Background
Benin City, Nigeria is the location of an exciting African medical ministry. Medical students and residents are welcome for external rotations from one to two months in length. Many experiences are available depending on one's interests and/or requirements. These include outpatient clinics or in-patient services in maternity, medicine, surgery or pediatrics.

Duration
Minimum one month. Students are required to travel to sites when the site directors, the Drs. Babos, are in residence, which are selected times of the year.

Staff
The hospital is staffed with 10 full-time Nigerian trained physicians and a number of part-time specialists with support from an international director and visiting expatriate physicians.

Location
Benin City, Nigeria (Edo state capital, a 4 hour drive east of Lagos). Population is estimated at one million.
Branch Hospitals

A small branch hospital is located in Uyo (Akwa-Ibom state capital). A new clinic opened in the Nigerian capital of Abuja in September of 1999 and will later expand to a hospital as facilities are constructed.

Housing
Housing is provided for all short-term volunteers, usually within one of the apartments sharing the Mediplex compound. Apartments are simple, but adequate.

Food/Incidents Budget
A wide variety of food staples are available, including rice, potatoes and other vegetables. Tropical fruits are excellent and cheap. Beef, chicken, turkey, and pork are available. Milk and cheese are available, but expensive. You will not find packaged or processed foods or the same spices you may be used to.

Personal toiletries can be inferior or very expensive. It is advisable to bring these items with you.

$50 per week is an adequate budget for food and incidentals.

Visa
A passport valid for six months beyond your intended return is required.
Allow two months for visa approval. This is a two-step process of visa clearance processed in Nigeria ($50) and the visa application through the Nigerian Embassy in the U. S. ($95).

Immunizations
International yellow fever certificate is required. (Yellow fever is good for 10 years if you have had previously.)

Typhoid is recommended. (Good for three years if you have had previously.)

Hepatitis A&B are recommended.

Tetanus should be current.

Malaria prophylaxis (mefloquine) is recommended beginning two weeks prior to travel and continuing four weeks after you return.

Site Directors

International Directors:
Mark Babo, MD, FAAFP
Doreen Babo, MBA, DrPH
Contact Telephone: (504) 522-2740
Fax: (504) 524-9201
Email: dbabo@tulane.edu