Discover your Inner Global Champion!

HEALTH VOLUNTEERS OVERSEAS: Vietnam’s First Neonatal Dermatology Workshop

After a long hiatus as COVID-19 shut down borders and stalled travel, HVO began sending volunteers overseas once again. This summer, volunteer Dr. Mark Koh Jean Aan, clinical associate professor and head and senior consultant at the Department of Dermatology of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Singapore, headed to Hue University of Medicine and […]

5 nonprofits to celebrate for World Health Day

Mothers sitting with their newborns in the pediatric wing

Spring has officially sprung, and the excitement of this time of year is always a great feeling – especially after a long winter with several snow days and quarantine periods resulting from new waves of COVID-19. Though winter is behind us, continuing to combat COVID-19 and promote overall health around the world are top of […]

HEALTH VOLUNTEERS OVERSEAS: Timing, creativity and technology

Timing, creativity and technology

Timing can be everything! Who would have thought that a project conceived in 2019 would be so important and beneficial during the pandemic? Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital (SKMH) in Kampot, Cambodia was identified as a pilot site for a new HVO partnership with World Telehealth Initiative (WTI), a non-profit organization that utilizes telehealth technology to […]

HEALTH VOLUNTEERS OVERSEAS: COVID-19 – Challenges & Creativity

Station 1 - Basic Procedure

The anesthesiology department at Hue University in Vietnam had to postpone a workshop scheduled for April, 2020 due to COVID. They got creative and worked with HVO volunteers to successfully conduct an airway management course with 5 learning stations and several lectures in late November even though no volunteers were there in person. Virtual support […]

HVO through the years: Interview with Nancy Kelly

Health Volunteers Overseas logo over photo of medical professions grouped around a medical bed

In the last several months, the world’s health care systems have significantly been tested, as the new coronavirus spread swiftly across the globe, including a shortage of staff. But many have been sounding the alarm on an impending deficit of medical personnel for years, long before COVID-19 was a known disease. In 2017, a medical […]

HEALTH VOLUNTEERS OVERSEAS: Supporting Strong Leaders to Strengthen Health Systems

When Fanuel Bellet, MD attended the 2018 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting, he was just five months from completing his residency at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania. “I’ll be finishing my training in August,” Dr. Bellet noted during the meeting. “So from there, I’ll be moving to Haydom Lutheran […]

HEALTH VOLUNTEERS OVERSEAS: Training Future Global Health Leaders

“Nothing is more rewarding than observing the progress and accomplishments of people that you helped mentor,” notes Dr. Mark Duster, a pediatric cardiologist and volunteer with Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO). HVO is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that recruits expert volunteers like Dr. Duster to provide education, training and professional mentorship to health workers in resource-scarce […]

Health Volunteers Overseas – 30 years of partnership to bring health care to all

HVO photo with boy and woman

There is an unspoken need worldwide for something essential – health care providers. We hear regularly about the need for health care that is accessible both regionally and financially, but what exactly does it mean to need health care providers? A lack of providers results in a lack of health care. This could be everything […]