Jul 26 2012

Last day of my internships

Published by at 12:51 pm under Global Health

In the last days of my internship, I am reminded of my first couple of weeks at the WHO. I was lucky enough to attend the 65th World Health Assembly (WHA) were 194 WHO Member States meet annually for six days to discuss and come to agreement on resolutions and matters for the WHO. This year there were nearly 3000 delegates that meet to adopt 21 resolutions and three decisions on pressing health issues, WHO reform, and the reappointment of the Director General Margaret Chan.

The WHA is annually held in Geneva, Switzerland and it is a decision-making body of the WHO.

It is amazing to sit in an audience with people from around the world and hear the points of view of the member states on different topics some health and then WHO reform.  the reform specifically includes agenda, improving accountability, and enhanced governance. The reform topics are part of the policies that the different departments will work towards to implement currently. I have been lucky enough to see how the implementation of a policy gets started and implemented so I feel my time has come full circle to a thorough understanding of the process.

My experience as an intern at the WHO has been enriched by attending the WHA. Since attending, I have seen how the policies adapted at the WHA by the member states are being put into action within the organization. It also gave me an idea of what will happen to the policies that I worked on while I was here in the future.

WHA was the first of many experiences that my WHO intern badge got me a front row seat to the inner workings of the WHO and occasionally other United Nation’s organizations. I am grateful for the open door legal education that my department and the organizations gave me to learn about International Organizations, UN, WHO, and employment law.

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