Volunteer Medical Physician

Volunteering overseas is an enormously rewarding activity, both for yourself and the community you work with. Don’t underestimate the skills you have that will make a difference: one of the most important is that you are a fluent speaker of English. With much of the higher curriculum in Tanzania being in English, just being exposed to fluent English is enormously beneficial for volunteering in Tanzania. You’ll make memories (and friends) that will last you a lifetime- knowing that you’ve made lasting positive change to the community you volunteered with, but also became more independent and rounded as a person. We will try and match you with the best possible medical department/field for you. If there’s something specific you want to do, then we will place you there, and if not we will work with you to find something that will benefit both you and the local community enormously.

Thousands of Tanzanian dies every year because of lack of proper medical care and equipment. We place our volunteers in a number of medical clinics and hospitals in suburban Dar Es Salaam. Most of these health centers and hospitals have primitive equipment and facilities that in most cases limit the practitioner’s ability to perform well. Volunteers are placed into hospitals and health centers according to their qualifications and experience. Medical volunteers need to show initiative and have a readiness to work in a new environment.

 Because of the utmost importance of proper healthcare coupled with the fact that most volunteers cannot communicate directly with patients due to language barriers, volunteers need to understand that they may not be allowed to take part in some serious medical cases. The doctors are understandably hesitant to allow volunteers to operate on patients. While a medical volunteer may be appropriately qualified to do so, the instruments available in Tanzania will probably not be familiar to volunteers. So, if working on the medical placement volunteers should not become frustrated if they are not actually conducting surgeries. Volunteers will be observing surgeries, taking blood pressure, administering vaccines, along with a wide range of other medical tasks. 

Physician assistant Volunteers in Dar Es Salaam will be placed in sub_urban Health centers around Dar Es Salaam. Physician Assistant volunteer are the most needy in Tanzania especially in Dar Es Salaam were the population is high and the ration of a patient to a physician is very poor. Tanzania offer the best environment for Western Physician to experience  working in local African environment. More over medical volunteer physician are given the best opportunity to help and share their skills by treating local needy patients. 

What is expected from Physician Assistant Volunteer

• Take a patient’s medical history
• Update charts and patient information to show current findings and treatments
• Order tests for nurses or other healthcare staff to perform
• Review test results to identify any abnormal findings
• Recommend and design a plan of treatment
• Address concerns or answer questions that patients have about their health and well-being
• Help patients take care of their health by discussing topics such as proper nutrition and hygiene

Your Stay

This could very much be your first time in Tanzania, hence we will send you Swahili learning information prior arrival to help you with basic swahili. Once in country, you are picked up at the airport and taken to your accommodation. You receive three meals a day whilst on the project, and your accommodation is included too- either in group lodgings or you can choose to homestay with a Tanzanian family, which is a great way to really immerse yourself in the culture. The local KiVolEx team, including graduates with degrees in social work, medical  and project management, are on hand 24/7 to help you get the most out of your project. From tours of the city, to being constantly on call to answer your questions, to helping you book onward travel, we will look after you in country, because you will be a valued part of our team whilst working with us

About Tanzania

With such a perfect location, perched on the edge of the African continent, and facing the Indian Ocean, Tanzania’s weather and climate leaves nothing to be desired. Warm and sunny days are followed by cool and balmy nights, and whether you’re on safari on the Serengeti plains or enjoying the tropical beaches of Zanzibar, the temperatures are always welcoming and gentle.

Location: Situated in East Africa just south of the equator, mainland Tanzania lies between the area of the great lakes—Victoria, Tanganyika, and Malawi (Niassa)—and the Indian Ocean. It contains a total area of 945,087 sq km (364,900 sq mi), including 59,050 sq km (22,799 sq mi) of inland water. Comparatively, the area occupied by Tanzania is slightly larger than twice the size of the state of California. It is bounded on the North by Uganda and Kenya, on the East by the Indian Ocean, on the South by Mozambique and Malawi, on the South West by Zambia, and on the West by Zaire, Burundi, and Rwanda, with a total boundary length of 4,826 km (2,999 mi), of which 1,424 km (885 mi) is coastline. Tanzania claims part of Lake Malawi, although its internationally recognized boundary is the eastern shore.

Population: 50,483,923 inhabitants

Capital city: Located in the heartland of Tanzania, Dodoma is the nation’s new official political capital and the seat of government in the country. Today Dar es Salaam remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania and the de-facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.

Ethnic Groups: Mainland-native Africans constitute 99% of the total population. About 120 peoples have been categorized into 5 ethnic groups distinguishable by their physical characteristics and languages. Approximately 95% of Tanzanians may be roughly classified as Bantu, a comparatively recent blend mainly of Hamitic and Negroid stocks. Tribes range in membership from only a few thousand to the Sukuma tribe, which numbers more than 2 million. Other major tribes include the Nyamwezi, Makonde, Haya, and Chagga. The Luo, east of Lake Victoria, are the only people of Nilotic origin; the Masai of the northern highlands are Nilo-Hamites. A very small number of Bushmen-like people are scattered throughout northern Tanzania, where small tribes of Cushitic origin also live. The inhabitants of Zanzibar and Pemba are chiefly descendants of mainland Africans or are of mixed African and Arab extraction. The remaining 1% of the populace is made up of non-Africans, including Arabs, Asians, and Europeans.

Languages: The official languages of Tanzania are English and Kiswahili. However, some 120 languages are spoken within the borders of Tanzania. The large majority of these (ca. 100) are Bantu languages. The others belong to the language families Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan and (controversially) also Khoesan. A small number are unclassified. Immigrant languages from Europe and Asia can also be found.

 Religion: Christianity and Islam are the predominant religions of Tanzania. About 40-45% of the population practice Christianity, about 35-40% practice Islam. The rest of the population adheres to traditional beliefs, most of which centre around ancestor worship and nature-based animism. Most Christians live on the mainland, where missionary stations and schools reach deep into the continent. Islam is the major religion of the coastal areas but is also practiced further inland along the old caravan routes.

Where will you stay?

Accommodation 

There are two types of accommodation available in Dar Es Salaam, Home Stay Accommodation and Volunteer House. 

Volunteer House 

The Volunteer House is a western-style house with 6 bedrooms (all shared accommodations with bunk beds). It has 2 bathrooms with western-style toilets and occasional hot water for showers. The house also includes one double bedroom, and this room is generally reserved for married couples. The house is safe and secure, with a security guard and a large gate. In the volunteer house, there is a cook who cooks the meals for the volunteers. 

(Please note that spaces in the volunteer house are very limited and can only accommodate 18 to 24 people).

Home Stay Accommodation

Living is basic but all the Home Stays have electricity and running water and accommodate volunteers in safe and secure homes (some rural home stays may not have electricity or running water during times of drought). All home stays have been inspected thoroughly by local staff and chosen because of their safety and security. Most volunteers love their home stays and feel that they get a more authentic Tanzanian experience by staying there.

Transportation within

We will provide you with reliable Taxi drivers phone number,which you could use in case you want to move around. However you could also use Daladala these are buses, public transport that most people use to travel locally on daily basis.  There is also an option of using bodaboda these are motorcycles that are used as taxis. Other volunteers choose to walk whoever if you also choose to do so like any other new environment we encourage you to be very careful with thieves and pick pocketing   

Visa and Permit

A volunteer is required by the government to pay for a Visa and a permit to be allowed to volunteer in Tanzania. Kindly contact us for more information regarding this.

Hospital contribution

The ministry of health in Tanzania requires all medical volunteers to make a contribution of US $ 100 towards the hospital they will be volunteering. However we as KIVOLEX also make charitable contribution to these hospitals a way of supporting them for their role of looking after our volunteers.