Medical Internships Abroad | Medical Volunteer Opportunities Abroad

The experiences you will have on your overseas internship placement are likely to be vastly different from anything you are used to in your domestic clinics and hospitals. In many of our destinations the medical facilities are greatly under-resourced and it's no exaggeration to say that you may find yourself working with equipment - and in conditions - which really test your skills, abilities and emotions.

In such areas you are likely to see a number of diseases and conditions that you are simply not used to back home. In addition to this you will generally find that all pathologies are in more advanced stages, as patients often tend to present much later than they do in wealthier countries. During your medical internship, you’ll witness and treat these conditions firsthand, while developing new skills and increasing your understanding of how these diseases progress.

Your placement

You are able to be quite specific with us about your department and area of medical specialty as each placement is tailored to individual needs and requirements.

Our most popular placements for undergraduates are in pediatrics, obstetrics & gynecology, emergency medicine and internal medicine. However we can arrange placements in other specialties if you wish, such as tropical medicine, HIV/AIDS, neurology, psychiatry, geriatrics, surgery or family medicine. Please check our individual destination pages on the right side of this page to learn more about available areas of specialty within each country.

And remember that if you wish to pursue a specialty which isn't mentioned here, you can always get in contact with us to find out if it may be possible. The large number of contacts we have, the personal relationships with hospitals, the contracts in place and the "know how" of each destination, means we can investigate your request and give you an informed choice of what is available in your destination of choice.

Requirements to join us

Medical student Nadia talks about her internship in Nepal

Benefits of the program

A Work the World medical internship abroad heightens each student’s training with on-the-ground challenges, while offering firsthand exposure to global health issues. Working with doctors and medical teams in a developing country will challenge and deepen your professional development and commitment.

Though the cost of a Work the World medical placement may be similar to the cost of an independently arranged placement, our program minimizes or removes nearly all the risks involved. We provide accommodation, meals and purified drinking water in a safe, secure, and hygienic setting at our Work the World house. You’ll also receive the support there of our full-time staff, who are well practiced at assisting international students.

We also confidentially offer a high-caliber clinical experience. Due to our solid relationships with our partner hospitals, their medical teams are open to your involvement, and happy to supervise students. The language and cultural barriers that hamper the foreign worker are also greatly diminished, by our staff’s experience in working with foreign students and the language classes we offer.

Frequently asked questions

Broaden your Experience

Our supplemental week long bolt on programs will complement and greatly enrich your placement experiences. Many former students have found them to be the highlight of their placement time.

The Village Healthcare Experience offers the rare chance to live in a remote village in Nepal, Ghana or Tanzania. Working from a local clinic, you’ll assist in the treatment of patients living in very basic environments with little or no access to western medicine. You’ll live with a local family, take part in village activities and learn how local healers administer traditional healing methods.

The Ayurvedic Medicine Experience provides the exceptional opportunity to intern with a much-respected Ayurvedic doctor. Students live in an lodge and work at an Ayurveda hospital, based in a traditional rural Sri Lankan village.

Highly recommended for those of all levels of Spanish, our Intensive Spanish Course teaches not only practical, conversational Spanish but also crucial medical terms you’ll need to succeed at your Argentina placement. Each course is tailored to the abilities of the students by our full time Spanish teacher.