The International Center for Equal Healthcare Access

The goal of all of ICEHA’s programs is to ensure that local health workers have the skills needed to care for their own HIV-infected patients. To accomplish this, ICEHA has hundreds of very experienced HIV doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and counselors available to volunteer 6 weeks of their time in developing countries. ICEHA’s clinical mentor volunteers do not provide direct patient care; instead they deliver hands-on, practical training and coaching to local healthcare providers.
ICEHA's programs form an integral part of national or district strategies to combat the HIV epidemic. This means that we ensure that all of our clinical mentor volunteers study the national or local HIV guidelines for the country they will be going to in advance and conduct all of their mentoring and training in the context of those guidelines.
For sustainability reasons, ICEHA caters completely towards the resources available within a given setting. We do not attempt to change the material resources available, but rather work to optimize the quality of healthcare delivered despite the existing resource limitations.

After reviewing these operating principles, if you believe that ICEHA would be able to provide the kind of assistance that would be beneficial to you, please fill out our application to receive volunteers which is available by clicking here or by emailing Katie Graves-Abe, ICEHA's Director of Operations, at .

Step 2: Review application, local logistics and budget
After receiving your completed application, ICEHA will arrange a telephone call or meeting with your organization to discuss the clinical mentoring program and the logistics involved in implementing a program.

ICEHA does not open local offices in each country but rather forms close partnerships with local organizations which become responsible for coordinating local logistics and local program management in partnership with ICEHA. In discussion with ICEHA, your organization will need to determine if you can be responsible for organizing local logistics for the mentoring program, including:

Organizing a 2-day orientation for mentors for when they arrive in country including: review of the health system and HIV care, cultural issues, safety and security, and other introductory information
Arranging lodging, transportation, interpreters (if needed) and other local logistics for the clinical mentors
Preparing the clinic or hospital sites for the arrival of the clinical mentors
Providing local support for the clinical mentors during their assignments

In addition, ICEHA will discuss proposed budget plans with you. ICEHA recruits, screens, and prepares the volunteer clinical mentors prior to sending them to clinics in developing countries. None of the costs that occur in the West as a result of our screening and preparation process have to be paid for by the clinics in the developing countries. However we do favor that the local clinic, organization, or Ministries of Health who request our assistance pay for the local living expenses of the clinical mentors, including economy class plane ticket, transportation, accommodation, and meals. All of our volunteer clinical mentors do not expect to live in luxury housing, but rather in basic, clean, and safe accommodation. The preliminary budget will be based on your organization’s assessments of what the costs are in the country.

If your organization is unable to obtain funding to cover the plane tickets for the clinical mentors, but is able to pay for the accommodation, meals, transportation, and other local costs of the mentors, ICEHA may be able to assist you in looking for an outside funder to cover the costs of the plane tickets. Please be in touch with ICEHA if you would like to discuss this option.

Step 3: Discuss program details
ICEHA and the local partner organization will discuss the details of the program, including the number and type of healthcare workers to be trained at each site, number and location of clinics, availability of HIV medications, and the training needs of each clinic. Based on this, ICEHA will identify the type of clinical mentor volunteers that will be needed and a preliminary timeline will be developed.

Step 4: Sign a Letter of Agreement
Once funding has been secured and the logistics of the mentoring program are sorted out, ICEHA and the local partner organization will sign a Letter of Agreement laying out the parameters of the program. ICEHA can provide a general version of the Letter of Agreement for the local partner organization to review and modify according to the specific program. ICEHA may also conduct a site visit at this time.

Step 5: Implementation
ICEHA will identify clinical mentor volunteer candidates for the program and will provide the local partner organization with information for the proposed volunteers. After the local partner has reviewed this information and approved the candidates, the volunteers will be deployed as per the timeline developed. ICEHA and the local partner will work together on implementing the logistics involved.