The United Nations (UN) creates formal global recognition of a category of organizations that are both independent of the state and not intended to generate profit. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), like nonprofit organizations in the U.S., become the primary vehicles for the global health initiatives that emerge.

While technically neutral in their creation, NGOs often represent the cultural and economic approach of their home countries which, most often, means a "developed" or Westernized country. This can include structures that, while focusing on human rights strategies, do not address racism and white supremacy within the NGO. This often enables a kind of white or Western culture of "saviorism" that influences the NGO's work.