Introduction If you're interested in working abroad, then why not consider combining this with working for a charitable medical aid organisation? Not only can this prove incredibly personally rewarding, but it could also be the perfect way to gain valuable experience in a unique environment.
What organisations can I work with? Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in more than 70 countries. In countries where health structures are insufficient or even non-existant, MSF sends volunteers to provide assistance. MSF works in rehabilitation of hospitals and dispensaries, vaccination programmes and water and sanitation projects. MSF also works in remote health care centres, slum areas and provides training of local personnel. All this is done with the objective of rebuilding health structures to acceptable levels. MSF teams travel to places that many people have never heard of, to assist those who have fallen victim to natural or man-made disasters. It also tries to address some basic human rights violations encountered by field teams by confronting the responsible persons themselves, by putting pressure on them through mobilisation of the international community and by issuing information publicly. In order to prevent compromise or manipulation of MSF's relief activities, MSF maintains neutrality and independance from individual governments. The organisation also tries to ensure that the majority of funds raised for its work comes directly from contributions from the general public. In this way, MSF guarantees equal access to its humanitarian assistance. MSF has been setting up emergency medical aid missions around the world since 1971.
Merlin Merlin is the only specialist UK charity which responds worldwide with vital health care and medical relief for vulnerable people caught up in natural disasters, conflict, disease and health system collapse. Each year, Merlin helps more than 15 million people in up to 20 countries. Merlin is a member of the Disasters Emergency Commitee, an umbrella organisation uniting 13 of the UK's major aid agencies, which launches and co-ordinates national fundraising appeals in response to major disasters overseas. Merlin works worldwide, wherever the need is greatest, operating at any one time in up to 20, often volatile and unstable, countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.
Merlin’s medical relief work focuses on preventing and treating epidemics, distributing emergency drug supplies, operating mobile clinics & providing safe drinking water, food and shelter. Their lasting health care services include providing doctors, nurses and other health professionals to train, educate and strengthen local health systems, providing drugs, medical materials and equipment to clinics and hospitals, building, renovating and equipping local health facilities, prevention and control of infectious diseases, mother and child care, the care of women before, during and after childbirth & feeding programmes for malnourished children.
RedR-IHE (Engineers for Disaster Relief -International Health Exchange) In 1980, Peter Guthrie founded RedR - Engineers for Disaster Relief. In 2003, RedR London merged with the International Health Exchange to become RedR-IHE. The International Health Exchange brought to RedR London, 22 years of health expertise from the relief and development sector. The original concept of RedR was to create a register of carefully selected engineers who could be called on at short notice to work for up to 3 months with front-line relief agencies on secondment from their regular employer. This has evolved into an international federation of RedRs that provides training and recruitment services for humanitarian professionals across the world. RedR-IHE believes it is important to deliver its services where they are needed and currently has programmes based in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. They provide ongoing support to aid agencies to enable them to be as effective as they can within the environments in which they operate.
Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Voluntary Service Overseas is an international development charity that works through volunteers. It is now one of the largest independent volunteer-sending agency in the world. Their vision is a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfil their potential. Since it begain, over 30,000 volunteers have served in over 70 countries. The range of jobs offered by VSO is vast, and includes small business advisors, teachers, social workers, health professionals, management consultants, marine biologists, accountants and farmers. VSO no longer send school-leavers - their volunteers are skilled professionals, mainly in their thirties or forties, and most placements last for one to two years. You’ll need to be qualified with at least 3 years post-registration experience. To supplement these baseline requirements, most roles require additional specialist knowledge and training experience. A diploma in tropical medicine is desirable for many positions. Others require specialist knowledge of obstetrics, paediatrics, surgery and/or HIV & AIDS.
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