Media enquiries and requests for interviews with members of the WHO polio team may contact: polionews@who.int

Internship applicants may contact: polioresearch@who.int using the following subject line: "Summer internship 2010: GEX" or "Summer internship 2010: RAP"

Interships for Polio Eradication at
the World Health Organization

The External Relation team (GEX) and Research and Product Development (RAP) team of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (World Health Organization) are accepting resumes for masters students interested in summer internships this year. The deadline for submission is 28 Feb 2010.

Interested applicants should e-mail their resume and the answers to the essay questions to polioresearch@who.int using the following subject line: "Summer internship 2010: GEX" or "Summer internship 2010: RAP"
If you apply for the both positions, please send two separate e-mails with different subject lines.

The essay questions are the following:

For the RAP position (up to 5 pages plus one PowerPoint slide in total)

1. Please look at our website. Identify a few (3-5) most significant challenges in polio eradication program and describe how the scientific, social and operational research may address these challenges.
   http://www.polioeradication.org/
2. Please select one of potential research team's contributions above, propose the 6-9 week project to objectives and describe how your background and qualification makes you the best person to do it.
3. It is known that diarrhea is one of risk factors for insufficient oral vaccine efficacy in tropical area. Separately, zinc has been shown to be associated with a reduction of diarrhoeal disease.

There is an idea that we may improve response to the oral polio vaccine by co-administering zinc. (please see attached for more information)
http://www.polioeradication.org/content/poliopipeline/PolioPipeline_04.pdf

How can we evaluate this idea? Please identify key questions to be answered and approaches to answer these questions in the attached format.

For the GEX position (2-3 pages in total)

1. Please look at the Global Polio Eradication Initiative website and attached briefing document for a redesign, and propose a 6-9 week project to develop a marketing plan http://www.polioeradication.org/
   Web redesign

2. Please describe how your background and qualification makes you the best person to manage the project.

Description of Organization

In 1988, the World Health Assembly (WHA), the governing body of the World Health Organization, resolved to eradicate polio globally by the year 2000. As a result of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative by the end of 2006, only four countries remain endemic of wild poliovirus (Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan). In 2009, fewer than 2,000 poliovirus cases were reported worldwide. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), spearheaded by national governments, the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF, is the single-largest, internationally-coordinated public health project. Since 1988, more than two billion children around the world have been immunized against polio thanks to the unprecedented cooperation of more than 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, backed by an international investment of more than US$ 5 billion.


Role of an intern

Internships will be at WHO's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. An intern will be closely working with RAP/GEX team members. An intern will be in charge of the specific project, performing qualitative and quantitative analysis and summarizing findings and develop recommendations on a variety of potential subjects (not necessarily the proposed project in the essay)


Qualifications and skills

The GPEI expects an intern to provide the following skill set;
- Basic skills for market research (e.g., identifying necessary data, develop a work plan)
- Data gathering skills (e.g., collecting both qualitative/quantitative data, interviewing key
  stakeholders)
- Ability to synthesize findings

Also, prior experience in pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry and/or public health, medicine, or biology is strongly preferred.


Eligibility

- Interns must be fluent in English and enrolled in a degree program in a graduate school
  (second university degree or higher) both at the time of application and during the
  internship.
- Persons related to a WHO staff member are not eligible for internships.


Terms of the internship

-The normal duration of an internship is a minimum of six weeks and a maximum of three
 months.
-The Organization or the intern may end the internship before its completion, normally with
  one week's notice.
-An intern may participate only once in the WHO internship program.
-An intern can not be remunerated by WHO. They are responsible for all costs, including
 the costs of and arrangements for return travel to the office of assignment, visas and   
 accommodation, as well as related living expenses.

Write to polionews@who.int with the subject line "GEX intern" or "RAP intern" depending on your application.

For further information, please also see WHO intern website:        
http://www.who.int/employment/internship/interns/en/