Blog posts about Health

VSO health volunteer John Williams in Cambodia

Volunteering after retirement: John gives something back in Cambodia

John's lifelong ambition to volunteer abroad was realised at 60, when he was offered a three-month stint in Cambodia with VSO.

Children from Murehe Primary School, Rwanda

2016 - a year of progress

2016 was a year of progress. Despite the negative events that have sometimes dominated headlines, we have seen huge shifts towards a healthier, greener and fairer world. Here's why

I rushed my newborn to hospital on the back of a motorbike

Scovia Akello tells the story of her firstborn - currently in the neonatal intensive care unit at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda

Ugandan nurse Betty with volunteer Gerieke

We asked Ugandan nurse Betty why she loves her job – this is what she said

Nurse Betty Lamwaka, 36, is a nurse at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda. Here she shares her experiences of working in a neonatal intensive care unit in and how support from volunteer Gerieke Zandberg has improved care for neonates.

Living with HIV in Rwanda

After her husband had an affair, Beretilde became HIV positive. Life is hard for Beretilde. But after joining a local cooperative things are looking up. She is now making a better living, providing for her children and investing in the future.

Dr Alex Burns, vso volunteer GP at Makeni Government Hospital, teaches colleagues and students the importance of using partographs..

Rebuilding health services after Ebola

VSO volunteers have returned to Sierra Leone after ebola and are working to rebuild health services after such a huge trauma.

Janet, 17, at home with her husband Jacob Maxwell Okellakwo, 18, feeding their son extracted breast milk. Their baby is still weak and weighs only 1.4 kilo's but his health is improving. The baby was cared for by VSO volunteer Gerieke Zanberg

I thought my child wouldn’t make it

Janet’s son was born two months early. He had a very low weight as well as breathing and stomach complications. Thanks to the work of the nurses at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, with the support of volunteer Gerieke Zandberg, Janet was able to bring her tiny baby home.

HIV and AIDS clinic, at St. Francis Hospital, Ifakara, Tanzania.

We have the tools to defeat HIV and AIDS but attitudes need to change

It has been quite a week here at the 2016 International AIDS Conference in Durban. Over 18,000 people attended. 16 years ago – as a VSO volunteer working in South Africa – I attended my first AIDS Conference also held in Durban. It is striking how much has changed since then, but also – and tragically – how little.

Are prisons the missing link to ending the spread of HIV?

Across Southern Africa rates of HIV and tuberculosis are on average twice as high - and in some cases up to 50 times as high - in prisons, as in the general population.

Life as a public health nurse volunteer in Nepal

Cath Nixon took a two-year career break to support women's health as a VSO volunteer nurse.

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