Medical and Healthcare Volunteer Programs 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.