Mercy Ships is an international development organisation that deploys hospital ships and volunteers to developing nations – improving the quality of life for people living with the diseases of poverty, disfigurement, and disability, through direct medical services, in-country projects, and building the capacities of healthcare systems to meet the needs of the future. Mercy Ships has run highly successful projects with a similar operational model in over 70 countries and has provided more than US$1.53 billion in developmental health services treating more than 2.86 million direct beneficiaries and over 108,000 free surgical procedures. Globally, an estimated 5 billion people do not have access to safe, affordable surgical and anaesthesia care when needed. This situation is exacerbated in low-income countries where 90% of these populations lack access to basic health care too. As a result, up to 18.6million people die each year and every day, children, and adults in some of the poorest communities die from causes that can easily be treated in hospitals in nations like Australia. 1 in 8 children will die before they have the chance to go to school. Every man, woman and child deserves access to surgical and health care solutions. However, in some parts of the world, people are going without access to basic health care. The challenge is enormous but every day we are making a difference by supporting the world’s forgotten poor by providing life-changing surgeries to those who need it most in collaboration with local and national governments. Much of Mercy Ships success has been due to the organisation's ability to work collaboratively and developmentally within a country's political infrastructure, partnering with the W.H.O and U.N, in addition to the innovative hospital ship model. The ships are crewed by volunteers from over 50 nations, with an average of over 2,000 volunteers each year including surgeons, dentists, nurses, healthcare trainers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers, and agriculturalists all donating their time and skills. Mercy Ships has demonstrated surgery’s ability to avert disability and premature death, halt pain, and correct a wide range of complex disabling conditions. Equally, strengthening a nation’s surgical and health care capacity through training and advocacy that improves its health services offering hope to citizens and helping governments to be better prepared for future disasters, epidemics/pandemics, and growth.