M.P.H. Summer Internship Program

Elizabeth Jackson

Social Behavioral Sciences
Summer Internship in Geneva, Switzerland

I had a tremendous experience working at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland this past summer. I gained valuable perspective and a better understanding of the role that WHO plays in the global health community. I now understand the way that WHO operates at headquarters, regionally and in country offices. The experience also taught me about how the WHO looks to set the global health agenda, provide technical expertise, and develop and implement policies.

Within the WHO I worked in the Health Action and Crisis (HAC) Department. I felt fortunate to be in the HAC department as it afforded me the opportunity to be exposed to the work of all other departments. Due to the nature of the work of HAC, it needs to collaborate with the technical and strategic experts from all other departments.

During my time at the WHO, I worked on a range of tasks. Some had been identified in my initial work plan prior to starting, while others came about during my time there. The majority of my time was spent conducting research and mapping emergency preparedness and health risk reduction work/efforts globally. This project came from a need within the Emergency Preparedness and Capacity Building (EPC) unit, one of three units in HAC. The EPC unit is looking to expand the emergency preparedness and health risk reduction work that it does and also to strengthen and broaden the collaborations that it has with other organizations doing similar work. After conducting thorough research, I identified the major players for potential partnerships in coordinating emergency preparedness efforts. I complemented this research by generating a comprehensive list of training courses offered globally for medical, public health and other professionals to be trained in how to respond during emergencies and crisis situations.

In addition to the work described above, I:

• Conducted research on health risk reduction related to climate change reduction;
• Helped promote the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction’s (ISDR) two–year campaign on safe and resilient hospitals;
• Attended and participated in meetings with partners on developing a health risk reduction workshop;
• Participated on conference calls with Regional and Country Offices;
• Attended weekly division and unit meetings—produced drafts of status updated to be posted on HAC’s website;
• Drafted a range of reports;
• Participated in meetings and brainstorming sessions for World Health Day (WHD) 2009.

During my time in Geneva this summer I gained a new appreciation for the extensive range of work that is done at WHO headquarters. Most importantly, I realized the critical importance of building effective relationships with other WHO departments, WHO regional offices, and with global partners. While I enjoyed and learned a great deal from the work that I did, what I gained the most from was the information that I was exposed to during meetings, presentations, conference calls and discussions with WHO colleagues and other fellow interns. The high level of exposure was truly invaluable and will undoubtedly help shape the work I do in the future.

All pictures courtesy of Elizabeth Jackson.

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