Andean Health & Development addresses the desperate lack of sustainable, modern medical care in rural Ecuador. Amidst rampant need, our services and specialized care save lives and build communities.
A New Healthcare Model
How AHD Builds A Healthy & Sustainable Future
Our unique model relies on Ecuadorian personnel and in-country financing
Health Care Services
Accessible, High Quality Care
Quality care, from everyday checkups to specialized surgery and neonatal care, once meant long journeys for rural families. We changed that. Our hospitals work alongside Ecuador’s health system to deliver more care, to more people, right where they live.
Financial Self-Sustainability
Health Care that Can Survive Long Term
We build and operate hospitals at a fraction of U.S. costs, purposely built to be financially sustainable. Partnerships with Ecuador’s government health system cover nearly 80% of our operating costs, a level of local self-sufficiency almost unheard of in global health.
Training Health Care Professionals
Building Local Health Care Capacity
We train Ecuadorian doctors through a three-year family medicine residency program. This unique initiative addresses the severe shortage of trained medical professionals in the countryside.
Research & Policy
Putting Experience to Work
The Andean Health Institute publishes a scientific journal (Rural Family Practice) of our research and experience, incorporating other experts and thought pieces on policy issues. They also create and distribute medical manuals on issues relevant to rural communities across the Global South, from mosquito-borne illness and antimicrobial resistance to mental health.
Impact
Changing Ecuador’s Healthcare Landscape
Together with our donors, we have brought meaningful change to Ecuador’s healthcare landscape, improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents.
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Your Gift
Changes Lives
This isn’t aid that disappears into overhead.
Your gift expands a model that works: hospitals built to sustain themselves, doctors devoted to their communities, and care that keeps improving. U.S. donations fund equipment, operations, training, and care for the poorest patients, bridging the gap until each hospital stands on its own.
You’re not funding dependency. You’re funding a self-sustaining rural health model.
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Andean Health & Development
PO Box 7158
Carol Stream, IL 60197-7158 - Explore legacy and major gifts
Our Reach Extends Well Beyond Ecuador
15+
institutional and academic partners — from the Pan American Health Organization and Ecuador’s Ministry of Health to the University of Wisconsin and the University of Notre Dame — power our model.
Collaborating for Greater Impact
Our hospitals are rooted in rural Ecuador, but the model travels. Our government financing structure is replicable, and we’re actively sharing it. Our rural medical manual is used by doctors across Latin America. And our partnerships with global health organizations and universities help shape the policies that improve how the Global South gets care.
Global Health Partners
Ecuador Ministry of Health
PanAmerican Health Organization (PAHO)
World Health Organization (WHO)
G4 Alliance, Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetrics, Trauma and Anesthesia Care
Cotopaxi is largely Indigenous, deeply rural, and home to just 19 adult ICU beds for the entire province. We’re changing that. Our new 42-bed teaching hospital in Pujili will expand training beyond family medicine to nurses, lab technicians, and hospital administrators: the full workforce rural healthcare requires.
Every hospital we build makes the next one easier to replicate, in Ecuador and across the Global South. Our goal: $11 million over three years to build it, open it, and sustain the care already underway.
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The Story Behind AHD: Long Road from Quito
Tony Hiss, a staff writer at The New Yorker for more than thirty years and author of fifteen books, tells the story of how Dr. David Gaus and Fr. Ted Hesburgh built a sustainable rural health model from nothing in rural Ecuador.
2026 Andean Health Cycling
Event – Registration closed
Since 2012, our riders from the Andean Health Cycling Team have covered tens of thousands of miles across fifteen states and provinces, all while raising more than $5 million for rural healthcare in Ecuador. Every dollar donated goes directly to AHD. No overhead, no exceptions. Each ride is a multi-day route built around scenery, camaraderie, and purpose. You don’t have to be a racer, but we all ride for a reason.