Invitation: Internship Opportunity at the Human Resources for Health Unit, WHO Geneva

The Human Resources for Health Unit of the Department of Health Systems Policies and Workforce has advised IFMSA of the opportunity for an internship experience in the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization. A knowledgeable, skilled and motivated health workforce is critical for reaching universal health coverage. Health workforce includes those that provide health services such as doctors, nurses, etc. and those that support the health services such as hospital managers, ambulance drivers, etc. Skilled health workers are unable to deliver services effectively without appropriate physical capital such as adequate facilities, equipment and consumables such as medicines. Thus, health system budgets need to balance these three vital demands human resources, physical capital and consumables. The WHO Human Resources for Health Unit is supporting countries in achieving national and international goals to strengthen their health workforce and find sustainable solutions to health workforce issues as the education, migration and retention of health workers. Aside from the technical support it provides Member States on governance and health workforce planning, the unit also produces information for policy makers to take evidence based decisions. At present, one of the key thrusts of the unit is the implementation of the World Health Assembly Resolution 66.23 entitled Transforming health workforce education in support of universal health coverage adopted last May 2013. The resolution can be accessed here: http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA66/A66_R23-en.pdf. The internship will be available starting September 2, 2013 for a usual duration of 6 weeks to 3 months. The unit will select 4-10 interns for the whole period of September 2, 2013 August 31, 2014. The intern will perform a range of duties and responsibilities, including but not limited to: 1. Contributing to activities related to transformative health workforce education in countries and WHO regions 2. Participating in the unit's strategic thinking processes for accelerating progress in country implementation as well as global advocacy 3. Supporting communication and coordination within the unit, with the WHO system, and with other partners and stakeholders (including IFMSA) 4. Assisting in organizing knowledge resources, including online repositories, as well as maintaining the unit's interactive web platform

5. Liaising between the department and IFMSA, particularly the Standing Committee on Medical Education and the IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative, and coordinating joint activities Please check all the requirements, eligibility criteria, and conditions at http://www.who.int/employment/internship/en/. Specifically, the Unit is looking for interns with deep interest and some knowledge and experience on human resources for health and health workforce education, as well as superior level of English proficiency (both oral and written). Interested applicants should submit the following to lwho@ifmsa.org on or before Friday, July 26, 2013, 23:59 GMT. a. Completed IFMSA Application Form for WHO Internships b. Motivation Letter (maximum 2 pages) c. Curriculum Vitae (maximum 3 pages) d. Letter from NMO president certifying your membership in IFMSA and your student status (Note: Alumni can also apply until 1 year after graduation.) Please put Application to IFMSA WHO HRH Internship as the subject of the e-mail. All application papers will be forwarded to the Human Resources for Health Unit for screening and selection. While the first intern (entering on September 2) will be informed at most one week after the deadline, the rest of the selected applicants will receive confirmation within the month of August 2013. The unit will directly communicate with the selected applicants regarding other additional requirements. (Note: Selection is done by the WHO department, not by IFMSA.) Please be reminded that WHO internships are un-paid positions and unfortunately, neither IFMSA nor WHO provides financial assistance to selected applicants. However, IFMSA can provide a support letter for your personal fundraising. Once accepted, WHO will provide you an invitation letter, which can be used for visa application (if necessary). For further inquiries that are unanswered by the WHO internship webpage, do not hesitate to contact lwho@ifmsa.org. Please do not send any email to WHO to avoid confusion. I look forward to receiving your applications! Good luck! Sincerely,

Ramon Lorenzo Luis R. Guinto, MD Liaison Officer to the World Health Organization International Federation of Medical Students Associations