World's largest medical missions conference opens in US

The world's largest medical missions conference opened Thursday, welcoming an estimated 3,000 people interested in ministering through medicine.

Christians from throughout the world converged in Louisville, Ky., for the 12th Global Missions Health Conference to network, train and strategise on how to better carry out the Great Commission and recruit the next generation of healthcare missionaries.

"Considering that 40 percent of hospital beds in Africa are located in mission facilities, there is a tremendous need for medical missionaries to provide care in that HIV and war ravaged continent," said Dr. David Stevens, CEO of Christian Medical & Dental Associations.

"This conference provides direction and preparation for those who are just beginning this journey and for missionary veterans who are interested in enhancing their ministry."

GMHC was founded in 1996 by Dr. Dageforde - a interventionist cardiologist from Louisville, Ky. - after his experience during a short-term mission trip to Ethiopia in 1994.

Dageforde personally witnessed the serious shortage of medical professionals to address all the physical needs in the world. As a result, Dageforde started GMHC to help other healthcare professionals and students use their medical skills to further God's Kingdom.

"The challenges medical missionaries face are tremendous from providing preventative and curative care to meeting the physical, spiritual and social needs while finding resources, developing partnerships and overcoming barriers," Stevens said. "The Global Missions Health Conference provides solutions for missionaries working in challenging environments."

The first GMHC had about 200 attendees and has now grown to over 2,000 people a year, features nearly 150 exhibitors from around the world, and is co-sponsored by nine ministries and 70 workshops.

Featured speakers for this year's conference, which ends Saturday, include Stevens, who served on the mission field for 11 years at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya, Africa; Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint, who was killed in 1956 when an Amazon tribe attacked him along with four other missionaries; Eli Catacunga, a Ticuna tribesman from the Amazon; and Dr. Peter Okaalet, senior Africa director of MAP International.