City: Geneva
Organization: UNAIDS
Student: Ryan Raypon
Internship Year: 2016
Responsibilities
- My main responsibilities at UNAIDS included the following:
Conducting literary searches of articles concerning HIV/AIDS and its effects on key populations within the epidemic, violence in humanitarian settings, gender inequality within the epidemic. - Data analysis of country, regional, and sub-regional data in regards to ART adherence
- Reviewing of documents and country briefs
- Â General assistance within the Strategic Information and Monitoring (SIM) team of UNAIDS
Greatest Public Health Lesson
The most important lesson I learned during my internship is that there are many layers that can affect an epidemic. An epidemic is rarely simply a biological problem. There are different aspects that will characterize an epidemic, such as culture and politics. This was made very clear to me while working with UNAIDS, but I have learned that this is not only true with HIV/AIDS but many other diseases that afflict our world.
Favorite Memory
Aside from traveling around Europe during my free time, my favorite memory was participating in a National Health ID (NHID) workshop organized by my preceptor Kim Marsh. It afforded me a first-hand look at representatives from various countries and civil societies collaborating to discuss a complex issue in regards to key populations within the HIV/AIDS epidemic.