Midwifery

Your placement

You are able to be quite specific with us about the type of clinical site in which you would prefer to be working as each international midwifery placement is tailored to individual needs and requirements - a huge benefit of booking with a specialist organization.

You will see conditions and cases rarely found in North America, including cultural beliefs that create labor and maternity issues very different from those at home. For those interested in specific areas, such as high-risk pregnancies and childbirth conditions in a particular country, this is a great chance to gain practical, firsthand knowledge in this area, working alongside midwives who deal with these issues daily.

All our elective students are allocated a preceptor/supervisor who will be their main point of contact.  We ensure that this person is a senior member of the department that you are working in, that they understand what you expect from your elective and, in turn, what they can expect from you.

Please follow the links on the top right hand side of this page to an overview of the midwifery internship opportunities in each of our destinations.

Benefits of the program

A Work the World placement enhances a midwifery student’s training, while offering firsthand exposure to global health issues. Working alongside teams of midwifes in a developing country will both challenge and expand your personal and professional development.

Though the cost of a Work the World midwifery placement may be similar to the cost of a student organizing their own 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 practiced at assisting international students.

We work hard to ensure you gain a high-caliber clinical experience. Due to our solid relationships with our partner hospitals, midwifery teams in our destinations are open to your presence and involvement, and will happily supervise students. The language and cultural barriers that hamper the foreign worker are also greatly reduced, by the experience of our staff in working with internationals, and the regular language classes we offer in all destinations.

Broaden your Experience

We offer several supplemental programs, deigned to complement and greatly enrich your midwifery training abroad. 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 a community midwife or nurse in treating the local population, 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.

In addition there is often the opportunity to be involved in volunteer work in your free time. For example, many students spend their afternoond volunteering at local orphanages.