Georgetown Establishes Faith-Health Commission to Enhance Confidence in Healthcare Institutions
The Georgetown University Global Health Institute has launched a new project in collaboration with The Lancet, a renowned medical journal, to explore how partnerships between faith and health leaders can improve global health outcomes and overall well-being.
The partnership, known as The Georgetown-Lancet Commission on Faith, Trust, and Health, will connect international faith leaders from various traditions, health practitioners, researchers, academic leaders, and policymakers. The objective is to bridge the gap between these sectors and foster trust in health systems.
The commission, housed within the Global Health Institute, aims to advance dialogue and understanding between faith and health experts to address the decline in public trust in health systems and science that became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic and has persisted since.
Deus Bazira, director of the Global Health Institute and the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, and a co-chair of the commission, stated, "Faith actors can serve as powerful partners in health, especially in times of crisis and in underserved communities."
The project's goal was outlined in an article published in The Lancet following the commission's initial meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, in May. According to the article, mistrust in institutions, combined with the politicization of health, structural inequities, and the dissemination of misinformation, are weakening public confidence in health science and systems. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant trust gaps between health authorities and the communities they serve.
However, religious institutions and leaders are often in a unique position to influence health decisions and behaviors. They provide guidance, pastoral care, and emotional support to the communities they serve. Despite fluctuations in trust, over 80% of the world's population identifies with a religious group, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.
Faith groups already deliver care in underserved communities, though their work often runs parallel to other health efforts. By collaborating, they could amplify health efforts and bolster trust in health science.
The commission, co-chaired by Bazira alongside Dr. Kezevino Aram, co-moderator and executive committee member of Religions for Peace, and David Beasley, former executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme and the former governor of South Carolina, will draw on lessons from various global contexts. The commission's goal is to examine both the challenges and opportunities of faith-health collaborations, particularly in the development of new partnership models grounded in evidence, mutual respect, and community trust.
Georgetown faculty and staff will also participate in this commission, including John T. Monahan, professor of medicine and senior advisor to Georgetown's Global Health Institute; Katherine Marshall, professor of the practice and senior fellow at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; and Jack Leslie, adjunct distinguished professor at Georgetown and chairman of the National Institutes of Health's Board of Advisors. Carol Keehan, a former member of Georgetown University's board of directors, also serves as a commission member.
The Gates Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Templeton World Charities Foundation are financing the project.
- The Georgetown University Global Health Institute, in collaboration with The Lancet, has formed The Georgetown-Lancet Commission on Faith, Trust, and Health, a partnership that involves faculty members, academic leaders, health practitioners, researchers, faith leaders, and policymakers.
- This commission aims to research and advance dialogue between faith and health experts for the development of novel partnership models centered on evidence, mutual respect, and community trust, particularly in the arena of education and self-development, health-and-wellness, and mental-health.
- Through an organization like the Gates Foundation or the John Templeton Foundation, this project will fund facilitation and promotion of science-based research that contributes to the improvement of overall well-being within the university's faculty, as well as towards the enhancement of global health outcomes.
