Bolivia Medicine

  • Who? Groups of 3 -10 students aged 18+
  • When? Projects have flexible dates and run all year round
  • Where? Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Volunteers give children in Bolivia a check up
Volunteers give children in Bolivia a check up

Groups will work in Cochabamba in various 'Centros de Salud' which are public health clinics open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. These centres have very basic facilities and there is insufficient funding to provide the clinic with sufficient staff or materials. Your group will help staff and patients in a variety of departments including nursing, paediatrics, gynaecology, admissions and pharmacy work. You can also get involved in community work, including vaccination programmes and dental health campaigns, which the clinics organise throughout the year.

You will be allocated a supervisor on your first day and they will remain your main point of contact throughout your placement. Your assistance is needed with duties such as making beds, bathing and lifting the patients onto beds and into wheelchairs. Equally important are medical tasks such as bandaging, taking blood pressure and dressing wounds and helping to monitor patients in the surgery room. Volunteers on the Medicine & Healthcare project will need intermediate Spanish in order to communicate directly with the majority of doctors and patients.

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America and is an immensely rewarding place in which to volunteer abroad. You will be working and living with your host family in Cochabamba, an historic town which is said to have the world’s best climate – dry, warm days and cool nights. Although in economic terms Bolivia is a poor country, its riches lie in its history, its geographic and cultural diversity and, of course, its people.