The Global Health Campaign Medal (GHCM) and its complement, the Global Health Initiatives Service Medal (GHISM), were established to recognize the contributions of members of the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service in missions that the Surgeon General has classified as part of a Global Health Initiative. One of the first of these, the President’s Emergency Plan for AID Relief, was launched in 2003.
The GHCM is somewhat unique in that there is no length-of-service requirement for the award. Any Corps officer who serves in a temporary or permanent foreign-duty assignment outside the United States in a Global Health Initiative automatically qualifies for the award. “United States” is defined per Title 42 of the United States Code and includes Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Island, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and all the areas that once comprised the Trust Territories of the Pacific.
Officers who have qualified for the GHCM are not eligible for either the Foreign Duty Award or the Special Assignment Award, both of which carried length-of-service requirements. They also cannot qualify for the GHISM, and can receive only one GHCM for each Global Health Initiative in which they participate.
Several of the Global Health Initiatives officially recognized by the Surgeon General, such as the Pacific Partnership and Continuing Promise, are missions conducted on an ongoing annual basis.