Umthombo Youth Development Foundation | Welcome to Umthombo Youth Development Foundation

What do we do

The Umthombo Youth Development Foundation seeks to address two critical issues 1) the shortages of healthcare staff in the public sector, and rural hospitals specifically 2) the high levels of youth unemployment by providing opportunities for rural youth to study health science qualifications - who on graduation address staff shortages.

Research has shown that rural-origin health science graduates are more likely to live and work in rural areas than their urban counterparts. Based on this evidence, and the belief that despite the poor social and economic circumstances of rural youth, if given the opportunity and necessary support, they can succeed in becoming healthcare professionals and will return to serve their communities when qualified.

Our main intervention as an organisation is the provision of academic and social mentoring support to enable these rural-origin students to succeed in their higher education journey and qualify as healthcare professionals.

This work contributes to increasing the number of healthcare professionals willing to work in the public sector, as well as reducing the high levels of youth neither in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), which is particularly prevalent in rural areas.

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