The World Health Organization (WHO) is an organization working to reduce health, social, and economic burden that comes with communicable diseases. When the United Nations was formed in 1945 one of the things they discussed was setting up an organization for global health. Any of the countries within the United Nations can become a part of WHO. There are currently close to 10,000 workers from approximately 150 countries. Offices are located in 147 countries with six regional offices and the headquarters located in Geneva, Switzerland. The ideal employee at WHO is someone who is very motivated with a high level of knowledge and understanding of public health policy. The organization is well diversified and does not discriminate based on sex, ethnicity, or race. I found it very interesting that WHO is tobacco free and therefore looks for non-tobacco users during the hiring process. There are internship opportunities are available for students internationally within various fields. They hire in two different groups professional and general service. The professional staff members are those with Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate degrees whereas the general service staff does not necessarily require a university degree. Because quite a few of the positions with the WHO are overseas knowledge of foreign languages are certainly a plus. Experience for a job is taken into consideration but this organization is willing to participate in on the job training.
What a great opportunity it would be to work for WHO. I love public health and want to participate in any form that I can. WHO allows room for development and growth. One can be exposed to much more than they expect being that the WHO deals with global endeavors as well. Since that there are regional offices in each region around the globe there is chance for travel. As an individual who wants to travel and explore the world, becoming part of an organization such as WHO would be a powerful experience. Being that I will receive my Bachelor’s quite shortly and will continue to further my education beyond a Master’s, I will become familiar of the opportunities that are available. I found it interesting that WHO prefer non-smokers because I use to work where I was the only non-smoker and it seemed that the smokers would could easily receive chances to smoke where I was not given the opportunity to take a break regardless of circumstance. I also feel that this is an initiative that most employers should implement and may encourage the discontinuation of tobacco products. I admire the amount of information that is provided by WHO and to be included in the implementation of standards that improve the health and well being of many countries would be of great advantage.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Apickett, the WHO would be a great organization to work with. More so because it is an organization with a vast amount of opportunity. I would love to work with the WHO in there research of obesity; specifically childhood obesity. I have read and followed the research of the core group of Doctors that do a majority of the research. some of the follow-up research done by doctors and other organizations based of the WHO is so fascinating to me. Also this a very new field of research to many. outside of the NHANES there has been little research on childhood obesity what its causes, influences, and what we as researchers can do to improve the national statistics of obesity. I chose not to add any statistics because I didn't want to make it too boring or just a bunch of facts, however I encourage all of you to go to the CDC or WHO websites and check it out!
ReplyDeleteThrough traveling in Central America I have developed an interest in Global Health issues, but I am still uncertain as to what concentration I would particularly fit into. When I was researching the USAID website, I was excited to find that student internships and volunteer opportunities were available, as they are with the WHO. As a public health student, there are great opportunities to apply for internships that allow you to grasp a feel for the field, and maybe develop a passion for a particular concentration while you are networking and building professional relationships to add to your resume. Also, the fact that WHO is looking for someone with foreign language proficiency would also be another incentive to practice my Spanish!
ReplyDeleteI am also very interested in working for the World Health Organization as well. The diversity in job descriptions and global locations is another aspect that drew my attention to WHO. One thing that I really commend the World Health Organization for is their commitment to tobacco cessation and a tobacco free workplace. This reflects in their hiring process that does not employ tobacco users. One of my main goals would be to obtain an internship with this amazing organization. In my opinion, an internship opportunity with WHO would grant me with an invaluable amount of public health experience that I would be able to utilize throughout my entire career.
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