Bridging the Gap

How Muslim Community-Based Health Organizations are bridging the Health
Care Gap in America

Summary

Muslim community-based health organizations (MCBHOs) have a history that spans
at least two decades in the United States. In 2007, the American Muslim Health
Professionals (AMHP) and the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding
(ISPU) published this report and the key findings are as follows:

• The early Muslim community-based health organizations were initially started
  by American Muslims to serve particular ethnic and immigrant communities,
  e.g. NISWA (formed in 1990 in Los Angeles addressing domestic violence)
• MCBHOs provide a critical, cost-savings safety net.
• Nearly every MCBHO received grants from city, county, state or federal
  government sources and relied on non-Muslim charitable foundations in
  addition to donations from local or national Muslim organizations.
• Clinic models: UMMA, IMAN Health Clinic, HUDA, Ibn Sina, Shifa Clinic
  Houston and Shifa Clinic, San Bernardino offer either free or considerably
  reduced-cost health care for the needy, targeting particularly those who
  cannot afford health insurance.
• Network model: represented by CCN and, to a lesser extent, NISWA, which
  aims to connect clients with service providers at low or no cost but does not
  include the creation of a separate clinical facility.
• Despite the disclaimers about how the services provided were not different
  from those of other professional health care organizations, many providers
  described how the voluntary nature of their service was shaped by their
  Islamic moral value.
• The most successful organizations have networked effectively with other free
  clinics, local political officials and academic institutions, and other communityand
  faith-based organizations in order to develop effective business plans.
• Recruiting and retaining volunteer physicians has been the single most
  consistent challenge among the organizations.

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