Photo credit CFHI
Interns in the Philippines complete a 1-week introduction in Manila. They are introduced to the Philippine health system and learn about the country’s historical and sociocultural context through interactive teaching-learning sessions, visits to public and private health facilities and cultural excursions. Participants then travel to a remote island to learn frontline health systems management from preceptors in Rural Health Units and Barangay Health Stations, including municipal health officers, nurses and midwives. Participants learn about Global and Public Health on the remote islands, also known as geographically isolated disadvantaged areas (GIDA), where healthcare facilities strive to deliver quality services while managing limited resources. This is a great opportunity for students interested in pre-med, pre-nursing, pre-pharmacy, and public health.
Interns are provided with opportunities to learn about global health while imbedded in the existing health systems and social services sectors alongside local community members and champions. This internship seeks to develop students’ broad-based understanding of the interplays between disease processes, social circumstances, poverty, resiliency, geopolitical realities, historical contexts, culture, and the complexities of health and wellness. Our partner company’s expertise is in “preserving the authenticity of the community’s expertise and presenting ‘real-life’ global health, while nesting programs in gold-standard educational pedagogies and safety standards”.
Thousands of students and medical professionals have taken part in their unique programs, which foster reciprocal partnerships and empowerment in local communities. Internships are open to all students with an interest in health in an international context and is especially ideal for pre-med, pre-nursing, public health, and global health students.
Our partner company in the Philippines is a global health ethics leader; as such, their programs uphold strict standards and comply with all local laws. This program is not an episodic volunteer experience, and is not designed to provide service to those who would otherwise not have healthcare. Therefore, the internship experience will be predominantly observational and interns should be aware that they are not to be providing direct healthcare to patients. The learning objectives for this internship, as outlined by our partner company, are:
Interns will rotate through a variety of clinics, hospitals and emergency services as participants. Clinical rotations are designed to offer interns clinical and public health experience relevant to your level of medical education, much like what you would experience during a rotation or internship in the United States. IE3 Global interns may work with the local coordinators to identify the health care services/departments where they would like to spend more time. Programs are not episodic volunteer experiences, and are not designed to provide service to those who would otherwise not have healthcare.
The learning objectives for interns are:
The Philippines is a country in Southeast Asia compromised of over 7,100 islands in the Pacific Ocean and home to more than 100 million people. It is filled with natural beauty and rich culture. Along with its biodiversity, white sandy beaches, mountain ranges, and tropical rainforests, the country’s colorful history is filled with a unique blend of cultures.
Interns will spend the first week in the capital city of Manila, visiting local government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and a variety of health facilities in the city. This provides and introduction to the Filipino healthcare system and an understanding of how resources and healthcare services vary between urban centers, remote island communities, and the mainland. Interns will then spend approximately 8.5 weeks stationed on two remote islands in the archipelago, in the provinces of Quezon and Romblon. This allows the intern to experience first-hand the daily healthcare challenges faced by “barangays”, or villages. Interns will work alongside local physicians, nurses, and midwives in rural primary healthcare clinics, with the chance to observe general consultations, pre-natal checkups, immunizations, and family planning. Interns may also join local clinic staff on trips to various barangays throughout the island to aid in health education programming.
The last few days will be spent back in Manila and also are a time for reflection exercises and lectures to understand the true challenges of providing quality healthcare to all Filipinos and efforts being made to address these challenges. It is an invaluable opportunity to understand how healthcare varies between urban centers and remote island communities.
Estimated One-Time Expenses
Estimated Monthly Expenses
Additional Expense Information
The CFHI host site fee includes:
Housing in Manila is hotel or dorm-style shared housing in the city. Interns will be instructed on recommended transportation between housing and clinical rotations around the city. While on the islands, interns will stay with homestay families. Please note that housing on the islands is rustic – participants should be prepared to survive without air conditioning, mineral water, internet, telephones, and hot water.
“The wonderful thing (in my eyes, at least) about this program is that it is just as much public health/global health as it is clinical rotations (and small piece of advice when choosing future interns - someone just looking for clinical shadowing and mostly concerned with medicine will NOT get nearly as much out of the experience as someone interested in both), so coursework in both is helpful. The main purpose here is to learn. I think both the biggest challenge and reward has been that I haven't come out of this internship with any concrete answers about what I should do with myself. I feel like I'm being thrown back into school with no sense of whether I'm on the right track or not. It is good though because it is that many more paths I could take, so many more options for me to explore. That was a nice thing to discover. I think I've learned about important aspects of my personality that aren’t always apparent when I'm in my home culture. Living on a tropical island has brought out parts of myself that I didn't know were there.”
- Anisha, University of Oregon
“The community organization, services, and mentality was honestly unbelievable. In every little barangay there was a government set up with a barangay captain, barangay officials, and barangay health workers that all served to make their communities healthier, more prosperous, and happier. My professional reward definitely crosses over into the cross-cultural rewards of my internship as well. I’ve absolutely loved being able to connect with clinic staff and community members on levels way beyond coworkers and acquaintances. I feel like I have made lifelong friendships in a foreign country despite a language barrier. Coworkers treat each other like family. I think that in order to work effectively, you have to balance all aspects of life. If you try and numb one aspect of life, in my opinion, you numb all others inadvertently. I believe it’s so important to feel everything and process everything together in order to get the full picture, and healthcare workers in the Philippines did this very well.”
- Alexis, University of Oregon
Fall: April 15
Winter: September 15
Spring: November 15
Summer:
-See Qualifications and Requirements section