Are you interested in working in healthcare and would like to take that passion abroad? While getting a medical degree abroad might not be in the cards for you, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities for you to see the world while contributing to the healthcare profession.

If you're more interested in contributing and making meaningful experiences while traveling instead, you may want to check out WWOOF USA! In the meantime, we'll be covering the healthcare sector in specific.

If you are enrolled in or have been accepted on a professional healthcare degree, Work The World offers healthcare internships in Mexico and certain countries in Asia and Africa. Read on to find out more!

What is Work The World?

Work The World offers clinical unpaid internships for students and recently qualified healthcare professionals. They have internship opportunities in various disciplines, which include medical, nursing, midwifery, physical therapy, pharmacy, radiology, OT, dentistry, and paramedicine.

Internships run year long and can be done for any period of at least one week, so you can start your placement at any time during the year. They help provide customized medical internships by partnering with hospitals local to the areas where they offer placements.

You have the option to choose the destination where you’d like to go, as well as the departments you’d like to rotate through (depending on what you’re studying). You will work in your placement hospital Monday - Friday but will have evenings and weekends off to travel and explore the city where you’ve chosen to volunteer!

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How much is Work The World?

While participating in a Work The World internship is unpaid, there are fees associated with taking part in the placement. In order to participate in a Work The World internship, you must pay a registration fee, as well as a placement cost.

The registration fee starts at $400 USD to secure your place for your chosen internship. Placement costs start at $1590 USD but vary based on duration and location.

The placement cost includes an internship coordinator to help you with the process, a supervised and customized hospital placement for the duration of your internship, private and fully catered accommodation, airport pickup, twice-weekly language lessons, and 24/7 support from the in-country team. Accommodation includes WiFi, food for all your meals (with breakfast and dinner being prepared by an in-house catering team), and the opportunity to live with fellow students from around the world taking part in your placement.

Further pricing information and what’s included can be found on their website here.

You will also have access to MyTrip, the online internship planner that gives you access to an interactive timeline, preparation checklists, language lesson videos, guides for your placement city and information about where you’ll be staying as well. You can connect with your future housemates and read up on further information about where you’ll be headed for your internships such as currency guides, insurance requirements, and insights into the local culture. 

Not included in your placement costs are any fees associated with your flights, insurance, visas, vaccinations, or travel you wish to do outside of your work hours. 

For an additional fee, you can add on a “village healthcare week,” where you’ll have the opportunity to do a five-day clinical placement in a rural setting. Transport to and from the rural village is included in the cost for the week. This placement is in addition to your city-based placement and is only available in certain cities. The cost for a village healthcare week's add-on starts at $750 USD. 

In order to apply, you must first submit an inquiry where you inform Work The World about your interests as well as your current level of study, which can be found at the bottom of their website. They will then get in touch to discuss your eligibility and answer any questions you may have. After your eligibility is confirmed, you can then submit an application form and pay the registration fee. From there, your placement and availability will be confirmed within 24 hours.

Where can you go with Work The World?

While Work The World offers a variety of placement options, they have specific locations from which you can choose for your internship. This is due to the hospital partnerships that they have in place. They are as follows: 

• Yogyakarta, Indonesia
• Kandy, Sri Lanka
• Takoradi, Ghana
• Lusaka, Zambia
• Merida, Mexico
• Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Hue, Vietnam
• Iloilo, The Philippines
• Kathmandu, Nepal
• Pokhara, Nepal
• Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Work The World, unfortunately, does not offer internships in any other location, but you can choose to do any of the disciplines within those locations. If you need a visa to visit your chosen country, Work The World will help facilitate that process and guide you if need be to ensure you can legally participate in the internship. 

Work The World Contact

If you’re looking to contact Work The World outside of their inquiry space, you can do so via email. There are US, UK, Netherlands, and Australia offices you can contact, although their preferred method of contact is through the inquiry form. There is also an official emergency phone number for people during their time volunteering that is manned around the clock. ‍

Work The World Reviews

To read past experiences of people who have participated in Work The World internships, you can check out their review page to sort through by specific discipline or destination. It is important to keep in mind, though, that these reviews are the ones that Work The World deemed best for their website.

In searching through reviews on other sites, the consensus was mainly positive about both the experience and the company. The few negative reviews seemed to mainly pertain to Work The World’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Based on feedback, Work The World didn’t offer refunds to those unable to participate, or unable to complete their placement, due to the pandemic, but rather offered participants the opportunity to rejoin their placements at a later date, regardless of if their student status had changed. Due to this, it would seem that once you have committed to a placement, the fees associated are nonrefundable, which is something to keep in mind if you aren’t 100% committed to taking part in the placement. 

So, is Work The World for me?

If you’re looking for healthcare internships abroad, Work The World is a great resource to help you not only gain a hospital placement in your chosen discipline but also to help facilitate the process. While it is not the cheapest program, depending on your end goals, the experience might be worth the attached cost for you.

If Work The World sounds of interest to you, be sure to take your first step in the process by submitting an inquiry using the form at the bottom of their web page. Whether taking part in a healthcare internship is your dream, or you’d like to just see the world through travel, make sure you check out Pilot for itinerary planning, ways to connect with other like-minded travelers and to help organize your dream adventure!