HEALING OR HARMING? EVALUATING PERSPECTIVES AND IMPACT OF SHORT-TERM MEDICAL CAMPS IN NEPALI COMMUNITIES

Medical volunteering, or “voluntourism, ” via short-term health camps is an increasingly popular way for doctors and paramedical staff to see a new region while still offering services to nearby under-serviced communities. In particular, these health camps are often propagated by the global north in largely low- and middle-income countries of the global south. Skeptics in literature point out that medical volunteers often lack cultural competence or knowledge of local health options in the community. Furthermore, ephemeral care is often too short to address chronic issues and prevents meaningful development of sustainable local healthcare. However, this literature often lacks the voices, perspectives, and first-hand lived experience of the communities intended to benefit from these health camps. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine different perspectives on short-term medical health camps in Nepal. By asking volunteers, organizers, existing health professionals, community members, and those receiving care, this research aims to uncover how medical camps affect, benefit and/or harm communities. Who organizes, volunteers, and engages in them––whether as a patient or medical profession––and why? What does existing literature say about short-term medical camps, and how the does lived experience of Nepali communities support or oppose these representations? This research follows two health camps: one in the remote Himalayas of the Gorkha district, and a second in the urban-rural hills of Kavre. Observations were conducted over the course of two weeks of trekking into the Nubri valley and over the course of five days in Panchkhal, Kavre. It examines the physical and historical context in which these health camps are conducted, the scholarship, reports, and articles that support and oppose the camps, and first-hand experience of patients, villagers, organizers, and medical staff.