General Volunteers

The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital receives many offers of voluntary help from people who are interested in the Hospital’s work amongst the needy women of Ethiopia. Whilst the Hospital is delighted that so many people want to assist the Hospital, generally the Hospital does not use the services of volunteers to assist with its work in Ethiopia.

The country of Ethiopia is exceedingly poor and unemployment is high. As part of the Hospital’s mission to help the local population, the Hospital prefers to train and employ Ethiopians. This has social and economic benefits for the local people and is an important factor in ensuring the future sustainability of the Hospital’s work.

In particular, the Hospital trains as nurse–aides, women who suffer long–term effects of their fistula related injuries. These women come from all over the country, and enable the Hospital’s medical and other staff to communicate with incoming patients in the more than 70 languages found in Ethiopia.

Skilled Volunteers

Normally the Hospital does not have openings for general doctors or nursing staff. The Hospital has sufficient of its own trained Ethiopian nursing staff.

Occasionally there are openings for volunteers who have particular skills and qualifications to at least a Masters Level, for instance, where an obstetrician/gynaecologist is needed to train general practitioners in emergency procedures in remote areas of Ethiopia.

Volunteer fistula surgeons first have to spend time in specialised training before being allowed to perform fistula surgery.

Research

From time to time the Hospital receives requests for permission to conduct some aspect of research. Each request is considered by the Hospital having regard to the relevance of the research project to the Hospital’s ongoing work and the likely impact the research activity will have on the Hospital’s day to day activities and resources.

Applications

Applications to conduct research or to train or to provide specialist skills on a voluntary basis must be accompanied by a written proposal outlining the applicant’s qualifications and experience, his or her reasons for applying, and the benefits which are likely to accrue to the Hospital and the applicant from such research, training or skills provision.

All accepted volunteers are required to present their credentials for clearance with the Ministry of Health before receiving final approval.

Applications should be sent to:
Mark Bennett, CEO, Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital via email.