Currently there are several medical opportunities for long- and short-term workers.
MIDDLE EAST
ReachAcross has no medical projects of its own in the Middle East. We "second" people to work in a government hospital. There is a strong Christian "team" there who are responsible for certain rooms or departments of the hospital. They can use midwives, nurses, and doctors with "general" or specialist qualifications. We have short-term nurses there right now, and would be happy to send more staff to help them.
Other government hospitals might be glad to have western staff, but they are often not easy to work in. If someone wants to do this work, they would need to travel there and find a job opportunity for themselves.
Most of our long-term nurses are working in Community Health & Development projects. They are teaching at the grass roots level and promoting holistic change in the community. It seems to us that this is the direction most medical people would like to go. They need to learn Arabic first and often will need the skills to organize and administer a project. Training in Community Project Management would be helpful. It is difficult to do this kind of job as a short-termer without a working knowledge of the local language.
NORTHEAST AFRICA
ReachAcross focusses on educational, agricultural and community projects in this region. However, there are opportunities for medical professionals providing they have a good level of French. During 2008/2009 a French-speaking midwife served with us for nine months.
One clinic could use both nurses and doctors. There is a growing AIDS problem and nurses or doctors dedicated to helping AIDS sufferers would be welcome. Someone with midwifery training could assist with pre-natal and post-natal checks and teaching.
Long-term staff would need a reasonable level of French language and would begin their period of service with either Somali or Afar language study. Short-term personnel could be utilized to some degree if they have a reasonable level of French. If a medical professional has a vision for a Community Health project, and if they "recruited" a team of people to work with them, there would likely be opportunities for them. Again, French is needed as well as either Afar or Somali in the long term.
WEST AFRICA
Any medical professionals interested should think in terms of "Community Health and/or Development" projects. It would be best if they found/had a "team" of people who planned to go into an area to do a project together.
The Field leadership wants to focus on the Soninke or Fulani people groups, and a medical project would provide an entrance into these people groups . It is NOT something for a 'short-termer' -- but short-termers could be involved in other forms of service. Long-term personnel would need to be committed to learning French, then Bambara and/or other tribal languages.
SOUTH ASIA
Currently we don't have any of our own medical projects in South Asia. However, we do "second" medical workers to hospitals in this region. They all seem to have a very positive experience and we would be happy to continue sending people to these hospitals. Short-termers don't need any language besides English, but long-termers would want to learn one or two local languages to communicate with the local people.
One hospital is in an area which was struck by a devastating earthquake so was very involved with earthquake relief. The location is suitable for both long- and short-termers. The hospital can use doctors, midwives, nurses, and any other medical support professionals. English is enough for short-term, but long-term workers would want to learn a local language.