Midwifery Elective Placements

In Ghana, healthcare is not free. No payment, no care. That means prenatal care, something we take for granted in the UK, is a luxury that only a tiny number of women in Takoradi benefit from. For some women, this leads to serious intrapartum complications (like a breech baby) further down the line. On a midwifery elective placement in Takoradi, you’ll see that there are differences in the care itself too, like a lack of maternity support during labour. Local midwives often keep a distance from the mother and let them deliver naturally. There’s a lack of intrapartum monitoring too, which is very different from UK practise. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with us to Takoradi.

One of the first things you’ll notice on a midwifery elective placement in Kandy is that there are more patients than there are beds. This shows how a lack of resources has a direct impact on patient care. Low resources also affect how staff are able to do their jobs. For example, you might see that staff have different attitudes towards things like terminations and miscarriages. In the UK, cases like this are normally handled and discussed with sensitivity. In Sri Lanka, local staff take a matter of fact approach. Out of necessity, they will prioritise patients’ physical welfare, sacrificing the emotional aspects of care. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with us to Kandy.

A midwifery internship in Dar es Salaam will see you right there on the wards with local midwives. You’ll see women giving birth before they even reach the labour wards as there are too few beds. Resources for midwives are low here, so women have to bring their own delivery packs with them, containing cotton wool, sterile gloves, and a razor blade for episiotomies and cord cutting. Things are different culturally too. On a midwifery placement here you’ll see that Tanzanian women are expected to show strength during labour. If they make too much noise, local midwives may even slap them on the leg and give them a telling off. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with us to Dar es Salaam.

If you do your elective in Hue, you’ll spend your time in the OBG department in a big, bustling university teaching hospital. You can get experience in lots of different areas while you’re on placement, with local midwives helping to get you involved in all areas of maternal and infant paediatric care. You’ll learn a lot about Vietnamese traditions surrounding birth too. Some local people believe that making too much of a fuss of a newborn baby attracts bad spirits. Others believe that complementing the mother too much brings bad luck. Getting experience with cultural differences like these is a big part of what makes an overseas placement special.

On a midwifery elective in Iloilo, you’ll see major differences in practise between the UK and the Philippines. If a doctor isn’t quite ready for a delivery, local midwives will often apply pressure to where the baby is presenting to prevent the baby’s descent. The local hospital has a high patient load, so don’t be surprised to see patients sharing beds. You may also see more fetal abnormalities than you would back home, hydrocephalus, exomphalos and anencephaly included. You’ll also see that women with birthing complications and other risk factors, like preeclampsia, hypertension and twin births, are not separated. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with us to Iloilo.

On your elective placement in Kathmandu, you’ll see that HIV is much more common in Nepal than it is in the UK. Evidence suggests that babies are more likely to die from a lack of breastfeeding than from the virus, so mothers continue the practise. As is common in many developing countries, social and cultural factors can affect the care women receive. Religion, a woman’s occupation, cost, and having to seek permission from their husbands can prevent women from getting treatment even for routine procedures. And in spite of the efforts of local midwives, the rate of infant mortality in Nepal has actually risen in recent years. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with us to Kathmandu.