I completed my field studies working in the Panama Country Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), located in Panama City. UNICEF is a branch of the United Nations that focuses exclusively on preserving the rights of the child through programs that improve education, health, child protection, and policy benefiting children. The Panama office, in collaboration with the Panama Ministry of Health, has recently place HIV/AIDS as one of the top health priorities in the country. The focus of my projects with UNICEF was reducing the mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as well as increasing support to children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS in the country.

The first of my two projects involved organizing workshops for key hospital personnel to encourage the use of HIV rapid tests for all pregnant women. By identifying positive cases early on, treatment could greatly decrease the chance of the disease being passed to the child. These workshops were designed to coordinate with the Ministry of Health’s purchase of 80,000 HIV rapid tests to be used exclusively for testing pregnant women to reduce vertical transmission.

My second project was working as a consultant to UNICEF’s primary partner in the field of HIV/AIDS, the non-governmental organization PROBIDSIDA. My work with PROBIDSIDA included creating an adjusted work plan and budget for the remainder of 2008 to ensure full implementation of proposed funded projects, working with the organization to create an annual work plan and budget for 2009, and completing the proposal and paperwork to secure the funding from UNICEF for 2008 and 2009. Through the proposal, PROBIDSIDA was able to receive an additional $28,000 for 2008, and increased their budget for 2009 to $168,000, $100,000 more than the original budget for 2008. This additional funding will go towards a media campaign encouraging women to get tested for HIV/AIDS, a HIV youth educator program, and the creation of an interactive AIDS library.

y field studies with UNICEF was an great experience. In addition to my main projects, I also got to learn about and participate in many of the other projects being carried out by staff in the office. I was very impressed and learned so much from the knowledgeable and attentive people in the office. I also got first hand experience in working at a large government organization.

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