I’m pleased to announce I’ve joined the medical advisory board of Clinics IV Life, an important charity that is helping to bring access to healthcare to those without it.

In a world filled with wonderous technologies and immense wealth, there is perhaps no greater indictment of our modern society than the plight of the poor. Healthcare is particularly notable in its failures, both in first world and developing nations, to address the imbalances poverty produces.

In a modern developed country like America, millions struggle to access even basic care. Add to this the still persistent bias in healthcare towards women and you begin to understand why our societies are plagued with the horrific statistics shown above. One thing has become abundantly clear over the past decade. The commercialized heart of healthcare beats cold to the needs of the disadvantaged.

Too long have we, as individuals within the healthcare sphere, stood by idly and accepted the injustices visited on the poor. We pontificate on health, we blog, we broadcast hour upon hour of sanctimonious indignation and we criticize, all to what end? None of these paths affect any level of meaningful change. They never will.

It was this realization that drove the creation of Clinics IV Life. Rather than sit by idly and wait, we have chosen to forge ahead on our own, and while our solutions will only make a difference to a few lives in this global tragedy, those lives matter. It is our sincere hope that our efforts, and those of others, will spur on the many, and that cumulatively, small victories will turn the tide of the war.

Finally, we bear a responsibility to our fellow man and woman and to ourselves to eradicate the imbalances in healthcare. We have the technology, the medicines, the budgets and the mechanisms to deliver this care. What is now required is action, tangible efforts and solutions that offer immediate relief, even to the few. There is no price that can be placed on the value of one human life.

You can read more on this from our founder, Robert Turner, who shares his thoughts on the healthcare system and how we need to address the inadequacies that lead to poor levels of care.