Medical volunteer project helping improve healthcare in rural Nepal
A gap year in Nepal promises endless exciting travel experiences! On this medical volunteer project you can combine your gap travel with meaningful volunteering and gain useful medical experience at the same time!
Gap year project overview:
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world and with so many people living in remote rural areas, good quality healthcare is not always readily available. In the Madi region, medical resources are particularly scarce. By working as a gap year volunteer you can help a local medical outreach project improve healthcare in the region.
This primary healthcare programme was set up in 1996, at a time when tuberculosis and leprosy were rife, with only one doctor for every 21,000 people in the region. The clinic set out to relieve of poverty, sickness and distress in village communities and it now supports over 50,000 people through different projects that provide basic healthcare, education and livelihood support.
The clinic treats over 8,000 patients each year, and a further 5,000 through outreach health camps in remote areas, so the extra manpower and expertise that gap year volunteers bring can make a real difference. As well as providing primary healthcare, this medical volunteer project trains local students in pharmacy, midwifery, community medicine and nursery skills. Beyond healthcare, the clinic also provides education and nutrition for disadvantaged children, vocational training for adults, safe drinking water and works to improve sanitation.
Your gap year experience: Because the clinic is involved in such a wide range of activities, your medical volunteering experience can be incredibly varied! Those studying medicine can observe and assist treatments, taking blood pressure and helping with dressings. Volunteers with more practical experience will be given more independence and can take on greater responsibilities.
If hands-on medical work isn’t your thing, you can take on a gap year volunteering role at the clinic kindergarten. Here volunteers can use fun and interactive learning activities to improve English, giving children in remote areas a more well-rounded education. This really is a unique volunteer project and with such a wide variety of important initiatives it provides a great environment in which to learn more about medicine and help underprivileged communities during your gap year abroad!