Internship Programme for Students from Developing Countries

Every year hundreds of students arrive at the World Health Organization to take part in the Internship Programme that provides them an opportunity to gain practical experience, learn about global public health and develop their academic future.

A recent WHO Intern survey showed that the vast majority of interns who take part in the Programme are from developed countries, and only 12% are from the regions of Asia and Africa, with none from Latin America (Ibrat et al., 2008). The study concluded that this gap is largely due the high costs associated with an intern's participation in the Programme in conjunction with the limited financial resources available to potential interns from developing countries.

Current interns at WHO would like change these statistics. We propose a grant/scholarship system to support interns from developing countries. It is our belief that the equitable participation and input of students from developing countries will not only benefit WHO by gaining developing countries’ perspectives on WHO technical work, but it will also ensure the attainment of knowledge and skills that will help strengthen their own national public health systems in the future.