Please note this opportunity is an unpaid global health field experience. There is a program fee required to participate. This program fee pays for on-site services such a lodging, language classes (if relevent), 24/7 emergency support, coordination of rotations and/or placements, and on-site staff. CFHI is a nonprofit organization committed to fair-trade partnerships around the world. Please use the following code “HandshakeCFHI” in order to have the application fee waived when applying for a program on the CFHI website.
Optional Sub-Focus: Food Security and Nutrition
In the Nile basin of east Africa lies Uganda where the majority of people live on less than $2 per day. Uganda has the 20th highest maternal mortality rate and the 15th highest infant mortality rate in the world and only about 30% of women give birth with a trained health professional. Given high incidences of malnutrition, anemia, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, many pregnant women here are prone to complicated births leading to illness or death. Children under the age of five are also at risk of contracting preventable diseases and suffering from acute malnutrition.
CFHI’s Global Health Intensive Program takes place in Kabale, a town in southwestern Uganda. In this survey program join a local NGO and learn about their groundbreaking approaches to improving maternal and child health. Spend 2 weeks rotating through clinics and join rounds with physicians, nurses, and medical officers. Sit in on counseling sessions on HIV/AIDS, assist health workers with testing and outreach around the community. Learn about initiatives to reduce rates of mother to child transmission and explore how nutrition and HIV are closely linked. Opportunities vary and may also include visiting a nutrition center working to end malnutrition, or meeting with traditional birth attendants and healers.
Get a crash course in Ugandan culture by spending 2 weeks living within this close-knit community. Around Kabale enjoy the scenic green hills and slow pace of life or organize day trips over the weekend to nearby Lake Bunyonyi. CFHI participants may also choose to join a safari to spot wildlife or visit world famous national parks, home to mountain gorillas.
