As MHI seeks to move care forward, we face new challenges - how to harness rapidly evolving internet technologies, how to stay relevant with the changing dynamics of missions, how to expand our reach without diverging from our founding premise. Ken Gamble, MD
President, Missionary Health Institute
Since 1930 our essence has been intentional care for missionaries. The work is not limited to a medical examination, a travel consultation, or a counselling session. Missionary Health Institute's expert psychologists, travel medicine specialists, and family doctors provide integrated care. We are an evidence based, multidisciplinary organization – unique in North America. Our strategy: to instil self-care essentials, empowering missionaries and their families.
In the 19th century, an absence of missionary healthcare prompted the pragmatic to pack their belongings in coffins. The malaria and other tropical diseases that made Africa "white man's grave" for mission pioneers are still lethal threats.
Medical capabilities have burgeoned since David Livingston. But even the best medicines cannot remedy the stresses of leaving your country and your people, thrust into foreign world. Cross-cultural endeavours call for a continuity of care – for the whole being of a missionary. And for over 75 years, Missionary Health Institute has been providing missionaries with the individualized medical & psychosocial support they need to flourish.
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MHI begins serving the medical needs of Canadian missionaries in remote regions. Founders Alice Jeffries and Louise Kirby, RN, develop a curriculum to facilitate self-care in primitive conditions.
MHI's work expands. North York-based Bethesda Hospital treats missionaries suffering from tropical diseases and other disorders. The training program expands to provide certified instruction for nurses working abroad.
The charter of Bethseda Hospital is assumed by North York General Hospital. MHI focuses on missionary care and research into expatriate health.
MHI launches MANGO, an online service giving missionaries access to medical records from around the world.
MHI moves into its new HQ at 220 Duncan Mill Rd. The site is intentionally renovated to meet therapeutic needs of returning missionaries, conduct professional development seminars with sending organizations, and research missionary care.
MHI celebrates its 80th anniversary. Take a look back on our history by watching 
80 Years of MHI
The Stories Behind MHI's Work