Company Description

Impilo Phambili (Health First) is a public health initiative providing health promotion for townships of Cape Town, SA. Not only does this program positively impact communities of Cape Town, but also provides interns with a truly unique and diverse opportunity for field work in public health and medicine. Impilo Phambili enables interns to diversify their involvement by working with a number of NGOs, as well as participate in directing programmatic focus and navigating their own personal experience.
Our program works directly with those at high-risk, children, care givers and other community members that can benefit from the educational sessions and information on nutrition, wellness, disease management, and self-care offered by Impilo Phambili. Additionally, the program offers healthcare resources to the community, such as in-home medical treatment and counseling. Furthermore, the organization regularly conducts research and gathers input directly from the community to ensure an appropriate focus of the program to address community health care needs and barriers.

South African townships suffer inimitable challenges in the health care field, due to factors such as poor sanitation, widespread poverty, and lack of access to quality medical resources. The country also faces some of the worldwide highest incidences of childhood, maternal, and adult mortality. Furthermore, South Africa is the country with the fourth highest incidence rates of HIV/AIDS and the third highest of tuberculosis.

Job Description

Gain Public Health Experience in South Africa!
June 22 - 17 July, 2015

This is a truly unique internship, offering professional, hands-on experiences that most internships can not offer, as you grow from intern and student to teacher and educator via research, training, and exposure to the underserved communties.

Applicable Fields of Study/Interest:
• Public Health/Health/Health Promotion
• Pre-med/Nursing
• Nutrition
• Exercise Physiology/Kinesiology
• Statistics
• Education
• Development
• Advertising/Marketing
• Social Work
• Anthropology
• Behavioral Health/Psychology
• Other related field

Make an impact in the lives of others while experiencing your own life-altering journey. The breathtaking city of Cape Town proffers the unique dichotomy of the exceedingly underserved communities scattered among the splendid European-like African city. With seven native languages and exceedingly deeply-rooted cultures, South Africa is rich in diversity and unique complexities. The challenges your work to overcome for the health and wellness of the township residents are sure to be profoundly rewarding.

This faculty-led internship program features an array of field work in the fields of public health, specifically health promotion, and pre-med with a focus on both chronic and acute diseases. Interns perform research in the townships alongside established South African NGO’s making remarkable impacts. The scope of the research is developed directly by the interns under the guidance of the Impilo Phambili program director. The interns meet with township residents in various venues, such as treatment centers, homes, and public meeting grounds. Each day is a new experience for the intern, as continuous rotations are made among the various NGO programs. The research, exposure, and learning experience of the health care status for the township residents culminates into health promotion workshops developed and conducted, in part, by the interns.

The valuable experiences gained though the Impilo Phambili internship program include field work and direct access to township residents, research, and a unique profundity of health status and care on a global scale. The first week of the program is comprised of an exciting orientation and tour of the city of Cape Town. Lessons on the history and culture of South Africa, including Xhosa language classes and public health status, are provided. Training on basic nutrition, wellness, and medical treatment/care is also delivered to the interns.

If interested, please submit your CV and a brief paragraph describing your interest in the program by 17 June 2015, but we accept on a rolling basis, so the sooner you apply, the better!

Qualifications

Responsibilities:
Conduct research in the field, work directly with community members, coordinate with a number of entities, reveiw and analyze research quickly, implement research into workshops. conduct workshops
Requirements:
Applicable Fields of Study/Interest: Public Health/Health/Health Promotion, Pre-med, Nutrition, Exercise Physiology/Kinesiology, Anthropology, Behavioral Health/Psychology, or Other related field
Must be good with people, sensitive to other cultures, a dedication to public health care equality, motivated to learn and teach, excited to learn and diversify your background, creative and innovative

Additional Information

 

• The cost to partcipate in the program is $2400.00 USD and includes:
• Housing from 22 June through 17 July 2015
• Transportation to and from the airport upon arrival to and departure from Cape Town, South Africa
• Most meals
• On the ground support, orientations, and overall guidance and opportunities to meet and interact with South Africans and other interns alike
• Ground transportation to the internship sites and return
• Red Bus City Tour of Cape Town
• Access to local organisations and community
• Direct guidance from the programme director, who will provide overall and technical training and education
• Training in various aspects of health
• Language Classes
• Education on South African history and current health status and climate
• Authentic twonship braai (South African BBQ Party)
• Opportunities to work with previously-collected data from the local community, to learn, and to educate
• Gaining experience in leadership, project development, and hands-on public health work
• Tours, discounted activities, and much more!

More information