PhD student Katie Marvin-Dowle writes about her experiences of a World Health Organisation internship with “Adolescents and At Risk Populations team of the Reproductive Health and Research Department”.
Getting there and meeting the team
The opportunity to undertake an internship with the World Health Organisation (WHO) was discussed with my PhD supervisor, Professor Hora Soltani, in early 2018. The opportunity had arisen largely thanks to Professor Soltani’s existing links with colleagues based at the WHO headquarters in Geneva through her ongoing collaborative projects. My PhD project, “Exploring the need for additional nutritional support in adolescent pregnancies”, from which two research papers have so far been published[i][ii], uses a large cohort study (Born in Bradford) to investigate differences by maternal age. This was therefore a good fit with the WHO’s priorities, meaning that I was able to offer a valuable contribution to their current work programme. The proposal, which included “a systematic review of differences in pregnancy & birth outcomes between adolescent and adult mothers”, was agreed with the team before my arrival and there were also opportunities for me to get involved with and support other work as needed. Funding for travel and accommodation was secured from the Health and Social Care Research Group Investment Fund and the GoGlobal Fund following successful applications.
Arrangements were made for me to join Dr Lale Say and her colleagues in the Adolescents and At Risk Populations team of the Reproductive Health and Research Department for a period of 6 weeks in March and April of 2018. The team were welcoming and provided an incredible opportunity for me to learn about the day to day operations of the WHO. Work began immediately on the systematic review project with support from the host team. This is a project on which collaboration is continuing following my return to the UK, with a publication in a peer reviewed journal planned, helping to strengthen links between SHU and WHO.
I was also invited to attend departmental meetings and take advantage of the lunchtime seminar program which is open to all WHO staff including interns. Attending departmental and team meetings helped me to get a feel for how the organisation operates and learn about ongoing administrative projects. I attended a number of seminars on different topics including mental health, using qualitative evidence to inform guidelines and drowning. I also attended workshops on implementing research findings and informed consent for research. All of these sessions gave me new knowledge both in terms of the topic being discussed and the ways that the different teams across the organisation approach problems and share findings.
WHO Executive Boardroom
Diverse experiences and learning opportunities
In addition to working on my systematic review project I also had the opportunity to get involved in other activities and make the most of my time in Geneva. For example I joined a project led by the WHO intern body aiming to make significant changes to the way that internships are offered by WHO to make the internship program fairer and more accessible. The ideas had been formulated by working groups before my arrival and were presented to the Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom, during my first weeks at WHO. Dr Tedros approved all of the proposals put forward by the intern body and tasked the working groups to devise implementation plans. I was able to get involved with the youth engagement team of this project which was focused on improving the experience of interns once they are working at HQ. Implementation plans for this group have been drafted and handed on to the next group of interns to carry the plans forward.
The opportunity to be involved in this project was a great way to learn about the process of ideas being developed into policy within the WHO and the speed at which changes can take affect with commitment from decision makers. For example during the time I was there lunch vouchers for interns to be used in the staff canteen were implemented as well as an annual leave entitlement equivalent to that given to WHO fulltime staff, on the recommendation of the intern working groups. Small changes such as these have the ability to make a substantial difference to the experience of interns and help to alleviate some of the difficulties of working away from home. This project has also helped me to develop skills in working with a diverse team to achieve a common goal under significant time pressure.
I was also very fortunate in that the Geneva Health Forum international conference was taking place during my time in Switzerland and I was able to attend all three days of the conference. The theme of the event was ‘Precision Global Health in the Digital Age’ and showcased a wide variety of technological tools for improving health and health care. I learned a lot from the conference sessions, attending talks on topics which were both related to and completely different to my area of study. This meant that I was able to both deepen my understanding of approaches to child and maternal health and broaden my knowledge of other public health disciplines. This event also contributed significantly to my understanding of public health in low and middle income countries and how the principles and practices differ from those employed in higher income countries.
Visiting the Palais De Nations with my daughter Norah
What next?
My experiences working at WHO have helped me to become a more well-rounded researcher and widened my perspective on the impact research can make to practice. The internship has also brought about a new piece of collaborative work between researchers at SHU and colleagues at WHO which I am pleased and proud to have been a part of. Overall, the experience of interning at the WHO was fantastic for both professional and personal development and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity. I would very much like to thank my supervisor, Professor Hora Soltani for enabling the internship to take place and for advocating on my behalf, Professor Davina Porock for her support in securing funding, Stephanie Portier for her help with administration and finance and Dr Lale Say and her team at WHO for being such friendly and inspiring hosts.
Katie will be hosting a lunchtime seminar about her experiences at WHO on Wednesday 12th September, 12-1pm, Heart of the Campus, room 1.52. Further information about the seminar will be posted on the blog.
[i] Marvin-Dowle, K., Burley, V. J., & Soltani, H. (2016). Nutrient intakes and nutritional biomarkers in pregnant adolescents: a systematic review of studies in developed countries. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 16(1), 268.
[ii] Marvin-Dowle, K., Kilner, K., Burley, V. J., & Soltani, H. (2018). Impact of adolescent age on maternal and neonatal outcomes in the Born in Bradford cohort. BMJ open, 8(3), e016258.
