During the summer of 2006 I spent 11 weeks working at the Higher Population Council, General Secretariat in Amman Jordan. I had the opportunity to work on finalizing an English DVD designed to introduce English speaking persons to the population issues the Jordanian government is currently trying to overcome, the main challenge being Jordan’s high fertility rate coupled with their limited resources. In addition I was asked to train media professionals in Reproductive Health Advocacy theory. Finally, I worked with my preceptor to design evaluation guidelines the HPC could use to inexpensively evaluate their national programmes. I am very thankful to the Bixby and Drabkin funds for providing me an opportunity to work in the field of public health in Jordan. Both the professional and personal growth I gained while there were priceless components of my education.

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ORGANIZATION: Higher Population Council – General Secretariat Jordan Health Communication Partnerships
LOCATION: Amman, Jordan
STUDENT: Anthony Wang
YEAR: Summer 2005

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My internship took place in Amman, Jordan. I worked with two organizations: The Higher Population Council/General Secretariat (HPC/GS) and Jordan Health Communication Partnership/ Communication Partnership for Family Health (JHCP/CPFH). HPC/GS works more directly with reproductive health/family planning issues. Their goal is to promote lower fertility rates by introducing and educating populations about contraception and health education. JHCP is working to build a national coalition around a single health brand and health communication. Reproductive health and family planning is a component of the health messages.

I was based at the Higher Population Council while working on projects from both organizations. Specifically at HPC, there was a need for support and training on proposal writing and program development. I created a powerpoint presentation for a workshop series regarding proposal writing. I gave presented workshop series at the HPC as well as the Jordanian University Medical School, for the faculty and students there. I also reviewed and edited ongoing proposals. Programs under development include a Women Empowerment for Reproductive Health Campaign that sought to educate women on available contraceptives and communication strategies to garner familial support for family planning, as well as a National Media Health Communication Strategy that is being developed with JHCP and other partners.

I worked on two main projects at JHCP that were both components of the larger National Media Health Communication Strategy. The first project was a justification for the Media Unit study tour that JHCP was planning, to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an existing health media unit in Cairo, Egypt . The other project I was involved with was a study of the health communication capacity of JHCP’s partnering organizations. The study had been conducted and the data analyzed, so I was responsible for writing the executive summary of the study and its findings.

This unforgettable experience gave me an inside look into how a progressive developing country is developing a functional national health communication campaign to improve the health of its population.

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