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Working in the healthcare field can feel like a never-ending grind. It isn’t uncommon to resent the repetition in making the same drive every morning, seeing similar patients with similar conditions, or walking the same halls day after day. It’s very human to want to feel challenged in your career, in a way that your comfortable job maybe doesn’t allow.

You may be considering taking your skills overseas to a less-developed nation where you have the room to thrive. Well-educated and competent healthcare professionals are always in high demand in developing countries or emergency zones.

Let’s examine some of the fastest growing fields for the adventurous medical specialist.

Ultrasound Technicians

Modern manufacturing is making equipment smaller and cheaper than it has ever been. Cheaper devices enable care to be provided to more people. Portability may not seem like such a big advantage in well-served areas like cities, but in extremely rural outposts, it can mean not having to leave a life-saving tool back home due to lack of space.

Medical sonography equipment has been rapidly shrinking in size and cost, opening up the technology to women who never before had the opportunity. With such a high mother and child mortality rate in much of the underdeveloped world, you can see why the demand for ultrasound equipment and qualified operators is increasing.

If you’re operating in remote areas without the resources you’re used to back home, then it is critical for you to be well-educated and experienced; your patients are relying on you. Take some time to view all schools that offer a path towards medical sonography. Some may be better suited for the professional who is looking to take their skills abroad.

Water and Sanitation Specialists

Poor infrastructure and government corruption can make the simplest things we take for granted every day almost insurmountable tasks for a poorly-educated population; clean water that won’t get us sick is one of the biggest. Much of the developing world still struggles with getting water to the people who need it most. A lack of running water leads to poor sanitation that contributes to more deaths than every active war zone on the globe combined. In the United States, diarrhea is often the topic of jokes; but for many people in developing countries, it can be life and death.

There is a huge need for creative and qualified professionals in much of the third world. Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, lists water and sanitation specialists as one of their most needed talents. Promotion of good hygiene will be a major aspect of your position. If you possess the talent and have the will to take on such a tough challenge, you could change the lives of many.

Reproductive Health Professionals

Sexual education is important for a well-functioning society and is usually ignored in nations that are not highlydeveloped. Unfortunately, when reproductive health is put on the back burner, it can only hasten a nation’s problems. Riskier sexual behavior leads to an overall net loss to the health and education of the population.

Professionals are desperately needed to teach those around the world who didn’t have the luxury of a high school sex-ed course. As a reproductive health educator, you will teach science-based facts and best practices about safer sex, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy,and contraceptives. More comprehensive sex education has been proven to lower unwanted pregnancies and allow more time for school and careers; this can help relieve a struggling nation by supplying more highly-skilled laborers.

There could be a huge demand for your talents internationally, with so much of the world still under-served in the realm of healthcare. If you’re not happy with your low-impact job or you really want to test your skills, consider taking your expertise where they can be put to work.