Earth Mission

Our mission is to train healthcare teams to empower people in remote Karen areas (of Myanmar) with health, hope and knowledge. Our vision is to see all people in remote Karen areas have access to high-quality healthcare. As a reflection of our Christian beliefs, we are committed to meeting the physical needs of people. We do this by providing culturally-sensitive, efficient and sustainable solutions to problems that require technical or medical skills and by mobilizing prayer and financial support.Earth Mission's goals are to: 1) IMPROVE HEALTHCARE outcomes through medical and engineering training programs. By 2030, we seek to improve maternal and under-five child mortality rates of remote Karen communities by 72% and 64% respectively (less than 200 per 100,000 deaths and children under 5 mortality rate to less than 50 per 1000 deaths).2) CREATE SUSTAINABILITY for long-term success by recruiting local Karen students and utilizing Karen professionals for our program. We aim to graduate 75 Physician Associate students by 2030. Through our Engineering Technology program, we plan to equip 20 Karen students to provide technical support for healthcare facilities in remote areas.3) MULTIPLY ACCESS through healthcare infrastructure and advanced medicine. We aim to make high-quality healthcare available within 2 hours of every remote Karen community and to provide patient care to over 150,000 Karen people.Many Karen in the remote areas struggle to scratch out a living as farmers. Little is left over for education or healthcare. Basic health indexes in these areas are considerably worse than the rest of the country. Much of that burden is due to treatable diseases. The number of trained healthcare personnel in the area, however, is significantly below WHO recommended numbers. Accordingly, Earth Mission operates a 5-year training program for Physician Associate (PA) students and a 2-year graduate PA surgical program. With over 4,000 hours of instruction and clinical experience, PAs are trained in the most-needed medical and surgical specialties to provide life-saving healthcare in these remote areas. Each graduate is awarded a Bachelor of Science degree by the Karen Education and Culture Department. After graduation, students commit to working for a minimum of 5 years serving their local communities. Excellent healthcare infrastructure requires modern medical equipment, consistent electricity, buildings, maintenance and complex supply logistics. In a resource-limited environment, sustainability from the start is critical. Earth Mission's 3-year Engineering Technology program trains students to provide technical support in remote healthcare setting through training in advanced mathematics, electricity, equipment repair, construction, and project management to sustain high-quality healthcare infrastructure in the remote jungles of southeast Myanmar. As a result, our clinics can consistently offer high-quality training to Physician Associate students and life-saving healthcare to over 1,000 patients every month. With only 32% of WHO's recommended ratio of medical doctors per population, the Karen people are in crisis. We're partnering with the Karen Department of Health & Welfare to change that. By serving patients at our jungle hospital and teaching campus, plus producing qualified medical professionals to staff, teach, and lead KDHW's remote clinics, we aim to make high-quality healthcare available within 2 hours of every remote Karen community. Each year, our Teaching Hospital provides 12,420 patients on average with essential medical and surgical services like emergency trauma care, pharmacy, lab, imaging, and ambulatory services that may otherwise be hours to days away. As the only C-section provider in the region, the lives of many Karen mothers and infants are being saved. Here, Physician Associate students are trained to treat common jungle diseases they will encounter in their remote communities post graduation.