identifies the pitfalls of improperly organized international medical student electives and the hazards of volunteering for the wrong reasons.

Sets the ethical limits of student participation in patient care when the students are part of foreign medical teams.

Humanitarian support for refugees in host nations provides better care and services for the refugees than the host nation can supply for its own citizens.

This article sketches the history of medical volunteerism in Africa from the early religious and colonial medical programs through current humanitarian programs, assessing the role of student volunteerism as well.

Intellectual property laws promulgated by the World Trade Organization affect developing nations' access to life-saving medications.

Albert Schweitzer's career as a pioneer medical missionary in Africa stands as an example for today's physicians.

Sets the ethical limits of student participation in patient care when the students are part of foreign medical teams.

Argument that all physicians are bound by an ethical imperative to offer volunteer care for medically underserved populations.

Drug donations to medically underserved areas should abide by principles of pharmaceutical donation such as those formulated by the WHO.