Internship in health organizations in China

[jodi.zhu]

Hi all, this is a Chinese Canadian who's doing a master's in Global Health in Sweden. I've finished my elementary school education in Guangzhou, China, and thereafter in Toronto, Canada. After graduation from university in 2007 (I majored in life science and psychology) I came over to Europe to work as an international English school science teacher.

I've enrolled in a Global Health master's programme since September this year, and will be looking at a 4 month free time (well not exactly, it's for my thesis writing - but I will have likely finished the bulk of it given my supervisor is kind of pressing on time), and I wish to spend it in China doing an internship in a health organization, international NGO's, Chinese NGO's or institutions.

I've done a bit of research surfing on the web and found that mostly of intern positions are tailored to business and IT sectors. I'll also write to the organizations I've thought about. But for those who are in this field, or know someone who's in this field: how difficult, would you think, if I should land an internship in public health area, idealy in Red Cross, Ford Foundation, etc? by the way I am fluent in Chinese speaking and writing.

Thanks a lot for your input, xiexie, tack så mycket.

[Yang Rui]

You should definitely try the WHO. I know they've taken interns in the past and the people who work there are nice:

世界卫生组织驻华代表处

中国北京市朝阳区东直门外大街23号东外外交办公大楼401室

电话: (8610) 6532-7189; (8610) 6532-7190

(8610) 6532-7191; (8610) 6532-7192

传真: (8610) 6532-2359

电子邮件: who@chn.wpro.who.int

[jodi.zhu]

Thanks a lot Rui. Your name's exactly same as one of my friend's and for a sec I thought you were the same person, lol. I did think about the WHO in beijing but was also intimidated to get into contact with it. Great input from you so I know the people working there are nice, I'll really give it a try. Xie xie

Any other suggestion is also welcome, thanks in advance.

[roddy]

A read of this might be useful, and perhaps also this directory of international NGOs in China - although it's no longer updated. But basically identify potential host organizations, come up with your own project, demonstrate that it will be of value and that you will need as little of their resources as possible, and good luck!

[jodi.zhu]

Thank you thank you thank you! I couldn't have found a more useful site than this. What I need to do is really to narrow down on what type of organization I want to work for, and location, I suppose.

I've seen internship/work ads that specificly point out they want 100% commitment from applicants - not having to work on a thesis at the same time, for instance. But I don't want to lie about it, is there a way to work around the issue?

xiexie, bow