Our Approach
GMA is working with the International Headache Society, Duke Global Health Institute, and other organizations to perform the following:
Education:
Local healthcare providers with little or no formal education about migraine diagnosis or treatment are the front-line resource for those who suffer migraines in LMIC countries. Our only chance to help them help those who suffer is through mentorship, education, and training appropriate to their backgrounds and the communities they serve.
Awareness:
We work with local organizations to distribute the knowledge that hope and treatments are available. Through channel partners such as local churches, schools, and clinics, our message is being delivered through sermons, posters, and flyers. Once a migraineur knows there are potential options, they become their own change agent.
Medication:
Only with effective access to proper migraine medications can this initiative make a difference. Providing migraine medication to LMICs will initially focus on philanthropic support aimed at providing free-of-charge sumatriptan, the only migraine drug currently included in the essential medications list of the World Health Organization. We are already working with local manufacturers and/or non-governmental organizations to negotiate the lowest possible price of delivering sumatriptan that meets strict quality standards. The greater the education, awareness and treatment success, the costs per patient can continue to come down based on volume economics - while still allowing margins for generics, distributors, and pharmacies that are still affordable on dollars a day income levels.
Advocacy:
We work with communities to provide comprehensive solutions that focus on those with the most addressable pain. We partner with government champions who desire the implementation data to prove cost-benefit analyses, making our findings published and public as we work with our local partners, Duke Global Health Institute, and the International Headache Society, to improve our solutions as we move forward. We promote local infrastructure that then carries forward the ongoing tasks without the need for ongoing donations per established country.
Kenya:
GMA began its Kenyan kickoff workshops in November of 2025. During 2026 it has expanded its mentorship, education and training programs, and is planning a pilot project which will expand to include the generic migraine medication sumatriptan in Q1 2027.
In Kenya, our education and training programs help clinical officers and nurses diagnose and treat migraine headache correctly, using sumatriptan and other non-migraine-specific medications available to them. Through our partnership with the International Headache Society and the Catholic Health Department of Kenya (Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops and Community Health Impact Coalition), we have begun to reach clinical officers and nurses in all counties of Kenya and deliver CME-approved education.
Kenyan healthcare success begins with the front-line Community Health Promoters (CHPs), who are trained local community members who act as a vital bridge between neighborhood households and formal health facilities
The Philippines:
GMA is on target to start its mentorship, education, and training programs in early 2027.
In the Philippines, we will increase access to headache care by supporting midwives, pharmacists, and community health workers with a training program tailored to their educational background, the amount of time they spend with patients who seek help with headache, and the attitude of the people in the community they serve toward medications. Collaborating with a dedicated group of Philippine headache specialists, we aim to reach healthcare providers throughout the country.  We have completed a six-month certification course in conjunction with the International Headache Society and two Filipino local partners, Philippine Neurological Association and Philippine Headache Society.
Mexico:
GMA is on target to start its mentorship, education, and training programs in Q1 2027, through its partnerships with Fundación Best and Farmacias Similares.
Given Mexico's advanced low-cost pharmacy infrastructure, we have partnered with a national chain who are going to be utilizing our doctor/pharmacist-oriented digital training materials - which the International Headache Society is working on Spanish versions of that are nearing completion.
