Takoradi is perfect for a first visit to Africa as well as being one of the safest and most stable of the African nations. It is a microcosm of the continent and you can really take advantage of the stunning coastline, lush jungles, and lively Ghanaian culture. When you want home comforts, there are even beachside resorts to cool down on hot afternoons.

The Work the World House

The Work the World house - your home from home while on your clinical placement in Ghana. You’ll share the house with healthcare students and graduates worldwide, giving the house a vibrant social atmosphere.

Our house in Takoradi is based in a residential area close to the city centre. You can enjoy a variety of leisure activities. Soak up the sun, relax in the shade in our lush garden with a book, or take a refreshing dip in our private pool. There’s plenty of space for you and your housemates to study and chat about your days on placement, including two summer huts. 

After placement, you can explore the town. There are plenty of restaurants and bars to visit in the evenings, and a nearby hotel offers private beach and bar access. 

Read more about our accommodation.

In-Country Team

Management team: Based in the house, they oversee your entire clinical placement — 24/7 — from the moment you land to the moment you leaveCatering team: Cook a variety of both local cuisine and familiar home comforts, accommodating all dietary requirementsHousekeeper: Keeps the house clean and tidy from top to bottom, making sure you're comfortableLanguage teacher: Visits the house twice per-week. During their lessons, you’ll learn everyday phrases and clinical terminology to help you get more from your placementSecurity team: Monitor the house 24/7 for your peace of mind

Clinical Placements in Takoradi

Medical Placement, Ghana (Takoradi)

Medical Electives

On a medical elective in Ghana, you could see cases of conditions like diabetic gangrene (and resulting amputations), typhoid psychosis, and acute malaria. You can gain experience in areas like the ED, general medicine, orthopaedics and surgery. However, the way local staff practice, differs enormously from what you’re used to. Around 300 patients per week attend the hospital’s HIV clinic, and here you have plenty of opportunity to get heavily involved if interested. You can also get experience in the clinical laboratory that offer diagnoses and provides screened blood, and safe blood products.

+ More Medical Electives
Midwifery Placement, Ghana (Takoradi)

Midwifery Placements

If you’re a midwifery student, clinical experience in Ghana is second to none. We work with a government hospital and three smaller private clinics where you will get experience with live births and prenatal and postnatal care. You’ll see caesarean sections and breech births more commonly than you do at home. This is often the result of a distinct lack of prenatal care. Midwifery in Africa can be very different to what you're used to back home, an example being; women are expected to give birth in silence in Ghana, which is a cultural norm. This, and much more, will be eye opening. 

+ More Midwifery Placements
Physiotherapy Placement, Ghana (Takoradi)

Physiotherapy Placements

The regional hospital we’re partnered with in Ghana has a busy physiotherapy department. The department, which functions primarily as an outpatient unit, is professionally staffed and well equipped by west african standards. The unit handles an average of 20 cases per day, the majority of which are regular patients who attend a few times each week. You’ll encounter cases of stroke, post-operative rehabilitation, Bell’s palsy, and Erb's palsy among others. You’ll see that treatment here is focused around helping patients using gym equipment. You can also help create plans for patients so they can continue exercises at home.

+ More Physiotherapy Placements

Biomedical Science Placements

During your biomedical science placement in Ghana, you can garner experience in the clinical laboratory, learning the local approach to diagnoses, screening blood, and ensuring the production of safe blood products. In terms of cases, you could encounter conditions like diabetic gangrene (often leading to amputations), acute malaria, and even typhoid psychosis. More broadly, you can spend time in departments like A&E, general medicine, orthopaedics, and surgery. Regardless of where you choose to spend time, you’ll see that practises in Takoradi diverge significantly from what you’re used to seeing. The hospital's HIV clinic, attended by approximately 300 patients each week, offers you the chance to gain substantial insight if you opt for it.

+ More Biomed Placements

Paramedic Science Placements

On a paramedic science placement, you can get experience in the largest and best-equipped hospital in Takoradi. In this case, ‘best-equipped’ doesn’t mean well equipped, especially when compared to what you’re used to in Australia. The ED here is open plan, but has separate areas for paediatrics and minor surgeries. When the department gets busy, it’s often difficult to tell where one area ends and the other begins. You’ll have the chance to exchange knowledge and skills with local Ghanaian students, which you’ll find enormously insightful. You’ll also see how local culture impacts how local professionals deliver care.

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Nursing Placement, Ghana (Takoradi)

Nursing Placements

Thanks to our well-established hospital partnerships in Ghana, a nursing placement here will give you the choice of rotating through a range of departments. Areas like female and male surgical are popular, but there's also opportunity to do some community outreach depending on your field of interest. NICU is an exciting department, as is emergency where there are regularly cases of major trauma. There is also an HIV clinic in which you can come to understand the difficulties faced by local professionals and the communities in which they work.

+ More Nursing Placements
Radiography Placement, Ghana (Takoradi)

Radiography Placements

Radiography departments in Ghana are rarely, if ever, as well equipped as equivalent departments at home. As such, you can get experience with much older X-ray machines (including developing scans on film in a darkroom), ultrasound machines and MRI machines. A broad range of cases are referred to our partner hospitals from smaller clinics in the surrounding communities. This means you’ll observe and analyse a range of conditions. You can expect to observe and help conduct procedures including hysterosalpingograms, barium meals, ureothograms. fistulagrams, IVU, fractures, and tuberculosis.

+ More Radiography Placements
Pharmacy Placement, Ghana (Takoradi)

Pharmacy Placements

Pharmacy placements in Ghana will live up to, if not surpass your expectations. You will experience a clinically focused placement alongside department staff including supervisors. You’ll also undertake ward rounds and require a number of new skills along the way. What’s more, you can observe the inner workings of a lab where medicines like unbranded aspirin are made.

+ More Pharmacy Placements
Dentistry Electives, Ghana (Takoradi)

Dentistry Electives

Clinical experience for dentistry student in Ghana is an entirely unique experience. With a good number of patients coming through the door, spending time in the departments in our partner hospitals and clinics is anything but dull. As part of your dentistry placement in Ghana, you can get experience with more familiar practices like preventive health checks, or even undertake an observational placement in the ENT department. It may also be possible for you to head out into the community to conduct outreach clinics, depending on when you arrive.

+ More Dentistry Electives

VILLAGE HEALTHCARE WEEK

After your main placement in Takoradi, you can spend a week in a bustling fishing village. This is an amazing way to get insight into Ghanaian culture at the rural level. In the mornings, you’ll go to the village’s healthcare centre and head out to local primary schools to conduct community outreach. In the afternoons, you’ll get lessons in culture — bringing in the day’s catch with local fisherman, taking trips across the nearby lagoon in a locally built canoe, visiting the local gin distillery, walking through the shallow sea to explore a ruined castle on an offshore island, and walking coastal trails along stretches of unspoiled beach with not a tourist in sight.

VILLAGE EXPERIENCE

Community Outreach Experience

  • Unique to Takoradi, spend time outside of a hospital setting to deepen your clinical experience 
  • See how clinical staff overcome the challenges of delivering primary healthcare in a disadvantaged community
  • Screen patients from a social demographic not typically present in our regional hospital
  • Get directly involved with tasks like checking blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, and dressing wounds
  • A senior member of clinical staff from our regional partner hospital will supervise your experience

Please note that you need to organise this with our in-country team. There is no additional cost. A maximum of four students can attend at a time.

"Being able to talk and discuss experiences with my housemates was invaluable. Sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly is so important and cathartic when navigating your time spent here".

Daniel Payne, University of the West of England (UWE) 2024

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"I spent two weeks in A&E. It was so eye-opening in terms of approaches to healthcare in a low-resource setting".

Megan Capuzzimati, University College Cork 2024

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"Everyone at the house is so friendly, and you feel immediately welcome. The chefs are the best, the food was incredible. They can cater for all dietary requirements".

Abigail Cooper, Edge Hill University 2024

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"The teams’ medical knowledge was amazing. It was the lack of resources, access to healthcare and cost which made the healthcare system in Ghana so different".

Olivia Gemmill, University of Leicester 2024

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"The confidence I have gained has completely changed me as a student and even as person. If you are thinking about doing something like this, my advice would be 100% JUST DO IT!"

Katie Hudson, University of Lincoln 2022

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WHAT HEALTHCARE DISCIPLINES DO WORK THE WORLD CATER FOR?

Work the World organise supervised medical electives and clinical placements for the following disciplines: - 1. Medical  2. Nursing 3. Midwifery 4. Physiotherapy 5. Radiography 6. Pharmacy 7. Dentistry 8. Occupational Therapy 9. Paramedic Science 10. Biomedical Science

WHAT IS THE WORK THE WORLD HOUSE LIKE IN GHANA?

The house in Takoradi is based in a residential area close to the city centre. The walled outdoor area has lush gardens so you can soak up the rays, relax in the shade with a book, challenge your housemates to a game of volleyball, or go for a dip in the private pool.

WHAT TRAVELLING OPPORTUNITIES ARE THERE FOR ME WHILST I’M IN GHANA?

Takoradi is perfect for a first visit to Africa as well as being one of the safest and most stable of the African nations, it is a microcosm of the continent and you can really take advantage of the stunning coastline, lush jungles, and lively Ghanaian culture. When you want home comforts, there are even beachside resorts to cool down on hot afternoons.