Medical volunteering opportunities the medical professionals and medical students the chance to volunteer abroad while practicing their clinic training. Not all medical volunteer opportunities overseas cost money, many of the programs are free to participants as long as the volunteers can bring medical skills that the organization needs. While Doctors Without Borders is one of the most well known organizations, other organizations include Interplast and Remote Area Medical. Medical volunteering overseas is a good way to travel around the world while giving back. It is also a good way to built one’s experience and resume before applying for other jobs in aid and development. Many aid and development organizations want health professionals with experience in the field. Medical volunteering is a good way of gaining with experience if you are unable to get a job in overseas medical work straight out of their medical education. Pre-medical students will have a harder time finding medical volunteering opportunities because they do not have the required skills to do many medical work. Nurses are some of the most popular overseas medical volunteers because they have some of the most important skills in overseas medical work. One of the biggest reasons to volunteer abroad through an organization is to have them deals with the paper of getting you accredited in the country where you will work. Getting this medical accreditation nearly impossible for individuals, but often times these organizations have standing agreements in place with governments to accredit the organizations staff and volunteers.
Visit the following organizations offering medical volunteer opportunities:
Volunteer for the Visayans - Recruits international volunteers from all over the world to come to the Philippines for a cultural experience while contributing to local community projects. Volunteers work in local health clinics, with the social welfare office, in local orphanages, with the street children, or teach English in local elementary schools.
Remote Area Medical - A charitable organization providing medical care to people in inaccessible regions through a fleet of aircraft and volunteer staff.
Catholic Medical Mission Board - A U.S.-based Catholic-charity focusing exclusively on global healthcare, particularly the well-being of women and children.
Child Family Health International - Offers service-learning programs in international health for medical, pre-medical, and nursing students.
Doctors Without Borders - Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF) delivers emergency aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics, and natural and man-made disasters, and to others who lack health care due to social or geographical isolation.
Dakshinayan - A non-profit, non-religious organization providing basic education and health care to tribal and other rural communities in India.
Doctor to Doctor - A nonprofit organization founded in Berkeley, California USA in 1994 which seeks to provide assistance to medical professionals in underserved places around the world.
Doctors of the World - Provides medical and humanitarian assistance to those in the greatest need in more than 20 nations.
Flying Samaritans - A volunteer organization which operates free medical clinics in Baja California, Mexico. Doctors, dentists, nurses, translators, pilots and support personnel fly to clinics in private aircraft.
Flying Doctors - Los Medicos Voladores is a diverse group of medical professionals and volunteers dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the people of Mexico by providing free health care and education to rural villages.
Peacework - Arranges international volunteer service projects around the world for colleges, universities, and service organizations.
Mobility International USA - Helps people with disabilities through international exchange and international development to achieve their human rights.
Global Service Corps - Provides volunteer opportunities for people worldwide to live and work abroad in developing countries.
Health Volunteers Overseas - A private, non-profit, non-sectarian voluntary organization headquartered in the United States. HVO is dedicated to improving the availability and quality of health care in developing countries through training and education.
Healing Hands for Haiti Foundation - A non-profit organization dedicated to bringing rehabilitation medicine to Haiti.
International Medical Volunteers - A clearing house for information between potential volunteers, volunteer organization and other medical people involved in medical assistance to the developing world.
Mercy Ships - A global charity that operates a growing fleet of hospital ships in developing nations.
Mission Doctors Association - Offering short term and long term medical volunteer opportunities in developing nations.
Mobility International - Empowering people with disabilities around the world by ensuring their inclusion in international exchange and international development programs.
Operation Smile - Volunteers repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for sustainable healthcare systems for children and families.
Unite for Sight - A nonprofit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness.
Nepal Leprosy Trust - A UK-based Christian agency that provides services to people affected by leprosy in the Kingdom of Nepal.
Amazon-Africa Aid - Offers dentists, physician, and other medicial professionals the opportunity to work with local organizations in the Amazon and Africa.
