Volunteer Nurses, Volunteer Doctors, and Volunteer Health Care Assistants, Malawi, Africa

Who:
Healthcare professionals who have had some post-training experience, mature medical or nursing students, and retired doctors or nurses interested in rural community healthcare are most welcome. Also, healthcare professionals with an interest in public health issues are invited to apply. We are not able to consider medical or nursing students doing their electives as there are no sufficiently qualified staff at the health centre to supervise them. Work or travel experience in less developed countries is useful but not necessary. However, unlike the education part of our volunteering programme where we can find projects for a number of volunteers, the healthcare section of our programme requires much fewer volunteers. Please be aware that the health centre has very few facilities, and some healthcare professionals may find working there limiting and frustrating (please read the document called Information for Healthcare Volunteers so that you will know what to expect). One doctor and/or two nurses is the maximum number of healthcare volunteers needed at any one time. However, a community health clinic is being built at Mwaya and should be open during 2010, so we may be able to increase this number once the building is operational. In addition to working at the health centre, recent healthcare volunteers have also spent one day a week at the regional hospital in Chintheche (25km north of Mwaya Beach).

Placement Length:
We would prefer our volunteers to make a commitment of a minimum of three months, although shorter stays can be arranged (see note about short stays on the Volunteering: An Introduction webpage). It is important to recognise that, although the volunteers will benefit enormously from their experience at Mwaya, our main responsibility is to provide consistent and effective assistance to the community.

Programme Coordination:
It is very important to maintain consistency and continuity in relationships, projects and work already underway and, to this end, we have a Healthcare Coordinator (who is also a Health Surveillance Assistant at Kachere Health Centre) and a Volunteer Projects Manager at Mwaya Beach who is responsible for volunteers. The Healthcare Coordinator will introduce arriving volunteers to the health centre and the staff there, and show them the VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV/AIDS) clinics, under 5s clinics, drug revolving fund, etc.

Kachere Health Centre and Mwaya Community Health Clinic

Kachere Health Centre falls within the Nkhata Bay District administrative area which has a population of approximately 270,000 people. Of these, about 30,000 live in Nkhata Bay itself and 240,000 in the rural areas. There are 15 rural health centres, one regional hospital and one district hospital in the Nkhata Bay District. There are about 46 nurses, 27 of whom work at the hospital in Nkhata Bay, with the remaining 19 nurses working at the rural health centres. In addition, there are about three clinical officers, 10 medical assistants, 120 health surveillance assistants, and only two doctors, one of whom is also the District Health Officer.

Like all rural health centres in Malawi, the medical services available at Kachere are free of charge, and it serves a population of approximately 18,000. The health centre mainly deals with the treatment of malaria, malnourishment, minor illnesses, and delivering babies. The dispensary stocks basic medicines and some antibiotics, but there are no testing facilities at present although we hope to be able to ship out a donated microscope soon. There is electricity at the health centre and, although there is no running water at present, RIPPLE Africa employs a lady to bring in fresh water every day. There is a regional hospital at Chintheche, 30km north of Kachere, where patients are usually referred in the first instance. Larger hospitals are between 60km and 100km away and usually deal with more serious ailments. However, as there is only one ambulance based at Chintheche, transport costs often limit people’s ability to take advantage of these facilities.

There is a VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV/AIDS) clinic at Kachere Health Centre, and a VCT clinic is also held in Matete once a week. However, this clinic will be held at the new community health clinic at Mwaya once it is operational. The staff (some paid and some volunteers) can test and provide immediate results, and then give much needed advice for those who test positive or who require information.

Under 5s clinics are held regularly at the health centre and in the local area to monitor and innoculate babies and children under five years old. Again, one or more of these clinics will be held at the new community health clinic at Mwaya once it is operational. Also, two of the Health Surveillance Assistants from Kachere Health Centre have been involved in a weekly health awareness campaign, funded by RIPPLE Africa, which took place on Sunday mornings at churches in the health centre catchment area.

This volunteer opportunity is very much a self-directed initiative which involves evaluating the needs of the health centre with the Health Surveillance Assistants and staff, and tailoring your responsibilities to best meet these, taking into account your special skills and interests. Working hours and days off are arranged directly with the health centre staff, but a volunteer will normally work at least half a day — either mornings or afternoons — five days a week. There is also an opportunity to work on various outreach projects which can be arranged in liaison with the health centre staff.

Kachere Health Centre is about 7km from Mwaya Beach. Buses, mini-buses and matolas can be caught at Matete village and cost about GB£0.25 (US$0.45) each way. There are six bicycles at Mwaya Beach which can be used by the volunteers, or some volunteers have walked there and back which takes about 90 minutes.

If you are interested in volunteering at Kachere Health Centre, please read the document called Information for Healthcare Volunteers for more details. This document also includes information for doctors and dentists about applying to be registered with the Medical Council of Malawi for the duration of their placement. The registration process does, however, take a long time, so any doctors or dentists wishing to be registered will have to make their applications well in advance of the start of their placement.

How to apply: Click here.

Clubs and Groups

There are a number of clubs and groups organised by previous volunteers which are either still running or which have been discontinued, and we hope future volunteers will be willing to lead or reinstate one or more of these. Some do require funding, while others just need imagination and initiative. Examples of some of these are listed below:

Information for Healthcare Volunteers