If you are an open-minded and flexible medical professional and are in Malawi for the whole experience rather than seeing yourself purely as a service provider, then you will gain a lot from this volunteer opportunity. Volunteers with medical training should come with an open mind about their role and be aware that, due to the vast differences in how healthcare is delivered, they may find themselves doing very different work to their usual practice. This can be both frustrating and very rewarding, depending on your expectations.
To be most useful in a rural health centre setting, healthcare volunteers would ideally need to be fully trained clinicians such as doctors, nurses, midwives, and perhaps senior medical students. We are not able to consider medical or nursing students doing their electives as there are no sufficiently qualified staff at the Dispensary or Health Centre to supervise them. Areas of experience that would be particularly useful include General Practice, Tropical Medicine, Paediatrics, Infectious Diseases and HIV, Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Previous experience of working and/or travelling in a developing country would be of great benefit. 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 Dispensary and Health Centre have 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). Three healthcare volunteers (one doctor and/or two nurses) is the maximum number needed at any one time although, now that the Dispensary at Mwaya is open, we may be able to increase this number in future. In addition to working at the Dispensary and/or Health Centre, healthcare volunteers may also like to spend one or more days a week at the regional hospital in Chintheche (25km north of Mwaya Beach). A number of healthcare volunteers have also taught in the local secondary school and have found this very rewarding.
RIPPLE Africa would prefer its volunteers to make a commitment of a minimum of three months, although shorter stays can be arranged (see the paragraph about Short Stays on the Introduction to Volunteering webpage). It is important to recognise that, although the volunteers will benefit enormously from their experience volunteering with RIPPLE Africa at Mwaya, our main responsibility is to provide consistent and effective assistance to the community.
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 Mwaya Dispensary) and a Volunteer Projects Manager and his assistant at Mwaya Beach who are responsible for volunteers. The Healthcare Coordinator will introduce arriving volunteers to the Mwaya Dispensary and the staff there, show them the VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV/AIDS) clinics, under 5s clinics, etc., and Kachere Health Centre.
Mwaya Dispensary and Kachere Health Centre fall 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 boma (town) 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 District 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.
Together with the rest of Malawi, the medical services available at Mwaya Dispensary and Kachere Health Centre are free of charge, and together they serve a population of approximately 21,000. Both the Dispensary and the Health Centre deal mainly with the treatment of malaria, malnourishment, and minor illnesses, but only the Health Centre at Kachere has the facilities for delivering babies. The dispensaries at both facilities stock basic medicines and some antibiotics. There is a donated microscope at Kachere Health Centre which is used to diagnose malaria and TB but, although there is also a donated microscope for use at Mwaya Dispensary, this cannot be utilised as there is no mains electricity. Kachere Health Centre has both mains electricity and running water, but Mwaya Dispensary has neither. Water is drawn from a nearby borehole each day for use at the Dispensary.
There is a regional hospital at Chintheche, 25km north of Kachere, where patients are usually referred in the first instance. Larger hospitals are between 60km (Nkhata Bay) and 100km (Mzuzu) 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 Mwaya Dispensary once a week, and also one at Kachere Health Centre. The staff at the VCT clinics (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 both Mwaya Dispensary and Kachere Health Centre and in the local area to monitor and innoculate babies and children under five years old.
This healthcare volunteer opportunity is very much a self-directed initiative which involves evaluating the needs of the Dispensary and 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 Dispensary and 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 Dispensary and Health Centre staff.
Mwaya Dispensary is a short walk from Mwaya Beach, close to the primary school, whereas Kachere Health Centre is about 7km away. Buses, mini-buses, and matolas can be caught at Matete village and cost about GB£0.25 (US$0.45) each way. There are bicycles at Mwaya Beach which can be used by the volunteers, or some volunteers have walked there and back which takes about 90 minutes each way.
If you are interested in volunteering as a healthcare volunteer, 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.
To find out how to apply to become a volunteer with RIPPLE Africa, please go to the Application Process page.
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