Illustration of the multilevel
whole person health framework.
NCCIH
Whole Person Health (WPH)
at the GHC and the Religion and Global Health Forum (RGHF)
Catalyzing collaborations with Religious Organizations, Academic Institutions, Healthcare Providers, and Communities to advance global health and development
Whole Person Health
“Treat Diseases, Heal Persons”
What is Whole Person Health (WPH)?
WPH is an interdisciplinary commitment and approach to health that sees, engages, and treats persons with dignity that recognizes and celebrates their whole selves. Whole Person Health sees people first as humans, not as patients; and focuses not just on disease treatment but also on prevention and flourishing. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), “Whole person health involves looking at the whole person—not just separate organs or body systems—and considering multiple factors that promote either health or disease. It means helping and empowering individuals, families, communities, and populations to improve their health in multiple interconnected biological, behavioral, social, and environmental areas. Instead of just treating a specific disease, whole person health focuses on restoring health, promoting resilience, and preventing diseases across a lifespan.”
The GHC summits bring together key leaders from religious organizations, academic/health, and development organizations to share knowledge, and develop collaborations and strategies to work together including with policy makers, industry and other stake holders to advance global health and development. This has resulted in collaborative initiatives and outcomes including C4 Healthcare Kiosks and a "Whole Person Health" focus of global health.
Join us for the HOPE+ Summit
@ Harvard/MIT & Online
September 19–21, 2025
Global Health at the very best level with world leaders, faculty, students, leaders from industry, health care institutions, faith/community-based organizations, professional societies, government leaders, cancer advocates, athletes, survivors, artists, across disciplines all coming together to learn, network and collaborate for global health and development.
Co-organized/Hosted By:
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Harvard Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention
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Center for Global Health Equity at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
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MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
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The Religion and Global Health Forum at Garrett
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University of Massachusetts Lowell Medical Physics Program.
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Johns Hopkins CaREER program
No events at the moment
Collaboration
The GHC Summits help catalyze collaborations in 4 CORE (Care, Outreach/Advocacy, Research, Education) areas, where any or everyone can collaborate. The CORE areas include the following
Why WPH?
Major advances in modern scientific medicine, including the eradication of some diseases, have provided opportunities to address disease prevention, the challenges of global and public health – the health of populations, not just individuals – and the quality of health and life experiences for people undergoing treatment. These challenges and opportunities escape the capacities and resources of any singular discipline. Not only do chronic diseases remain unsolved, but the wider experiences of human suffering, aging, life expectancy, and death continue to raise questions about the meaning of life and the need for all-of-life-care. Environmental crises and cultural traumas continue to produce distress and marginalization that has lasting effects on the health of individuals, communities, and the earth. Furthermore, historically marginalized and underserved communities suffer from illnesses and internalized traumas that require medical, spiritual, and cultural analyses to diagnose and address. Feelings of shame and stigma, rejection, abandonment are part of health-related social experiences that produce or enhance dis-ease. Whole Person Health offers an intentional approach to these challenges, to foster the flourishing of humans and the environment. Whole Person Health invites careful, ethical, rigorous, and empathetic engagement with the care, the research, the advocacy, and the education necessary to foster dignified living and flourishing.
Organizing Chairs
Leaders and organizing chairs at GHC summits include the following:
Acton TV
Conversation with the 2024 chairs
Religion, Health and Development
organized in collaboration with Mission 21
and the Religion and Global Health Forum
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Health and Religion
Whether reading a top medical journal (e.g., the Lancet), talking with a primary health care doctor about medical procedures, sitting with a mentor or counselor after a medical diagnosis, discussing the construction of health clinics in rural communities, or watching news coverage on global pandemics, the topic of religion and faith emerges – and not as a side note. Historical and contemporary analyses of the development of health systems and practices show that local and global Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) have played a major role in health education, building healthcare systems, organizing community health clinics, and working with non-religious partners to forge sustainable health initiatives. Sometimes, in low-resource settings, FBOs have been the only providers of healthcare to citizens. Indeed, religious organizations and FBOs continue to be vital stakeholders in grassroots development initiatives in private and public spheres of personal and national life in the majority world in general, and in the provision of health care in particular
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Anticipated Outcomes
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Collaborative partnerships leveraging technology for health care, research, education and development
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Ethical Guidelines and Best Practices
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Funding and resource mobilization
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... and Development
In 2015, the World Bank sponsored an initiative, including a panel discussion, on: “The Power of Faith to Help End Extreme Poverty” (see here). Part of the World Bank’s goal and vision was to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. Currently, many countries are not on track to meet the health and economic targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. In September of 2023, USAID released its first-ever religious engagement policy, affirming the important role of religious communities and faith-based organizations as strategic development partners. Furthermore, faith guides the lives of individuals and communities worldwide, with 84% of the world's population identifying with a religious group. Furthermore, religion influences how people perceive and respond to health issues, or take up new health interventions, especially in times of crisis, as we learned during COVID-19. As global travel communication, and migrations continue to diversify local communities worldwide, religion and spirituality play a significant role in shaping the values, beliefs, ecosystems, and behaviors of billions of people around the world. Studies in the field of integrative medicine recognize how religion and spirituality interface with socio-historical, biological, psychological, economic, and ecological domains that are often the subject of health-related research and policy development (see here).
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Participants
Leaders from
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MISSION 21
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World Health Organization
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Government
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Global Health organizations
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Industry Leaders
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USA National Institutes of Health
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USAID
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United Nations
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Religious Organizations