Midwifery Elective Placements Abroad

A midwifery elective abroad is a supervised maternity placement where midwifery students observe antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care in a different healthcare system. Most placements last 4 weeks (minimum 2), combining structured clinical learning with the chance to see a different healthcare system. With Med Trips, every midwifery elective is supervised in a vetted hospital and supported by an in-country team, with medical insurance included in the programme fee.

You learn most from a midwifery elective when the destination, hospital and specialty match your stage of training and your career interest. Read on for where to go, what it costs, who can apply, and how to fund it.

• Broaden Clinical Knowledge
  Support local midwives in busy labour, antenatal, and postnatal wards. Witness and assist in spontaneous deliveries, C-sections, family planning sessions, and management of complications.

• Cultural Insights
  Understand how tradition, religion, and limited resources shape birth and women’s health. Explore the ways midwives provide care and education in settings quite different from your country.

• Build Adaptability and Confidence
  Enhance your ability to calmly and efficiently support birthing people under a wide range of circumstances. Learn to improvise care when standard equipment or medications aren’t available.

• Contribute Meaningfully
  Support mother-and-baby units facing high patient loads and restricted amenities. Your presence brings encouragement and capacity to teams often stretched thin.

Midwifery placements are available in the following destinations :-

• Tanzania
• Ghana
• Morocco
• Sri Lanka
• Kenya
• Peru

• Midwifery students and new graduates

• Pre-university students considering a midwifery career

Associated career paths

Some of the associated career paths that can be taken by students doing this internship are :

• Gynecologist

•  Obstetrician

•  Midwife

•  Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner

•  Maternity Nurse

•  Reproductive Endocrinologist

•  Ultrasound Technician (OB/GYN) 

•  Public Health Specialist (Women’s Health Focus)

Use this comparison to shortlist destinations, then go deeper on the ones that fit your goals:

For exact dates, prices and what’s included at each destination, see our placement search and prices.

You rarely have to pay for a midwifery elective abroad on your own. Most students combine two or three of these sources:

• Royal-college and professional-body bursaries — small, competitive awards tied to midwifery.
• Your university’s elective fund — almost every UK school has one; competition is lower than national schemes.
• Charitable trusts and foundations — general and niche awards for students travelling or training.
• EU mobility schemes (Erasmus+) for students in Italy, Spain and other EU countries.
• Fundraising — events, sponsors and an online profile reliably cover the rest.

See our full guides: elective funding — bursaries, grants & Erasmus+ for UK / US / Italy / Spain students, and our fundraising hub with step-by-step guides to events, sponsors, online profiles and getting your message out.