Jul 26 2010
World Health Organization – Geneva
Palace of Nations, United Nations, Geneva
Bonjour! It is with great pleasure that I submit this blog entry from Geneva, Switzerland. This summer I had the wonderful opportunity of traveling here to complete an 8-week internship with the World Health Organization.
The World Health Organization was founded in 1948 as a specialized agency under the United Nations. The Constitution of the World Health Organization sets out the organization’s main objective as “the attainment of all people of the highest possible level of health.” To meet this objective, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) engages in programs to fight and control outbreaks of infectious disease, to provide safe and effective vaccines, to encourage healthy life styles and discourage unhealthy habits such as smoking, to provide safe and effective pharmaceuticals, to combat HIV/AIDs, to provide guidance and support to Member States, etc…
WHO Executive Board Room, Geneva Headquarters
My internship with the WHO is with the Essential Medicines and Pharmaceuticals department, under the direction of Dr. Hans Hogerzeil. The Essential Medicines and Pharmaceuticals department is one of the largest departments in the WHO. This department develops a model list of essential medicines and pharmaceuticals for Member States to reference, it engages in programs to monitor the good governance of medicines and controlled substances, and it has the sole, worldwide responsibility of assigning every new pharmaceutical an International Non-Proprietary Name.
Under the terms of reference for this internship, I have been researching the laws and regulations of multiple countries in an effort to determine which, if any, laws and regulations allow citizens of a given country to achieve access to essential medicines. This project has tested my research capabilities in ways that I never could have imagined. Furthermore, working for an international organization has allowed me to interact with brilliant minds from all over the world. The staff of the Essential Medicines and Pharmaceuticals department alone speaks over 50 different languages! I have also had the opportunity to interact with WHO interns from almost every continent.
Besides the wonderful academic environment, just being in Switzerland for the summer is pretty amazing! I have spent my weekends meandering the old city of Geneva, listening to a string quartet in the Cathedral in Lausanne, hiking in the Alps, watching the World Cup at a public viewing area with hundreds of fans, paragliding in Interlaken, and wine tasting in the Swiss Riviera (which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site). And if that isn’t enough, Switzerland’s central European location make it the ideal starting point for weekend excursions to Venice, Milan, Paris, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, and almost anywhere else!
The summer internship with the World Health Organization is a truly amazing way for one to spend their summer and will surely become a greatly sought-after position.
Au revoir!
Lausanne, Switzerland with Lake Geneva and the Alps
David Walker hiking above Aletsch Glacier