The International Public Health Internship

To ensure equitable health for all, Leadership Initiatives works with local leaders to spread health-oriented education in communities in Northern Nigeria. As part of the International Public Health Program, Leadership Initiatives identifies the major threats to public health and the stakeholders most impacted.

Once public health issues are identified, Leadership Initiatives pairs International Public Health Interns with local health specialists and project coordinators. Interns are given the opportunity to help tackle major issues at the grassroots level by working directly with community leaders to develop and implement public health awareness campaigns. Interns will work with Leadership Initiatives staff over the course of nine months to understand the health care system in Nigeria. Leadership Initiatives partners with local health care institutions to hold educational programs that target major health concerns relevant to Nigeria, such as immunization, reproductive health, diabetes, food and nutrition, child health, drug dependencies, food, hygiene, and malaria.

The International Public Health Internship strives to empower young leaders to improve health worldwide by equipping students with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully save lives, develop ethical considerations, and enrich communities all while making a meaningful difference in the world. Through working with interns, Leadership Initiatives enables communities to invest in the necessary infrastructure to address public health concerns that burden developing regions.

Our Internship Team

CLICK EACH MEMBER TO LEARN MORE.

Caroline O’Brien

Northbridge High School

Class of 2023

Caroline O’Brien is a senior at Northbridge High School. Caroline is a hardworking student who always tries to challenge herself with advanced courses.

Caroline is the vice president of her class, the vice president of her school’s Best Buddies chapter, the vice president of her school’s DECA chapter, and a dedicated member of her school’s Students Against Destructive Decisions club. She is also trying to implement a new HOSA club for her school and is a research intern at a local medical school. Additionally, Caroline loves to practice the flute, craft, and bake in her free time.

Caroline is excited to be a part of the International Public Health Internship because she understands that access to medical care is undoubtedly important. With hopes of becoming a psychiatrist, she encourages equitable medical access for all. She is eager to learn more about all medical fields.

Sai Chavan

Sai Chavan is currently a junior at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung, New Jersey. At the Mount, she is taking four AP-classes and the rest are at an honors level. She lives with three pets, her brother, and her parents, so home is always fun!

Sai enjoys playing volleyball and will swim on her school’s varsity team this year. She will be competing on her school’s speech and debate team this year. She also loves to play the flute and was selected to participate in New Jersey’s youth symphony. Sai also played in her old school’s marching band and placed third nationally and first at states. She loves to write and is an editor on the school’s writing staff. Sai is also very passionate about volunteering and volunteers at a tutoring center, Mandarin academy, and Hindi School. When she is not volunteering, she is working at CVS pharmacy! She is also planning on establishing a Medlife chapter at her school, in which she will help underprivileged children in Peru by taking service trips. Sai also loves to write! She was published in the American Library of Poetry several times and also won several local poetry competitions.

Sai is extremely excited to collaborate with her team on this Public Health internship. She is very passionate about healthcare and health reforms. She wants to advocate for people who cannot. She wants to provide everyone a chance to get healthcare! She also wants to learn some aspects of her future career.

Mount Saint Mary Academy

Class of 2024

Syeda Tasnuba Amrin is a rising Senior at Chittagong Grammar School. She is an honour student who is one of her school's General Certificate of Education: Ordinary Level’s highest achievers.

She is an avid book lover and dance enthusiast. She performs regularly in her local communities and is part of the student governing body at her school. Syeda Tasnuba is also the president of a club with over 5 bodies( Music, Art, Book, Cinema and Photography) with over 150 members! She also promotes mental health on her vlog on Instagram and is the Mental Health Manager of Future Physicians Central on Instagram. During her free time, she likes painting, crafting, and sewing and does commission works for her local customers.

Tasnuba is thrilled to be participating in the International Public Health Internship this summer as she has gained her interest in public health from her summer school programme at Asian University For Women. She enjoys learning about medical science and loves innovating new designs and ideas in the field. She also volunteers at the local health care centres and vaccine centres whenever she can. It is her dream to be working in the health care field and help unprivileged communities. Being a part of this program will help her in future to achieve these goals.

Syeda Tasnuba Amrin

Chittagong Grammar School

Class of 2023

Sophia Vingarzan

Cranbrook High school

Class of 2026

Cranbrook School is a private, PK – 12 preparatory school located on a 319 – acre campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The schools comprise a co-educational elementary school, a middle school was separate schools for boys and girls, and a co-educational high school with boarding facilities.

Shanelle Tangonan is a rising senior at Floral Park Memorial High School. Shanelle is a dedicated student who is enrolled in advanced courses throughout her 4 years of high school.

Shanelle Tangonan enjoys drawing/painting as well as playing badminton. At school, she is one of the members of the National Honor Society and the National Art Honor Society. During her free time, she loves spending time with her family and learning how to sew/crochet.

Shanelle is excited to be participating in the Leadership Initiatives Health Internship Program this year. She dreams of becoming a registered nurse and is interested in the medical field.

Shanelle Tangonan

Floral Park Memorial High School

Class of 2023

Our Public Health Issue

Women's Healthy

Our Public Health Issue

Poor menstrual hygiene comes from having limited access to menstrual product resources. Women affected are unable to properly handle their menstrual cycles in sanitary ways.

The situation can include, but is not limited to, lack of period products, lack of privacy, and lack of soap and water for cleaning purposes. Women in these situations often resort to using fabric, cloths, napkins, or underwear to absorb the menstrual blood

Fast Facts

26% of the world are females of reproductive age.

Poor menstrual hygiene may cause urinary tract infections.

At least 500 million women do not have the proper means or facilities to handle their menstruation.

Over 300 million females menstruate each day in the world.

*From WorldBank & UNICEF

Health In Nigeria

Levels of menstrual hygiene vary by community throughout Nigeria. Sadly, certain parts of Northern Nigeria, like Kaduna State, only have 37% of the women in their communities with proper menstrual product access. For this reason, poor menstrual hygiene is an issue in some parts of Nigeria, potentially leading to reproductive health complications.

Our Impact

In addition to raising $212 for efforts to combat poor menstrual hygiene in the Guru Community our team has researched the topic thoroughly to understand the importance of such changes.

While creating our one-pager, we were able to contextualize the issue of poor menstrual hygiene in the world and more specifically in Nigeria.

Our team then created questions on menstrual hygiene for our Community Survey, which allowed us to informatively create our Community Workshop. We look forward to making a difference in the Guru Community by creating awareness for the public improvement of menstrual hygiene.

Our Approach

SURVEY

Our team is designing a community survey to identify major priorities and key metrics for menstrual hygiene and compiling a report on the prevalence, stakeholders, situation, and current initiatives to fight poor menstrual hygiene in Bauchi.

OUR PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGN

To raise awareness for menstrual hygiene in Bauchi, our team is designing a comprehensive public health campaign for the local community to encourage those most at risk to take the steps necessary to prevent further health complications.

OUR COMMUNITY WORKSHOP

To help improve prevention methods for poor menstrual hygiene , our team is developing a community workshop that equips and educates community members most at risk of poor menstrual hygiene .

Our Fundraising

1

DONOR

$725

STILL NEEDED

$212

RAISED

$513

GOAL

Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced some of the highest growth rates globally over the past 10 years. While this means that people in these nations have become more optimistic about their social and economic future, the region continues to face a myriad of historical problems. In order to continue steady growth and achieve a future of equitable conditions in the region, our International Internship Program team seeks to build stronger communities from the grassroots level through fundraising for community development.

Funds raised are used to implement community-based education programs, pay staff to run the operations on-site, and invest in training for local leaders. Leadership Initiatives uses fundraised money to develop a network of support for actionable change and accountability between our team, the Leadership Initiatives staff, and the community stakeholders we work with.

CLICK BELOW TO VIEW OUR GLOBALGIVING PAGE