Namibia Medical Internship

By choosing to join this Namibia Medical Internship you will have a once in a life time opportunity to assist at a small rural healthcare clinic and build a close relationship with the San Bushman Community, one of the oldest cultures in the world. They are traditionally hunter gatherers, but due to increased cattle grazing over recent years they have been forced away from their home lands.

You’ll be working alongside the dedicated doctor and nurse who are based at the clinic full time, during your time at the clinic you will learn a great deal about the common diseases and ailments that are affecting the local community on a regular basis and the most effective ways of treating them. You will be able to assist in giving care to the patients who visit the clinic and learn more about the challenges that they are faced with. The doctor and nurse at the clinic will also be giving you lessons during your placement which will be tailored to your level of experience and background.

The content of the lessons will vary but prospective medical students can expect to have lessons in basic clinical skills, taking of patient history and patient examinations. Whereas qualified professionals will be asked to run consultations with the patients who visit the clinic and help out with the outreach work in the community; this is a fantastic opportunity to have the greatest impact on the local community that you are working with during your medical internship.

No matter what your level of experience though, some of the activities and duties that you could be involved in may include:  

• Blood pressure recordings
• Cleaning and dressing of wounds
• Assisting in the pharmacy with new order, packing of medicines and stock control
• Weighing babies and recording their growth
• Glucose testing and recording
• Primary healthcare including treatments, observations, emergency referrals and offering reassurance to patients
• Observations including pregnancy tests, urine tests and recording findings

If you have any special skills that you feel could be useful to the programme and the clinic, please let the local team know and feel free to suggest any new activities that you feel could benefit the clinic and the local community.

In addition to the day to day work that you will be involved in, you will also have the opportunity undertake a research project focused on something that will benefit the clinic and help to further improve the services provided to the local community that it serves; for example local patterns for disease, studies of clean water supplies, mapping the distances that patients travel in order to visit the clinic, TB rates and the patients knowledge of diseases such as HIV/Aids etc.

This internship is an extremely rewarding option for anyone looking for a career in the medical field where you can really help to make a difference to the lives of local people, whilst improving and developing your own skills and knowledge.  

The clinic is located in a rural village in Eastern Namibia, which is home to approximately 500 people from both the San Bushman and Herero communities; the clinic plays an extremely important part in the lives of the local people.

The main priority and focus of the clinic is to provide basic healthcare and support to the San Bushman community, which is thought to be one of the oldest cultures in the world. By providing them with basic healthcare and support it is hoped that they will have what they need to build a better future.

There is a full time doctor and nurse at the clinic throughout the year who you will be assisting during your medical internship. The clinic treats around 3000 patients each year with the help of San Translators; approximately 40% of all patients treated at the clinic are children, of which 70% are under 5 years of age. Some of the most common diseases and complaints that are diagnosed amongst the child patients at the clinic include intestinal worms, malnutrition, fungal infections, dehydration mouth infections and diarrhoea; you may not think that these illnesses are particularly severe but if left untreated they can get much worse and lead to complications which could potentially result in a tragic death. Additionally TB, HIV and alcoholism are prevalent in the community, as are everyday problems including aches and pains. 

You may also have the opportunity to help out as a wildlife volunteer on the fantastic Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary, depending on your arrival and departure days.

The sanctuary provides vital care and shelter to animals that have been orphaned, injured or abused; the team at the sanctuary will never turn away an animal in need, as a result the variety of animals is diverse and constantly changing but usually includes leopards, cheetahs, lions, wild dogs, baboons, caracals, adorable and mischievous meerkats, along with a number of domestic animals to name but a few.

As a volunteer, you will be helping out with the day to day running of the sanctuary including the preparation of food for the animals, carrying out essential maintenance and providing care to the animals.

Participants are asked to remain flexible with the logistics of the medical programme, it is important to note that volunteering time at the sanctuary is not guaranteed and will be dependent on resources and timetables of other volunteers.  

The rural clinic is based in the eastern region of Namibia, approximately 350km from the capital city of Windhoek.

At the beginning and end of your programme, you will be taken to the Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary approximately 50km from Windhoek city centre.

If you arrive on the scheduled start date, you will normally spend 1 night at the sanctuary before being transferred from the sanctuary to the clinic the day after arrival. At the end of your programme, you will be transferred from the clinic back to the wildlife sanctuary where you will spend your final two nights before your return transfer to the airport