Society for Medical Anthropology

A section of the American Anthropological Association

Academic Resources: Research Tools

  • Organizations: NGOs - Health, Human Rights, Regional and International

Health Related NGOs

Search the Agency Database of the Global Reproductive Health Forum
Search the Directory of Development Organizations
Search Measure DHS's Database of NGOs

health & human rights organizations
  • American Friends Service Committee - The American Friends Service Committee carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world. Founded by Quakers in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian war victims, AFSC's work attracts the support and partnership of people of many races, religions, and cultures.
  • Amnesty International - Amnesty International is dedicated to freeing prisoners of conscience, gaining fair trials for political prisoners, ending torture, political killings and "disappearances," and abolishing the death penalty throughout the world.
  • The Atlanta Alliance for Health and Human Rights - The goal of AAHHR is to improve health through the application of human rights principles and enhance the enjoyment of human rights through the promotion of health.
  • Center for Economic and Social Rights - CESR was established in 1993 to promote social justice through human rights. In a world where poverty and inequality deprive entire communities of dignity and even life itself, CESR promotes the universal right of every human being to housing, education, health and a healthy environment, food, work, and social security.
  • Center for Victims of Torture - CVT exists to heal the wounds of government-sponsored torture on individuals, their families, and communities and to stop its practice.
  • Doctors for Global Health - Doctors for Global Health (DGH) is a private, not-for-profit organization promoting health, education, art and other human rights throughout the world.
  • Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières - MSF delivers emergency aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics, and natural and man-made disasters, and to others who lack health care due to social or geographical isolation.
  • Family Health International - Formed in 1971, Family Health International (FHI) is among the largest and most established nonprofit organizations active in international public health with a mission to improve lives worldwide through research, education, and services in family health.
  • Food First - The Institute for Food and Development Policy better known as Food First--is a member-supported, nonprofit 'peoples' think tank and education-for-action center. Our work highlights root causes and value-based solutions to hunger and poverty around the world, with a commitment to establishing food as a fundamental human right.
  • The Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center of Health and Human Rights, Harvard University
    The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights is the first academic center to focus exclusively on health and human rights. The Center combines the academic strengths of research and teaching with a strong commitment to service and policy development.
  • Global Exchange (International partnerships for peace and economic equity)
    Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. Since our founding in 1988, we have increased the US public's global awareness while building partnerships worldwide.
  • Global Health Corps - The University of Northern Iowa established the Global Health Corps in 1996 as a field-based training program to enhance the professional preparation of post-secondary students in the area of cross-cultural community health.
  • Global Health Council - The Global Health Council is the world's largest membership alliance dedicated to saving lives by improving health throughout the world. Our diverse membership is comprised of health-care professionals and organizations that include NGOs, foundations, corporations, government agencies and academic institutions that work to ensure global health for all.
  • Global Lawyers and Physicians - Our mission is to work at the local, national, and international levels through collaboration and partnerships with individuals, NGOs, IGOs, and governments on issues such as the global implementation of the health-related provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, with a focus on health and human rights, patient rights, and human experimentation.
  • Global Rights - Global Rights is a human rights advocacy group that partners with local activists to challenge injustice and amplify new voices within the global discourse. With offices in countries around the world, we help local activists create just societies through proven strategies for effecting change.
  • Grassroots International - Grassroots International promotes global justice through partnerships with social change organizations. We work to advance political, economic and social rights and support development alternatives through grantmaking, education and advocacy.
  • Health and Human Rights Info - Health and Human Rights Info aims at making practical information and materials on health and human rights more easily accessible to health workers. The focus is on the psychological aspects of health and human rights. This website contains a database with links to selected materials.
  • Health Wrights - We believe that health for all people is only possible in a global society where the guiding principles are sharing, mutual assistance, and respect for cultural and individual differences.
  • Hesperian Foundation - The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care. Our first book, Where There Is No Doctor, is considered to be one of the most accessible and widely used community health books in the world.
  • Human Rights Internet - Founded in 1976, HRI is a leader in the exchange of information within the worldwide human rights community. Launched in the United States, HRI has its headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. From Ottawa, HRI communicates by phone, fax, mail and the Internet with more than 5,000 organizations and individuals around the world working for the advancement of human rights.
  • Human Rights Matrix -- organized by country/document/right
    The Human Rights Matrix lists the international human rights documents that are important to reproductive and maternal health, family planning, and HIV/AIDS. The Matrix permits you to access information about a POLICY country's human rights obligations.
  • Human Rights Watch - We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all.
  • International Medical Corps (IMC) - IMC is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, IMC rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.
  • International Society for Equity in Healthcare - The purpose for which ISEqH is formed is to promote equity in health and health services internationally through education, research, publication, communication and charitable support.
  • International Society for Health and Human Rights - Our aim is to gather knowledge about the effects of human rights violations on health, exchange experiences and information about treatment methods, medical and psychological care and contribute to the development of psychosocial interventions both on individual and community level.
  • International Student Association for Health and Human Rights - ISAHHR is an association of student organizations interested in health and human rights dedicated to promoting involvement in local, national, and international health and human rights issues. In conjunction with faculties, staffs, and related organizations and institutions, the association seeks to act on issues of social justice and to create awareness through education and praxis.
  • International Women's Health Coalition - IWHC works to generate health and population policies, programs, and funding that promote and protect the rights and health of girls and women worldwide, particularly in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and countries in postsocialist transition.
  • Latin America Working Group - The Latin America Working Group (LAWG) is a coalition of over sixty religious, human rights, policy, grassroots and development organizations. Since 1983, the coalition has been striving for U.S. policies that promote peace, justice and sustainable development in the region.
  • Madre (Health of women and children in Latin America)
    MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that works in partnership with women’s community-based groups in conflict areas worldwide. Our programs address issues of sustainable development, community improvement and women’s health; violence and war; discrimination and racism; self-determination and collective rights; women’s leadership development; and human rights education.
  • Medical Advocates for Social Justice - The mission of Medical Advocates for Social Justice is to advocate for and facilitate access to timely and appropriate healthcare for all who have or are at risk of life-threatening endemic and epidemic infectious disease and who are disenfranchised from such access because of poverty and/or discrimination.
  • Oxfam International - Oxfam America is dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice around the world. We work to eliminate the root causes of social and economic inequities by challenging the structural barriers that foster conflict and human suffering and limit people from gaining the skills, resources, and power to become self-sufficient.
  • Partners In Health - We run innovative programs combating AIDS and women's health problems in rural Haiti, groundbreaking tuberculosis treatment projects in the prisons of Siberia, and the shantytowns of urban Peru, training programs for community health workers in Chiapas, Mexico, community-based mental health outreach in highland Guatemala, and a novel violence-prevention curriculum in inner-city Boston, USA.
  • Physicians for Human Rights - Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) promotes health by protecting human rights. We believe that human rights are essential preconditions for the health and well-being of all people. Using medical and scientific methods, we investigate and expose violations of human rights worldwide and we work to stop them.
  • Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) - Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is a leading public policy organization with 24,000 members representing the medical and public health professions and concerned citizens, working together for nuclear disarmament, a healthful environment, and an end to the epidemic of gun violence.
  • UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOG) - The concern of the United Nations with the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms stems directly from the realization by the international community that "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world", and from the resultant pledge of States Members of the United Nations "to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms".
  • U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) - USCR defends the rights of all uprooted people regardless of their nationality, race, religion, ideology, or social group.
  • UNAIDS: HIV/AIDS and human rights - A selection of information related to HIV/AIDS and human rights, stigma and discrimination has been collected here. For a complete listing of related documents, go to Human rights, ethics and law.
  • Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - WILPF believes that to achieve freedom and justice in our own country and peaceful relations with other countries we must build a non-exploitative society.
regional organizations
international organizations