Elective Midwifery Placements Abroad

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 cultural attitudes towards things like terminations and miscarriages. In the UK, cases like this are normally handled and discussed with sensitivity. In Sri Lanka, local healthcare professionals 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 with local midwives on the wards. 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 must bring their delivery packs containing cotton wool, sterile gloves, and a razor blade for episiotomies and cord cutting. You will also encounter cultural differences while practising midwifery in Africa. For example, Tanzanian women are expected to show strength during labour. If they make too much noise, local midwives may slap them on the leg and give them a telling-off. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with Work the World to Dar es Salaam for their midwifery placement in Africa.

If you do your international 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 over 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 midwifery 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.