page_title: Project HOPE
hierarchical_section_title: Project HOPE
caption_attribution_description: English: Project HOPE member Julie Whitis gives a Salvadoran boy a fluoride treatment at the Canton la Sunza school during Operation Continuing Promise 2008 community relations project, May 26, 2008. Whitis is deployed on the USS Boxer.
context_page_description: Project HOPE is an international health care organization founded in the United States in 1958; a humanitarian NGO, its founding and early years received strong support from private sector businesses and the U.S. government.
  Industries, such as the Ex-Cell-O Corporation, used highly-publicized giving to Hope to promote their image and win business in America and also overseas. American government actors and agencies, from Eisenhower to Kennedy to USAID, saw Hope as an ideological Cold War weapon to fight communism, place America on the international stage, and garner public approval.
  Its most visible project was the SS HOPE, the first peacetime hospital ship. The SS HOPE was retired in 1974, after sailing to Indonesia, South Vietnam, Peru, Ecuador, Guinea, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ceylon, Tunisia, Jamaica, and Brazil. On these voyages doctors, nurses, and technical staff provided medical care and training to people in each country visited. In its early years, there was muddling of humanitarianism with other agendas, e.g. business interests and fighting the Cold War.
context_section_description: Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is an international health care organization founded in the United States in 1958; a humanitarian NGO, its founding and early years received strong support from private sector businesses and the U.S. government.
  Industries, such as the Ex-Cell-O Corporation, used highly-publicized giving to Hope to promote their image and win business in America and also overseas. American government actors and agencies, from  Eisenhower to Kennedy to USAID, saw Hope as an ideological Cold War weapon to fight communism, place America on the international stage, and garner public approval.
    Its most visible project was the SS HOPE, the first peacetime hospital ship (converted from the USS Consolation (AH-15)).  The SS HOPE was retired in 1974, after sailing to Indonesia, South Vietnam, Peru, Ecuador, Guinea, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Tunisia, Jamaica, and Brazil.  On these voyages doctors, nurses, and technical staff provided medical care and training to people in each country visited. In its early years, there was muddling of humanitarianism with other agendas, e.g. business interests and fighting the Cold War. Although not necessarily directed by the CIA, multiple sources report that Project HOPE had been used as a CIA front organization. Charges of "shocking" American commercialism being exploited abroad by Project HOPE's administration were also levied. Project HOPE has been criticized for these conflicts of interest and noted to be "a cautionary tale for development organizations seeking mass appeal now."
  The SS HOPE was not replaced, and emphasis switched entirely to land-based operations. Today there are organizations in Germany and the United Kingdom, in addition to the original organization in the United States. 
  Project HOPE helps different developing countries in efforts to eradicate infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. They also help educate parents on how to prevent and treat diseases for their children and themselves, and also train health professionals. 
  Project HOPE also sets up village health banks, which give small loans to women so they can improve their health and family's health. The village health banks also educate women on health.
  Project HOPE is headquartered at Carter Hall in Millwood, Virginia.
caption: Project HOPE member gives a Salvadoran boy a fluoride treatment at the Canton la Sunza school, 2008
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