The New York City couple had already been named one of the largest private supporters of Christian medical missionaries in Africa because they had donated millions over the years to help traveling doctors provide healthcare to impoverished African communities. 

Mark Gerson said he and his wife, who identify as traditional practicing Jews and attend the congregation of Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan, have chosen to donate more money to the cause because the lack of access to medical care for most people in Africa is “one of the most significant humanitarian problems in the world.”

He said that his family’s $18 million donation comes from their personal savings and not funds from the organization he co-founded, African Mission Healthcare. 

“The best investment that one can make, whether in a business context or nonprofit context, is by supporting Christian missionary doctors working in Africa,” Gerson, an investor and co-founder of the international consulting firm Gerson Lehrman Group, told The Christian Post. 

In 2010, Mark Gerson, alongside Dr. Jon Fielder, founded African Mission Healthcare — a nonprofit that partners with mission hospitals to accomplish the goal of “supporting and advancing the commitment to provide quality, compassionate care for the hurting and forgotten and to contribute to an improving health system in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Through the various initiatives and work done through the organization, Gerson said he learned that the ratio of doctors to citizens is not large enough to meet the healthcare needs in many African countries.

Source: christianpost.com