barefoot clinics – leaving a lasting imprint

Barefoot Clinics is an international healthcare charity that creates free acupuncture clinics in remote, impoverished areas of Nepal, India and other developing countries. In these regions, there is a severe lack of affordable and available healthcare.

What’s needed is a sustainable solution.

Barefoot Clinics have created one. Our approach is simple but based on decades of experience in developing countries and rooted in thousands of years of ancient knowledge.

We are pioneering the Chinese barefoot doctor tradition into rural, isolated regions; taking sustainable healthcare where its needed most. We’re changing the way healthcare is being delivered into developing countries.

How we do it

Firstly, we set up free acupuncture clinics to provide vital healthcare for the local population. Acupuncture is portable, inexpensive, non-perishable and highly effective. And we want as many people as possible to benefit from it.

So we train local people as barefoot acupuncturists. We give our students all the knowledge, skills, tools and equipment needed to run their own clinics. The focus is on empowering locals to provide healthcare within their own communities. While training programs are underway, local people continue to have access to the free clinics – which are at the same time providing essential clinical training for the students.

It’s a simple, practical solution to the problems these communities face.

Barefoot Clinics are a success story; now bringing relief to up to 1500 patients per week. We have already instigated  12 free clinics and have trained 25 students in the first 2 years. We’re planning on many more.