Africa
Educational Opportunities in International
Health
Photos: Pam Porteous and Sonia
Gupta
Deadlines: See
website
The FACES Student Education and Training Program (STEP), a joint program
of UCSF and Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), provides opportunities
for medical student involvement in clinical and research activities with
a focus on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections in Nyanza Province
(Kisumu, Suba, and Migori), Kenya. Clinical and research electives are
available to medical students who are in their clerkship year/s of study,
and to residents. Clinical electives are a minimum of 6 weeks, and can
include more than one site for electives of 8 weeks or longer. Learners
who join FACES for a clinical elective at any of our sites will be involved
in patient care, home and hospital visits, multidisciplinary team meetings,
clinical team meetings, and will be expected to complete one or two projects
during their elective. For more information about the program and application
information please visit our website,
or contact Kimberly Bale at balek@globalhealth.ucsf.edu.
The Proctor Foundation has limited research opportunities for medical
students interested in community ophthalmology in Ethiopia. Our current
project involves treating trachoma on a community-wide scale and monitoring
the effects over time to find the best treatment recommendation for disease
elimination in an endemic community. Participation in the project allows
medical students to learn about the research protocol, be exposed to the
day-to-day functioning of an international public health/epidemiology
study, and learn about clinical practices relevant to the research. Students
are supervised in the field by the study coordinator and principal investigator,
and will work closely with local ophthalmic nurses, eye care workers,
and community health volunteers in a rural setting. They will also have
the opportunity to learn the standard clinical exams to detect trachoma
as well as to observe eye conditions more prevalent in the developing
world. Research opportunities vary in length according to the project’s
on-going needs. (Usually two to three weeks in length). Please contact
the Trachoma Study Coordinator, Jenafir
House for more information on current opportunities and the application
procedure. Please note that students are encouraged to seek some of their
own funding for travel and living expenses in Ethiopia.
The UZ-UCSF Programme provides opportunities for UCSF medical students
to be exposed to international public health research through attachments
to ongoing UZ-UCSF HIV prevention studies in Zimbabwe. UCSF medical students
who have completed their first year of medical school are eligible to
apply to the UZ-UCSF Programme for one of these attachments, which are
typically at least six weeks long. The attachment allows medical students
to learn about a particular research protocol, be exposed to the day-to-day
functioning of a study, and learn about clinical practices relevant to
the research. Students are supervised by the study principal investigators
and study coordinators. Students may be paired with studies depending
on their interests and/or the needs of UZ-UCSF. Students are required
to seek their own funding for travel to Zimbabwe and living expenses while
on attachment. Students wishing to apply should contact
Ann Beckemeyer 
or go to the UZ-UCSF
website for more details.
UCSF’s Dr. Jeff Martin and UCSF colleagues, along with Dr. Edward
Mbidde are seeking a student to take on a high level of responsibility
in implementing a randomized trial in Kampala, Uganda to address the hypothesis
that PI-containing HAART is superior to PI-sparing HAART in promoting
Karposi’s Sarcoma (KS) regression. The work encompasses the investigation
of HIV, Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection,
and KS. The selected student will work side-by-side with Ugandan physicians
treating over 200 people with HIV and managing the day-to-day field work.The
student has the opportunity to observe how antiretroviral drugs impact
patients and s/he can focus his/her research on HIV, KSHV or KS. For more
information please email Dr. Martin at martin@psg.ucsf.edu.
More>
UCSF School of Medicine
Fee: $100 payable to UC Regents
This one or two-month clinical elective in Uganda gives UCSF students
an opportunity to experience patient care at Mulago and Nsambya Hospitals
in the cardiac and HIV clinics. Weekly educational conferences include
teaching sessions, rounds, and journal club. Research opportunities are
available through UCSF faculty involved in ongoing projects in Uganda.
Since space is limited, students must coordinate their elective through
Victoria Ruddick at the Office
of International Programs.
Deadline: February 23, 2007
Founded in 2004, this program aims to get volunteers involved in
international HIV care and preventative initiatives. The HIVCorps seeks
program assistants to help expand HIV care and treatment services. Assignments
last 10-12 months and are based on individual interests and programmatic
needs. Examples over the past few years include: expansion of HIV services
to new provincial health care sites; expansion of services for HIV-infected
children; strengthened links between the tuberculosis and HIV care programs;
and development of community outreach programs. For more information visit
www.cidrz.org or contact
Maria Lombe, maria.lombe@cidrz.org
Deadline: RollingThis clinical elective consists of four weeks at the Korle-Bu Teaching
Hospital and one week rural placement at the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Hospital
in the Afram-plains district of Ghana, and preferably another week at
Effia Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region of Ghana. Students can arrange
to stay at the International Student Hostel ($300 per month), the Mother's
Hostel, which is within the Korle-Bu Hospital ($200 per month) or with
a host family (no cost). Eric Boateng, who works at the medical school
there, can help you arrange housing when you arrive. During the week(s)
at the rural locations, students are placed with a host family (no cost).
To apply, send an application letter, C.V. and a Dean's letter of consent
to Eric Sefa Boateng, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Information Technology
Unit, Box 77, Ghana Medical School, Korle-Bu, Accra-Ghana. For more information,
please stop by OIP or contact Eric at boatsefa09@gmail.com.
Deadline: Rolling
GSC is a nonprofit international volunteer organization running service-learning
opportunities in Tanzania. Programs are offered in a variety of fields
including public health, international health, HIV/AIDS, and rural medicine.
Students also participate in homestays with local families while working
hand-in-hand with local counterparts. Programs are of varying lengths
and are offered year round. Four new internship programs being offered
are the Community Training Internship, the International Health Internship,
the AIDS and Agriculture Integrated Internship and the Community Development
Internship. Please visit www.globalservicecorps.org
for more information.
Unite for Sight is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing international
medical opportunities to help restore eyesight and prevent blindness in
African, Asian, and Latin American countries. All persons over the age
of 18 are welcome to apply, including premedical students, medical students,
public health professionals, doctors, corporate professionals, nurses,
graduate students, retired professionals, and others. Short and Long Term
volunteer opportunities for physicians are available as well. Contact
JStaple@uniteforsight.org
or www.uniteforsight.org
for application and details.
Deadline: March
FSD provides summer internships with local community development organizations
in Tanzania and Uganda. The internships are usually 8 to 16 weeks in duration
and include family home stay, and individual orientation and debriefing.
Internship study areas include: women's issues, environment/conservation,
economic development, human rights, and youth development, among others.
Please visit www.fsdinternational.org
for more information.
This program offers a unique and exciting opportunity for health students
to experience clinical work first hand in the challenging context of rural
and urban Africa. Teams of 10 to 14 students are accompanied by professional
medical staff in addition to resident medical staff at each clinic location.
Each program begins with two days of seminars in basic triage, tropical
medicine. Students are assigned to rotating assignments at area clinics
and are offered the possibility to do independent study. For more information
visit www.islonline.org.
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