Since starting my practicum at the Migration Health Division (MHD) at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in May, I have worked on and/or am currently working on the following major deliverables:
Partnered with the MHD Logistics Team to plan and implement a three-day global health training where current migration health needs and strategic priorities for MHD were discussed amongst IOM leaders across the globe
Data entry and cleaning of IOM’s Health in Emergencies training program evaluations
Drafted content for the following reports:
UN Report of the Secretary-General on what IOM can offer through the development cooperation with middle income countries
MHD Annual Report 2018
United Nations (UN) Interagency Task Force on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) Report on IOM’s response to the challenge’s migrants and mobile populations experience when dealing with NCDs
Policy brief on international health workforce mobility
Assisted in the preparation of presentations on emergency response for new IOM employees serving in country offices
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) toolkit for IOM country offices to use when engaging with communities to tackle health challenges
(L-R) UN agency interns, Farhaa, Mikayla, and I taking a selfie right before catching a bus to meetings with colleagues from the World Health Organization.
In all, being an intern at a UN agency this summer in Geneva, Switzerland, has been such a rewarding experience. I have had a seat at tables I would have never imagined myself to be offered an invitation; for example, I got a seat at the 72nd World Health Assembly – the world’s highest health policy sitting body – where I got to meet Ministers of Health from around the world discuss and come together on new global health policies they want to set. In addition, this month I am preparing myself for a meeting I will have with diplomats from the US Mission to International Organizations in Geneva to learn more about their daily role of advancing U.S policy and job opportunities. Thankfully, my internship is still not over. This means I still have about 4 more weeks in Geneva to continue to take advantage of every opportunity that I can grab as I strive to enhance my global health portfolio.
Dia dhuit! It’s hard to believe that I’m already halfway done with my practicum with the National University of Ireland at Galway Health Promotion Research Centre (NUIG HPRC). Although I still haven’t quite mastered Gaelic, I have been fortunate enough to have already been exposed to so many of NUIG HPRC’s critically important health promotion activities. As a WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion, their work spans the small, rural communities of Ireland’s coast, to the management of global research projects that span over 45 countries.
HPRC itself is tiny—a small, two-story building on the north end of NUIG’s campus with only 5-10 people in the office on a given day. But what those 5-10 people have been able to accomplish is truly incredible. My practicum consists of two primary tasks: the first is the development of content for the new Mental Health Promotion online postgraduate degree, and the second is data analysis and dissemination of the 2018 Health Behavior in School Aged Children (HBSC) survey data (details on that to come below!).
‘What do children need to be healthy?’ youth engagement workshop hosted by NUIG HPRC at a school in Galway.
For the first two weeks, the majority of my time was spent working on the mental health promotion content. The program is unique in its focus on positive mental health versus the more traditional understanding of mental health as the mere absence of mental illness. Even so, I consistently found myself instinctively leaning towards language of traditional models of prevention of mental illness rather than promotion of universal mental health, and I’ve been really pushed to challenge my own assumptions and understanding of wellbeing.
Now, with the majority of the mental health promotion content behind me, I’ve switched full gear into data analysis and dissemination for the HBSC study. For context, the HBSC study is a global survey-based research study of school-aged children across the world. Surveys are administered to students in schools every four years, and the questions includes items around mental, physical and social health, as well as key demographic factors such as ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status. (Interestingly, some countries have specific rules on what you can and cannot ask children about—particularly when it comes to sexual orientation and sexual health! But that’s a discussion for another time).
Although I had a high-level understanding of the HBSC study before my first day, I wasn’t expecting to have so much freedom in the direction of my analyses. My first day at NUIG HPRC was intimidating—while sitting at a table of some of the top health promotion researchers in Europe, I was asked ‘what populations specifically are you interested in?’ If we were in America, I would know how to answer: indigenous and immigrant populations. But sitting at the table in Ireland thinking of evaluating mental health among Irish school children, I found myself lacking the necessary cultural context to answer that question. So I started reading. After a few days of background reading and close inspection of prior HBSC, I found myself increasingly interested in two key populations. The first is the Irish Travellers—a historically nomadic ethnic minority indigenous to Ireland with a long history of social isolation and discrimination. Irish Travellers are often mistakenly grouped together with the Roma community but they are in fact two completely distinct populations, though they both share a history of discrimination. The second population I am deeply passionate about is the study of UK immigrants vs. non-UK immigrants. Prior studies in Ireland have found disproportionately poor health outcomes among non-UK immigrants in Ireland, and I am interested in digging deeper into how health among first generation and second generation immigrant children in Ireland varies by their country of origin.
Although I’ve just begun digging into the data, I am already finding myself with so many more questions I wish I had the time to answer. My ultimate goal is to complete two short reports: one on mental health among Irish Traveller school children, and another on mental health among immigrant school children in Ireland. I’ll be writing a few ‘academic’ reports to post on NUIG HPRC’s website, but will also have the opportunity to use more creative means of communicating our findings to local non-profits such as infographics and brochures. I’m so excited to be able to pull together the findings and start disseminating them—NUIG HPRC’s work is critical to informing national policies and programs around childhood health and well-being. Drawing awareness of inequities is so critical for policy development, and I’m psyched to be part of the team!
Commuting buddies from my rural Irish home to the NUIG HPRC office.
Kisii, Kenya is a city that is full of life. Less than one mile from the city’s center, I wake up to the sound of a rooster crowing at the small farm across the street and fall asleep to local music playing in the city. The streets are populated by locals walking, driving, or riding “boda bodas” (small motorcycles) around town. Vendors line the streets to sell their delicious, locally-grown produce, grains, meats, and clothes. I quickly learned that the staple food in Kisii is “chapatis,” which are basically glorified flour tortillas to accompany meat, vegetables, or beans. You will not find a single restaurant without them! Thank goodness, because I was hooked on day one.
Part of the urban center of Kisii, Kenya.
Walk just a few miles from the city center in any direction and you will find yourself surrounded by trees and small farms. Here, cars and boda bodas are replaced by cows, goats, chickens, and local farmers transporting their goods to the city.
The view from my room overlooking small farms and the urban center.
For my practicum, I am working with Curamericas Global to conduct operational research on an intervention in Kisii aimed at encouraging healthy behaviors for prenatal, postnatal, and newborn care. Curamericas has partnered with the Kenyan Ministry of Health to form what is called the Kisii Kenya Oroiboro Project (KIKOP), which has implemented health education programs in two catchments (called Iranda and Matongo) thus far. KIKOP initiated a Care Group training cascade in each of the two catchments and expanded the hours of each catchments’ health center so that they are now open 24/7.
Through my qualitative research on the project, I will meet with various stakeholders to determine what is going well so far for the project and what can be improved going forward. I am also conducting qualitative research on what constitutes a culturally appropriate birthing space for women in Kisii. Many mothers chose to give birth at home with a traditional birthing attendant rather than at the local health centers with nurses who are trained to handle birthing emergencies. My research will be used to create a birthing space at the Matongo Health Center that mothers in Kisii are more comfortable using.
One of the buildings at the Iranda Health Center in rural Kisii.
I have only spent one week in Kisii, but I am enjoying the city, culture, and my projects here already. My first day began with an orientation of the project and meetings with individuals at the Ministry of Health. I also visited the Iranda Health Center and observed a training that KIKOP staff were conducting for community health volunteers, clan elders, and traditional birthing attendants who are involved with the project. I was greeted with many warm smiles and a local song and even given my very own Kisii name (Betuku)! The rest of my first week has been spent on preparing for focus groups, qualitative interviews, and training sessions for KIKOP staff so that they can assist with data collection. I am excited for next week when I will begin field work to collect data and meet with local community members to hear about their experiences with the KIKOP project.
