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About the International Center for Equal Healthcare Access (ICEHA)

ICEHA is an international not-for-profit organization that engages healthcare professionals to rapidly transfer their expertise on HIV care and infectious diseases to colleagues in developing countries, using an innovative method of clinical mentoring. Unlike other organizations, ICEHA volunteer clinical mentors do not provide HIV care directly. Instead, they equip local caregivers with the skills needed to take care of their own patients. As a result, thousands of patients receive HIV care when none existed before, care delivered by their own healthcare providers, within existing resource limitations.

While prices of antiretroviral drugs (ARV) have been lowered to the current level of $140 per patient, per year, the implementation of successful treatment and prevention programs has been severely hampered by the lack of practical clinical expertise and operational systems required for HIV delivery.

In order to increase the overall capacity of national healthcare systems to respond to HIV and infectious diseases, ICEHA leverages the wealth of expertise from resource-rich countries in a way that is relevant for the resource-poor settings. Our clinical mentoring program was specifically designed to rapidly scale up the skills of local healthcare staff in developing countries. In each country, ICEHA's endeavors have lead directly to significant increases in the number of patients in HIV care and on AIDS treatment as well as to a significant improvement in overall care provided. Within 4-5 months of clinical mentoring, a clinic typically increases its patient flow from 0 to 1,200 patients, with care being provided directly by local healthcare workers.

International Voluntary Service Activities

The goal of ICEHA's clinical mentors is to give colleagues in developing nations the practical skills and operational systems necessary to deliver the best care possible within the existing resource limitations. ICEHA recruits, screens, and prepares the volunteer clinical mentors prior to their deployment while providing quality control during their field assignments. Clinical mentors typically donate between 6 to 12 weeks of their time to provide clinical mentoring in clinics in the public sector in developing countries. All expenses are paid, and stipends are available for longer assignments. In order to ensure effectiveness and optimal program implementation, ICEHA works by invitation of a government or a local non governmental organization (NGO) only.

ICEHA was incorporated in 2001, and its clinical mentors are currently working in Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Lesotho, the South Pacific Islands, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam with additional countries to start in 2007. As of August 1, 2006, ICEHA clinical mentors have completed over 3,000 days of clinical mentoring and trained over 400 local health workers. Scale-up is rapid. Our network of volunteer clinical mentors continues to grow and currently consists of over 300 healthcare professionals. 98% of participating clinical mentors have indicated that they would like to participate again in the future, while 25% plan to participate in repeat assignments within 12 months of their initial field positions.

In the past 12 months, 54 healthcare professionals have volunteered with ICEHA. Due to rapid growth and the additional of new country programs, it is expected that close to 100 volunteers will be deployed over the next twelve months.

Volunteer for Prosperity Opportunities
Number of Opportunities	75
Geographic Regions	Asia, Africa
Health & Prosperity Sectors	HIV/AIDS, Health
Types of Opportunities	Technical
Average Duration of Projects	6-12 weeks
Volunteer Profile Summary
ICEHA is recruiting experienced healthcare professionals willing to spend 6 or more weeks providing HIV clinical mentoring to local healthcare workers in developing countries. Positions are available for a variety of health professionals including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, lab technicians, and social workers, health educators, and others with HIV experience. ICEHA clinical mentor volunteers build capacity by training healthcare workers in developing countries. Tasks include bedside training for physicians and nurses on HIV/AIDS care; regular seminars on topics related to HIV/AIDS care; clinical assistance to local clinicians during rounds and patient consultants; training nurses and other local healthcare workers on a variety of topics related to HIV/AIDS including HIV prevention, treatment monitoring, counseling, adherence, case management, improving access to services, and service integration; and provision of operational expertise to clinics emphasizing stock management and dispensing procedure. For more information or to apply to volunteer, please visit www.iceha.org or email Karina Glaser at glaser@iceha.org.