Are you looking for a summer global health field experience?
The Interamerican Center for Global Health in Costa Rica (CISG) offers specialized practicum opportunities for students interested in global health. Students will be placed in a practicum site that aligns with their personal interests. Students may choose from the following practicum sites.
*Intermediate Spanish Speaking Level Required
CISG Practicum Programs are designed to develop experiential and contextual skills of collaborative interdisciplinary work in real-life situations related to the field of global health. Practicum programs create bridges between theory and practice in community settings. They are participatory in nature and designed to meet students’ program competencies and personal/career interests. Participants will work alongside CISG local partners and local populations as part of their practicum in Costa Rica. Participants will be able to explore the inherent challenges towards health equity and sustainable development while participating in efforts to improve the overall well-being of the communities they work with. An essential part of this undertaking is to rely on the proper support to accomplish a comprehensive reflective process. CISG provides such support through an extensive team of local supervisors distributed among several local organizations and institutions, in addition to our in-house preceptors. Both parties are in charge of monitoring the participants’ progress towards desired goals.
Pricing:
How to apply
Complete the following two forms: Once you have identified the organization you wish to work with and the category of practicum you wish to conduct, fill out the application forms. An academic advisor from CISG will be in contact with you shortly to discuss your academic goals and objectives, and you will collaboratively develop your practicum program. As this is a lengthy process, you are encouraged to apply to your desired practicum at least four months in advance to your desired start date.
For questions contact info@cisgcr.org. Please cc ghpadvising@ucsd.edu when you submit your application.
Scholarship Opportunity – Two $1,000 Scholarships will be provided by the Global Health Program for two Global Health students to participate in this Costa Rica Field Experience Program– when you apply, please cc ghpadvising@ucsd.edu to be eligible for the scholarship.
More about the Center and the UC San Diego Global Health Program
The UC San Diego Global Health Program and Center for Global Mental Health are developing a partnership with the Interamerican Center for Global Health in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is world renowned for its incredible biodiversity, the culture of peace, long-standing democracy and high social investment. However, it also faces challenges. Costa Rica’s social structures are currently going through an accelerated transformation period manifested by a demographic transition evident by a quickly aging population and a growing heterogeneity in its population. This transformation is in part due to the process of migration. Additionally, there is a process of socio-economic rearrangement with an ever growing unequal distribution of wealth and rapid urbanization; environmental degradation in areas with high presence of agroindustrial production; and an epidemiological transition represented by a growing burden of chronic diseases and the resurgence of neglected tropical diseases.
Much of the Interamerican Center’s work is taking place among the indigenous Ngöbe people in the Coto Brus region of Costa Rica’s south, not far from the border with Panama. Many Ngöbe are among the migrant workers who travel from finca to finca harvesting Costa Rica’s world renowned coffee as it matures. One of the main indigenous communities in the area is called La Casona, where a community health clinic or Integrated Basic Health Team (EBAIS) serves the local populace. Professor Csordas recently visited La Casona in the process of preparing opportunities for students in the GHP to complete their Global Health Field Experiences in practica conducted by the Interamerican Center for Global Health and its local health care partners in the Coto Brus region. The photos featured here show the local area and some of the people who live there.