Nutrition Dietetics and Health Volunteering Fiji

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Project Type

Home Stay Placement | Specialist Nutrition, Diabetes care, Public Health, dietetics, nutritional consulting, community development and education

Duration

1 Week+ 

Who can Apply?

Ideally, Qualified practitioners and/or any student studying in the discipline of health science or related fields.  Volunteers without qualifications in this field a apply and depending on your desire and experience, you may be accepted into the program

Start Dates

Projects generally start on Monday’s with Sunday being the best time to arrive.  The project runs all year except during Christmas and depending on the local holiday calendar, there may be brief periods where the project is not running. During these times, we arrange for similar work projects.

Location

Lautoka & Nadi

Background Information

According to a study in 2013, almost 1 in 3 Fijian’s is now diabetic and within the next 5 years this is projected to increase to 50%.  Obesity is a serious issue for island communities due to a lack of public health education in the face of cheap imported high carbohydrate and fatty foods There is also a huge increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as a result of poor diet, in particular diabetes and heart disease.

IVI’s nutrition programs generally cater to recent graduates with nutrition, dietetics or natural health backgrounds seeking valuable work experience in Fiji.  Depending on the time of year and participant numbers, you’ll participate in structured outreach programs and/or work within busy health clinics shadowing qualified health professionals and/or conducting free assessments as well as general help and assistance where needed.

Health Clinic Volunteering

Provide assistance to a busy health center which provides health care services to all, regardless of income and nationality.  With up to 70 patients per day, this is a real challenge for the local staff who need help in the following areas;

• General Outpatient services
• Free Nutrition Consultations and blood screening analysis
• NCD Clinic care
• Preventative health education services
• Maternal Child Health clinics
• Family Planning services
• Specialist services such as Obstetrics & Gynaecology
• Outreach specialist services & community health promotion activity
• Complex medical conditions
• ‘Health Promotion for Wellness’ activities in the community by our staff and Community Health Workers.
• Rural Women’s awareness, education and empowerment in Reproductive Health
• Research, training and education

Community Outreach 

As a volunteer on the Nutrition care project you’ll work in rural communities in Fiji who do not have easy access to healthcare. With support and assistance from the program coordinators, you will be assigned specific health cases and will be involved with but not limited to:

– Conducting one on one nutrition consultations
– Health symposiums
– Corporate health
– Children’s health & education
– Identifying protein deficiency among school kids
– Assisting in the prescription of natural protocols
– Providing educational assistance and local talks (if desired
– Helping build nutrition and diabetes awareness campaigns
– Designing fitness and exercise programs
– Family health empowerment (house to house visits)
– Village exercise programs
– Healthy living advertising, marketing and administrative assistance
– Natural detoxification programs
– General healthy living programs.

This is a varied program in which volunteers should be willing to ‘go with the flow’ as things operate at a slower pace in Fiji than what many are used to in their home countries.

Volunteers may also take part in presentations on exercise and living an active lifestyle, with topics such as healthy eating, sexual health and physical activity for school children.

Who Can Participate

Ideally, Qualified Nutritionists, Naturopaths, Dietitians or students studying in a health discipline.  You will be working along side qualified health practitioners and representing government affiliated networks. Volunteers without qualifications in this field are still encouraged to apply and depending on your desire and experience, you may be accepted into the program.

Accommodation

Stay with a family in a western style house and join in their daily life.  Some homestays include self contained flats and you can chose to share with a volunteer if you prefer twin share.

Meals

Meals are included and served at the host family for breakfast and dinner with lunch on site.  A typical day may consist of (subject to variation):

• Breakfast – cereal, bread, butter etc, tea, coffee, milo.  Volunteers can make their own eggs should they wish.
• Lunch – Volunteers to prepare their own sandwich. Tuna, cold meat, salad, eggs.   Some prefer to take left over dinner from the night before for lunch.
• Dinner – Cooked meal (eg. stews, soups, curries, fish, roast vegetables, taro, sweet potato, bread, rice etc.

Visa Requirements

It is the responsibility of all participants to obtain any necessary visas.  Please note that the Fijian government has recently introduced a volunteer visa which has a cost of $190FJD (approx $100 USD)

Required Items

Warm clothes for evenings, sleeping bag, hat, sunscreen, towel, mosquito repellent and basic toiletries.