Medical and Healthcare Volunteer Programs in Africa

Are you looking for a medical volunteering abroad? Have a look at our healthcare volunteer projects in Africa! They offer you the chance to provide vital support to under-resourced and understaffed clinics in rural settings in South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia. As a medical volunteer, you’ll be welcomed into an African community that has limited access to healthcare, and you’ll contribute to a better quality of life. Depending on your skills and experience, you might work in a hospital, a clinic, or you might provide home based care. Our medical volunteer projects also provide the opportunity to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS and other health related issues.

Highlights of our healthcare volunteer projects in Africa:

  • Provide much needed medical support and assistance to nurses and doctors at under-resourced facilities
  • Raise awareness on health issues in welcoming African communities
  • Gain practical experience in the medical field in the most rewarding kind of way
  • Work alongside medical professionals and volunteers from around the world
  • Spend time in a beautiful setting in Kenya, Zambia, or South Africa, and enjoy plenty of travel opportunities

Healthcare Volunteer Projects Gallery

African Impact's Top Rated Medical and Healthcare Projects in Africa

Medical & Community Development in Livingstone, Zambia

$1495 – $4695
Whether you’re a pre-med student, qualified professional or someone interested in healthcare, join the African Impact team on this meaningful volunteer program in the heart of Zambia, a community where medical resources are scarce and access to healthcare is limited.

Livingstone, Zambia

Every Monday

Impact: Healthcare

Hospital & Clinic Support in Kenya

$1695 – $4695
This medical volunteer program supports the healthcare system in Limuru, a tea town in Kenya where the community struggles with inadequate infrastructure, overcrowding, and limited resources. Volunteers help staff at local facilities by offering medical support and assistance.

Limuru, Kenya

Every Monday

Impact: Healthcare

Frequently asked questions about our Medical and Healthcare Projects in Africa

Are you a medical student, nurse or health care professional looking to develop practical knowledge in global health? Joining an African Impact medical volunteer program is an incredible way to gain hands-on health care experience while making life-changing impacts on local communities!

Why Africa?

Health-care in Africa, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa, is struggling.

A wide range of determinants affects the state of healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa. Poor infrastructure and underfunding in health systems have resulted in many hospitals not being equipped to provide proper care to their patients. Further, qualified health care professionals are severely understaffed, making delivering care services to a wide range of patients in a hospital setting challenging.

As a result of struggling health care systems, it’s common for people in Sub-Saharan Africa – at no fault of the incredible health care workers who work in these regions – to not receive the care they desperately need. Rural communities are significantly disadvantaged, where limited hospitals make securing medical attention even more difficult.

Making an Impact

As a medical volunteer, you’ll be providing critical support to the incredible doctors and nurses who work in health care settings in Sub-Saharan Africa. With your help, health care workers can reach more patients and increase the number of people who access health care in a community. With hospital volunteer opportunities ranging from working in clinics to providing home-based care, this is a powerful and rewarding way to transform lives in a local community.

Program Fees

Our medical volunteer programs start at £895 and increase depending upon which project you join and how long you join us. This cost covers your accommodation, meals, 24/7 African Impact in-country support, project and airport transportation, project orientation, and any equipment you may need.

African Impact Sustainability Fund

As a commitment to sustainable development in the communities we work in, all volunteers pay an additional £20 to the African Impact Sustainability Fund. This money goes directly to the African Impact Foundation, which independently ensures the sustainability of our projects in local communities and guarantees impacts continue long after volunteers leave. 

Necessary Experience and Education

Volunteers do require some previous medical education or experience to join one of our medical volunteer programs. With this considered, we place each volunteer in a health care setting that perfectly suits their education, previous experience, interests, and the local community’s needs. We’ve welcomed everyone from nursing students, recently graduated doctors to experienced healthcare professionals in the past. If you have any questions about qualifications, please contact us!

Criminal Background Check

All volunteers must complete a background check before arriving at one of our programs. This requirement is firm, as outlined in our stance on Responsible Volunteering and our Child Protection Policy. Our Child Protection Policy outlines how we aim to protect children’s privacy and welfare during our projects.

On-Site Training

Once our volunteers arrive on-site, they’ll undergo an intensive volunteer orientation, preparing them for their hospital placement duties. Here, we will run through all the essential information you’ll need to know about your program, our volunteer policies and answer any additional questions you may have. Additionally, during this orientation, we also talk through exciting details about your project, including community culture, extra activities to participate in, and all the places you can explore between volunteer work!

Our Africa medical volunteer programs have three main focuses. During your volunteer program, you’ll experience a unique blend of these three elements, depending upon the community and hospital need.

Hospital and Clinical Support

As a hospital volunteer, your primary focus will be providing vital support to health care providers in rural African medical facilities. Struggling with limited staff and resources, your work in these clinics will be integral to extending the reach in which the hospitals can provide care. Here, you’ll gain valuable patient care experience for a variety of departments. In the past, our patient care volunteers have assisted in hospital departments such as outpatient assistance, HIV and TB services, and maternal health. However, there are always unique opportunities for volunteers to explore disciplines of interest!

Home-Based Care

Rural communities in Africa are often significantly disadvantaged when it comes to accessing medical services. During your medical volunteer program, you’ll work with healthcare professionals to provide home-based care to locals who cannot otherwise receive health care. Here, you’ll implement necessary treatments, personal check-ins, medical advice, and if needed, refer them to services in hospitals for additional care. This incredibly gratifying experience can be life-changing for both volunteers and their patients!

Community Health Education

One of the most sustainable ways to promote good health in a community is through health education. Additional to hands-on medical placements, volunteers regularly engage in community health education campaigns. Teaching about health issues relevant to the community, such as living positively with HIV, these workshops facilitate open discussion among locals to support each other in the illnesses they may be facing. Through these workshops, we aim to empower local communities and discover sustainable solutions to local health issues.

Absolutely!

As an African-based company, we live and breathe incredible African volunteer travel experiences. We take our medical  volunteers’ security seriously and carefully design our programs to ensure volunteers are secure and comfortable throughout their stay.

Learn more about our safety protocols. If you have any additional questions, we would be glad to answer them! You can contact us with any further questions that you may have.

All African Impact Healthcare Volunteer Projects

Medical & Community Development in Livingstone, Zambia

$1495 – $4695
Whether you’re a pre-med student, qualified professional or someone interested in healthcare, join the African Impact team on this meaningful volunteer program in the heart of Zambia, a community where medical resources are scarce and access to healthcare is limited.

Livingstone, Zambia

Every Monday

Impact: Healthcare

Hospital & Clinic Support in Kenya

$1695 – $4695
This medical volunteer program supports the healthcare system in Limuru, a tea town in Kenya where the community struggles with inadequate infrastructure, overcrowding, and limited resources. Volunteers help staff at local facilities by offering medical support and assistance.

Limuru, Kenya

Every Monday

Impact: Healthcare

Volunteer Reviews of our Medical and Healthcare Volunteer Projects

"Great, would recommend again. there are great staff, very friendly. they really immerse you into the culture and provide a great Zambian experience. There are many activities to choose from and you really feel like you are making a difference in the lives of those here.”

Alaiyah, United States

Medical & Community Development - Zambia

 
“Volunteering with African Impact frequently pushes you outside of your comfort zone and that is the best part about it. People from all different walks of life congregate here and work for a common goal, which is really something special. The work I’ve done here as a medical volunteer has been meaningful and that’s why I’ve come here twice, there really is no better way to make an immediate impact on a great community than volunteering here. Lastly, the staff of African Impact is incredible from top to bottom and they really create a fantastic family atmosphere.”

Parker Lewis, USA

Medical & Community Development, Zambia

 
"This experience with Kaya and African Impact was the best experience I have ever had. We were immersed into the culture of South Africa in a comfortable and very educational way. We were accommodate very well, and it helped me develop an entire new way of looking at life both here and back in America."

Riley L, United States

Rural Healthcare & HIV AIDS Awareness, St Lucia

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