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Any medical doctor can affect people's lives on a great scale. If you decide to volunteer in India, you can work in backward areas of Bijapur, Karnataka. The main problems and challenges of Bijapur district are illiteracy, poverty, child marriages, Devadasi system, exploitation, child labour, forced prostitution, low income...
The most common health problems are tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, mental and physical disability, alcoholism. The main reasons of these problems are as follows:
1. migration of citizens, lack of job opportunities,
2. poverty, which is mainly caused by lack of rain in crop production,
3. lack of education (no support from parents),
4. various traditions, including Devadasi system,
5. lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS.
Karnataka is one of the states in India, which is the most severely affected by HIV/AIDS (it is the fifth in the number of reported HIV cases in the country). Out of 49 most HIV/AIDS affected districts in India, 10 are in Karnataka. In the medical testing in 2004, 24.15% tested people were HIV positive. In 2013, it was 2.82%. However, those are only the known cases. The approximate number of HIV positive people in Bijapur is 50,000. Anyway, HIV problem is not only a health issue, it is also a social problem.
Stigma and discrimination faced by the HIV/AIDS people doesn´t appear only within the family but also outside the family. Therefore, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes started to work on the HIV prevention, care and support for the infected and affected people.
LOCATION
St. Joseph Health and Community centre, Bijapur, Karnataka, India
The hospital is located outside the town. It takes approx. 20 min to get to the city centre by public transport. There are 30 beds and the health care is provided mainly to HIV positive children and adults in various stages of the illness as the HIV negative people do not like to visit the hospital.
DURATION
You can participate as a volunteer at this project for a period as short as one week or longer. Your work with such poor people will not only help the individuals but also the local community and it opens unexpected horizons to you as well. You will feel satisfaction when looking into the thankful eyes of the patients but also you will gain valuable experience when working in a developing country.
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
- a degree in medical studies which needs to be presented to us,
- English knowledge (a local nurse translates from the local language to English)
