Children's Hospital.[41]
• 2010 — In response to the January earthquake in Haiti, Project HOPE helped to coordinate volunteer medical staffers to fill out the complement of the USNS Comfort.[42]
• 2020 — In response to the Beirut explosion, Project HOPE deployed an emergency response team to deliver necessary medical supplies and other needed support and aid.[43]
• 2020 — In response to COVID-19, Project HOPE and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at the Watson Institute of Brown University developed and released a self-paced eLearning for health care professionals, as well as a “Training-of-Trainers” model to provide the critical skills and knowledge necessary for health workers to respond rapidly and efficiently to COVID-19 in their workplaces and communities, while protecting their own health.
• 2022 — In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Project HOPE sent medical supplies to help Ukrainian refugees.[44]
• 2022 -- In response to COVID-19, Project HOPE improved access to COVID-19 vaccines through free and charitable clinics in the U.S. through a new program funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.[45]

In July 2022, the American musician Post Malone hosted an Apex Legends charity stream called "Gaming for Love" that raised over $58,000 for Project HOPE.[46][47][48] In October 2021, former Bachelorette contestant Ben Higgins joined Project HOPE's Board of Directors.[49]

In October 2020, the digital collectible cards company Phil Ropy created a card with American photographer Elliott Erwitt to raise awareness for Project HOPE’s COVID-19 response. The picture on the card shows a pair of medical rubber gloves as a reminder of how exposed health care workers are and as an allusion to Project HOPE's logo.[50] The proceeds from the sales of the card are redistributed to the organization.[51][52]

• Mercy Ships

• Project HOPE web page
• Project HOPE: Forty Years of American Medicine Abroad
• Parade Magazine article
• Charity Navigator Profile of Project HOPE