Thread by @bjbanji

Are you aware there are quite a lot of travel bursaries and grants to any where in the world as a medical doctor practicing in Nigeria?
This is a thread that could be of benefit especially to resident doctors and early career consultants in low to middle income country like Ngr

Many medical international conferences usually reserve funds for this purpose. Usually, one would need to submit an abstract to access such largesse. And in some situation you might not even need to submit an abstract! Just a short persuasive essay on why you should be sponsored

How do I even know about this conferences/meeting talk less of applying for bursaries?
Google, Colleagues and mentors can be very helpful here.
Identify an international association in your field e.g, American Society of Clinical Pathology, International Society of Dermatology,

USCAP, IGCS, British Society of ............(fill in your specialty) and many more. There are actually 100s and 1000s of them.
Look up their vision and target. Ensure it aligns with your learning goals and objectives.
More importantly look at benefits of membership.

I watch out for buzz words like travel grants, bursaries, research grants.
If all this boxes are ticked, I then check out the cost of membership. Some of them are as cheap as 10£/year (less than 5000 naira) for trainees especially from low to middle income countries.

With that subscription, you get regular journals keeping you up to date on international best practices and researches.
Try to always have a handy abstract ready because when this conferences call for abstract submission, the window period might be as short as 1 month.

And to be honest, you don't have to do anything difficult or high-faluting, simply gathering data on a "10 year success outcome of Appendectomy in Northern Nigeria" might be accepted and sponsored for presentation in a top notch international Academic Conference.

There is paucity of data from Africa, meaning the ''simple'' correct data you put together is always a good baseline reference.
Case reports are very handy for this purpose. If you come across any rare diagnosis, or common diagnosis in a rare setting or age group.

A diagnosis with a rare outcome either good or bad! A common entity developing in a seemingly rare location.

These are all publishable depending on the context and setting.

Join your local professional email/WhatsApp/social media group!
I got an all expense paid cytology conference in Johannesburg through this medium. Information are put up from time to time and you need to be a fast finger on that.

As ridiculous as this might sound, get an international passport! You don't have to wait for a need. The saying preparation meets with opportunity equals success is very true.

The above outlined have worked for me in many ways! I have colleagues who have gone to virtually all the continents in the world on this premise!

I hope someone finds it useful

Lastly, I am happy to inform you our dear National Postgraduate College of Nigeria (NPMCN) @NPMCNigeria has a robust and functional travel grant. I have accessed it and I know many who have.
Information is Golden!

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