Cuzco Medical Volunteering

I am fundraising to help purchase medical supplies for the clinic I will be volunteering in and to purchase children's multi-vitamins for the Vitamin Campaign.

From December 31^st 2012 I will be volunteering for a month in a rural medical clinic for poverty-stricken families in Cusco, Peru. Medical volunteer placements involve taking vital signs, sterilising equipment, wound dressings, immunisations and supporting the existing staff. In addition I will be assisting disabled children to undertake activities of daily living such as feeding, bathing and playing, visit local orphanages in the evenings to check on the health status of the children and have the opportunity to teach English.

Although many areas in Peru are thriving, 70% of the Southern Andean region remains poverty stricken. World Health Organisation statistics consistently demonstrate rural Peruvians face immense health disparities; most appallingly highlighting while there are an average of 1,121 registered nurses per 100,000 Australians there are only 12 nurses for the same number of rural Peruvians. Rural Peruvians also suffer higher incidences of childhood mortality and communicable diseases are endemic.

I will also contribute significantly to IVHQ Vitamin Campaign, wherein volunteers are asked to bring chewable multivitamin tablets for children. The aim of the Vitamin Campaign is to reduce the high levels of chronic malnourishment that affect almost 50% of Peruvian school aged children.

These health disparities rural Peruvians are faced with have motivated me to use my nursing skills to make a difference in the lives of others.