OPT IN

While the NHS is not designed to provide care beyond the UK, many skilled employees of the NHS and willing to give up their own time in order to give something to poorer nations.

For this reason, the Overseas Partnering and Training Initiative (OPTIN) aims to link Leeds staff with a small number of healthcare providers in the developing world.

We have now established links with the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with Georgetown Public Hospital, in Guyana, South America, and with two Uganda hospitals (Kumi and Kamuli).

In many nations people have very limited access to healthcare. In Bangladesh, for example, there are only 10,000 doctors for 130 million people. In Uganda, the infant mortality is 99 per 1,000 live births, and life expectancy at birth is only 36 years. In Guyana, there are no neurosurgical services at all.

The reality is that most poor people do not even receive the most basic health care. And poor people make up the majority of the world's population.

To find out more please visit the OPT IN website at www.optin.uk.net