How work exchange strengthens health services
Through work exchange, healthcare professionals share knowledge across borders. Here you can explore results from health projects supported by Norec between 2022 and 2025.
The projects have contributed to better access to healthcare, increased knowledge and more inclusive health systems. Many of the results relate to prevention and healthcare services for vulnerable groups.
450 000
working hours
360
people on work exchange
58
organisations
This page brings together results from projects that contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being. The figures cover Norec's entire health portfolio and are taken from Norec's project and results database as of 9 June 2026.
Together, the figures provide an overview of the impact of work exchange across Norec's health projects.
Overall results from health projects
Norec-supported work exchanges have strengthened health services and healthcare expertise, from patient care and knowledge sharing in hospitals to health education for vulnerable groups.
Below, you can explore what the exchanges have contributed to across different areas of health. More detailed results are presented under Results achieved.
Thematic areas
- Communicable diseases: Through community outreach and health education, projects have reached people in areas with high rates of infectious disease with information, testing and referrals for treatment.
- Digitalisation: Several projects have introduced digital platforms for knowledge sharing and patient follow-up.
- Health and healthcare services: Healthcare professionals on work exchange have helped strengthen treatment and expertise at hospitals in several countries, particularly in surgery, anaesthesia, emergency medicine and newborn care.
- Knowledge and capacity building: Through work exchange, partner organisations have strengthened their expertise and shared knowledge about nutrition, hygiene and prevention.
- Mental health and substance use: Healthcare professionals on work exchange have treated patients and helped strengthen mental health and substance use services.
- Quality of life and inclusion: Through sports and other activities, projects have created safe and inclusive spaces for children and young people.
- Rehabilitation: Doctors, physiotherapists and occupational therapists on work exchange have helped strengthen rehabilitation services in several countries.
- Research: Work exchange has enabled joint research, and findings from the projects have been used in dialogue with authorities and professional communities.
- Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR): Through health education, girls, young people and other vulnerable groups have gained knowledge about their bodies, health and rights.
Health services
During the period, 84 participants worked directly with patient care in Norec-supported health projects. These healthcare professionals took part in work exchanges in Kenya, Malawi, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, South Africa and Zanzibar.
They treated patients in areas including emergency medicine, trauma care, surgery, anaesthesia, intensive care and rehabilitation, newborn care, mental health, and maternal and child health. In doing so, they helped improve healthcare services for more patients.
Results achieved
- Cultural understanding: Healthcare professionals reported improved cross-cultural competence. In Norec's participant survey, 71 per cent said that the exchange had made them better able to provide high-quality services.
- Digitalisation: Healthcare professionals have strengthened their skills in the use of digital and online platforms, improving knowledge sharing and clinical follow-up in several projects. In Nepal, 162 people in nine communities received online rehabilitation services.
- Emergency medicine: At George Mukhari Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, knowledge sharing between healthcare professionals has led to better and more structured trauma assessments and improved handovers of patient information. Healthcare professionals also reported better interdisciplinary communication. Waiting times in the emergency department fell from 72 to 24 hours.
- Hygiene: Two hospitals in India have introduced the WHO protocol for hand hygiene, with compliance close to 100 per cent. This has contributed to improved hygiene in neonatal units.
- Mental health and substance use: Mental health services have been strengthened at several institutions in Zanzibar. Services for detoxification and recovery have also been established in collaboration with Sober Houses.
- Newborn care: At Lady Hardinge and Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital in New Delhi, India, around 35 per cent of premature babies now receive colostrum shortly after birth. More than 75 per cent of mothers receive follow-up by phone, and the hospitals have introduced a standardised protocol for pain management in newborns (ALPS-Neo).
- Rehabilitation: Doctors and physiotherapists on work exchange have helped make leprosy and rehabilitation services more accessible in Nepal and Kenya. At Anandaban Hospital in Nepal, 188 patients started treatment. At Kamuzu Central Hospital in Malawi, trauma patients have gained access to early physiotherapy and high-quality rehabilitation.
- Surgery and anaesthesia: At Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Malawi, the number of neurosurgical operations increased from 400 in 2020 to 700 in 2022 through a partnership with Oslo University Hospital. Anaesthesiologists have received specialist training, while nurses and managers have strengthened their leadership skills.
Health education for vulnerable groups
A total of 166 participants have worked in projects providing health education. Together, they contributed almost 255,000 working hours to these projects.
Health education helps people learn about available healthcare services and their rights to access them. This work takes place in areas affected by high rates of communicable disease, cycles of poverty and limited public support for vulnerable families and Indigenous peoples.
Health education activities have taken place in 11 countries.
Results achieved
- Infectious disease prevention: Through community outreach in Malawi and Zambia, almost 1,000 young people were referred to healthcare services. Of these, 142 who tested positive for HIV were referred for treatment in their communities. In Bangladesh, 789 people from marginalised groups were tested for HIV. The work particularly targeted LGBTQ+ people.
- Maternal health: In Sylhet in north-eastern Bangladesh, 112 young mothers received support to attend regular antenatal and postnatal check-ups. In the Habibari region, 700 women received guidance on nutrition for their children. The materials were adapted for people with limited literacy.
- Menstruation and education: Several projects have helped ensure that girls can attend school while menstruating. At Chikupi Primary School in Zambia, girls no longer miss school because of menstruation. At ten secondary schools in Sunamganj, Bangladesh, “hygiene corners” have given more than 3,000 girls access to sanitary pads and information about menstrual hygiene. This has helped reduce stigma and encourage more open conversations about menstruation. Information and conversations about sexuality have gained acceptance partly because those sharing the knowledge come from another country and are not themselves part of the local community.
- Radio: More than 40 radio programmes have been produced for almost one million listeners in marginalised communities in Nepal and Bangladesh. The programmes are based on surveys and dialogue with local communities.
- Research: The work exchange projects have carried out joint research, and staff have received training in research-based methods. Eight academic articles on eye health and infant health have been published. Three action research studies have been used in dialogue and advocacy to improve nutrition services for children and healthcare for pregnant women. Findings from research into mental health in the treatment of leprosy have also been presented to relevant decision-makers.
- Sport and inclusion: 70,000 children from more than 90 schools and 112 communities in Southern Africa have participated in safe and inclusive sports activities.
- SRHR: Partner organisations Agrogoti in Bangladesh and Aawaaji in Nepal have developed a training programme on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The programme has been recognised by authorities in both countries.
Learning and the added value of work exchange
Through work exchange, healthcare professionals gain insight into how other health systems work, including how services are organised.
After returning home, hospitals in the partnership with Haukeland University Hospital report improved problem-solving and adaptability among staff. Norwegian healthcare professionals from both Haukeland University Hospital and Oslo University Hospital report that they have become better at understanding and responding to the needs of diverse patient groups.
In Norec's participant survey, 71 per cent said that the exchange had made them better able to meet the needs of patients.
The health projects also perform well in terms of organisational learning and development. Partner organisations learn from each other across countries.
Work exchange in practice: mutual learning
ERA in Bangladesh works with agricultural development, while RICOD in Nepal carries out community-based work with vulnerable groups. Through a Norec-supported work exchange, the two organisations have learnt from each other.
In the areas where they work, limited healthcare resources make it difficult for marginalised families to access basic health services, particularly in remote areas. In Nepal, this includes villages in the hills, while in Bangladesh it includes wetland communities on floodplains.
The challenges are similar, but their causes — and the solutions — differ.
ERA learnt how RICOD uses a network of health centres and schools to reach young mothers and children from vulnerable families. RICOD, in turn, learnt how ERA uses community mobilisation, volunteers and women's groups to promote basic health and nutrition services.
Read about the result
Meet the people behind the results and see how knowledge sharing across borders is creating lasting change.