What do Unite For Sight volunteers do? Our Global Impact Corps volunteers come from very diverse backgrounds, including those interested in public health, medicine, international development, social entrepreneurship, and the social sciences. They work with local doctors to eliminate patient barriers to care for patients living in extreme poverty. They assist with patient education, visual acuity screening, patient intake, distributing the glasses and medication prescribed by the local eye doctors, and other important support tasks. They also have the opportunity to observe the surgeries provided by the local doctors. Additionally, volunteers may participate in the Global Impact Lab, an optional program for those interested in pursuing global health research. For example, we currently have volunteers pursuing research studies about medication management, the use of visual resources for patient education, traditional medicine practices, and patient barriers to care.
What do volunteers say? "I gained a vast basin of knowledge not only about eye health, but also on the healthcare infrastructure, patient interactions, and management systems of the developing world. Reading about health issues in the news or in class became stark reality during my summer in Dhenkanal, and I now aim to reinvigorate my efforts to study and contribute to the field of international health." Pallavi Basu, Global Impact Fellow. See more volunteer accounts at http://www.uniteforsight.org/
Locations of Year-Round Programs:
(volunteer for 7 days, 15 days, 20 days, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks, or more)
- Ghana Program
- Tegucigalpa, Honduras Program
- Chennai, India Program
- Patna, India Program
- Dhenkanal, India Program