Health disparities persist among several populations globally and doctors are well-placed to advocate for better health outcomes among the population they serve thereby promoting health equity. According to the literature, medical educators have the capacity to produce socially responsible medical doctors who have competency in health advocacy in addition to their clinical knowledge. However, apart from being taught the determinants of health, little, or no real-live experience is given to medical students in social medicine and health advocacy to enable them to develop the necessary skills in this area. At the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in Pretoria, South Africa, Medical Volunteerism was offered as a selective course during the 2016 academic year. It entails engagement of the medical students in activities that tied them with the primary burden of providing service to an identified community, where they plan and participate in an organized activity that meets the identified needs of such community. This article describes the structure, content, and outcomes of this curriculum. The feedback from students and other stakeholders were strongly positive, the students rated the course highly in a variety of instances, including appropriateness of lecture topics, presentation of the course contents, course materials, effectiveness of teaching and level of students' participation. The average overall rating for the course was 8.4 based on a ten-point scale. Furthermore, the students acknowledged that it contributed to their personal development in terms of social activism in health. In conclusion, medical volunteerism selective has positive impact that is measurable, support should be given to students and facilitators who are interested in implementing similar selective as it has the potential of reinforcing certain values in medical students that could motivate them to have increased desire to work with underserved communities after graduation.
Medical Volunteerism in Times of COVID-19: Burden or Relief?
