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Tobacco Fiee Initiative

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Septembei S, 2u11 to Becembei 16, 2u11
















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In the Fall of 2u11 I was accepteu to intein at the Tobacco Fiee Initiative (TFI) of
the Woilu Bealth 0iganization (WB0) at its heauquaiteis in ueneva, Switzeilanu. Ny
supeivisoi, Bi. vinayak Piasau, is a Senioi Auvisoi at the Tobacco Fiee Initiative, which
is the WB0 team ueuicateu to auvancing global tobacco contiol anu ieuucing the onset
of tobacco use in uevelopeu anu ueveloping countiies. Buiing my inteinship, we agieeu
that I woulu woik Nonuay, Tuesuay, anu Weunesuay to complete the minimum 2u
houis a week iequiiement. Bowevei, I founu that uue to my stiong inteiest in the
oiganization anu my uesiie to leain moie about global health vectois, I was woiking
full time many weeks on my own time (sometimes up to Su houis pei week) to leain
moie about health policy. Inueeu, consiueiing that I wish to puisue a caieei in global
health policy, I founu it ciitical to assimilate as many expeiiences as I coulu anu
contiibute to oui uepaitment's mission with the type of commitment anu iesponsibility
that is ciucial to move global health policy foiwaiu.

The Woilu Bealth 0iganization is the 0N's goveining bouy that pioviues
leaueiship on matteis ciitical to inteinational health. It aiticulates eviuence anu ethical-
baseu policy foi the puiposes of setting ciucial stanuaius, establishing noims, anu
auvocating the use of global best piactices in global health. Baseu upon my pievious
expeiiences in health economics, pie-meuicine, anu meuical woik in Cential Ameiica,
not only uiu I expiess inteiest in woiking with WB0 in the futuie, but I was especially
inteiesteu in the application of health infoimation technology anu mobile technology in
a public health context. Befoie aiiiving, Bi. Piasau infoimeu me that I woulu be


woiking with mBealth (mobile Bealth), oi the ueliveiy of health seivices via mobile
technology uuiing my inteinship. Consiueiing that it was my ieseaich into health
infoimation technology in Inuia that got me so inteiesteu in this aspect of public health,
it iepiesenteu to me an extiemely ielevant anu meaningful oppoitunity.

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0pon aiiiving I was biiefeu on the WB0's stiuctuie, TFI's mission, anu the
mBealth initiatives that I woulu be woiking with. I also quickly iecognizeu that among
many values ciucial to inteinational health was coopeiation on a cultuial, social, anu
peisonal level. To be specific, TFI hau to consult with numeious entities such as
technology sectois anu foieign mobile companies to auvance its mobile health
initiatives, not just public health officials anu goveinments. This meant that people who
weie expeits in public health but not in technology hau to consult with inuiviuuals who
knew a lot about the application of technology about veiy little about public health.
Noieovei, watching inuiviuuals fiom these uisciplines woik togethei, collaboiate, anu
move health policy foiwaiu was quite insightful. In this context, I was taskeu with
finuing potential uonois anu Infoimation Technology (IT) companies to help coopeiate
with oui mBealth initiatives Among one of them was the Inteinational
Telecommunication 0nion (IT0 is the 0N bouy on telecommunications). I was assigneu
to help wiite a "newslettei" on IT0's website that woulu showcase oui initiatives anu
oui uesiie to woik with potential IT entities such as IT0.



Belping contiibute to the WB0's mission in this mannei was a meaningful
oppoitunity but also initially uifficult; namely, as I staiteu to unueitake wiiting
assignments, I founu that wiiting in the context of senuing a cleai message as an
inteinational health oiganization is consiueiably uiffeient in many aieas. This incluues
the stiuctuie of the papei, the flow of logic anu iueas, the iole of science anu eviuence-
baseu souices, anu the oveiall message anu ielevance you aiticulate in the enu. Nany of
these things seem like aieas one might covei in a wiiting class, but it is uiffeient when
you wiite it foi the puipose of aiticulating health policy. I founu that thiough many of
the wiiting assignments that Bi. Piasau assigneu me, I saw a substantial impiovement
in my wiiting, stiuctuiing, anu ability to aiticulate myself to make oui uepaitment's
initiatives ielevant foi public health. Aftei initially becoming familiai with the wiiting
piocess, this piece was publisheu on IT0's website.

http:gioups.itu.intstocktakingBlogsWSISStocktakingBloguetailstabiu11SSIB2
S8The-inteisection-of-mobile-health-technology-anu-tobacco-contiol.aspx

It iepiesenteu a momentous milestone foi me in teims of becoming moie
familiai with what type of woik WB0 is involveu in as well as the goals of oui
uepaitment.

I also helpeu ciaft a flyei foi oui uepaitment's mBealth initiatives: this was
especially impoitant since oui initiatives uepenueu on uonois anu this flyei coulu make
a uiffeience in funuing. It exposeu me to the maiketing aspect of public health: oui


uepaitment has to sell its iueas on one sheet of papei anu be stiaightfoiwaiu anu uiiect
with it. Noieovei, the pioject iueas we put on oui flyei woulu be the pioject iueas that
we woulu use foi the coming months with all oui paitneis. Belping contiibute to this
was a meaningful oppoitunity anu I was glau to be a pait of helping make it.

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Peihaps my most significant assignment at the WB0 was helping wiite a Policy
anu Peispective aiticle in the WB0's inteinational health jouinal: the Bulletin. In one
aspect it was veiy unexpecteu to be assigneu something so momentous as an intein, but
at the same time it iepiesenteu a unique oppoitunity to become moie involveu in the
uepaitment anu actually paitake in oui effoits to auvocate these initiatives to the public
health community. I was taskeu with wiiting the initial outline, wiiting a fiist uiaft to be
euiteu latei by my colleagues, anu putting togethei all Su souices we useu in the papei.
0f couise oui uepaitment's eviuence, piojects, anu initiatives have alieauy been
ieseaicheu upon anu planneu. I was simply putting it togethei, but this is wheie I ieally
leaineu how to make oui uepaitment's message ielevant to public health.

To be specific, it is not just as simple as saying oui uepaitment uiu a liteiatuie
ieview anu maue some piojects baseu on oui ieseaich. Inueeu, it was ciucial to have a
cleai message in minu anu ensuie that the thesis was thoioughly backeu up by enough
eviuence to make it a veiy cleai case. It was uuiing these S weeks that I leaineu the
most uuiing my time at the WB0 because I was able to see how iueas get tiansmuteu
into a call foi actual policy to be implementeu (though not necessaiily witnessing actual


impactsoutcomes in a ieal woilu setting). 0f couise the membeis in my uepaitment
uiu the most impoitant woik in euiting what I hau, assigning me changes to the
uocuments, anu fine-tuning the uocument; I was theie to help membeis of my
uepaitment wiite the initial uiafts anu put oui uepaitment's message of mBealth into a
coheient aiticle. But still, even being gianteu the oppoitunity to just paiticipate in
helping wiite it was one that I expiesseu ueep giatituue to Bi. Piasau foi. Even though
the aiticle uiu not go thiough (we competeu with 8u othei aiticles), I still leaineu a lot
fiom it anu we will now look foiwaiu to publishing it foi anothei jouinal.

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I also helpeu cooiuinate TFI's event at one of IT0's confeiences (eBealth
Pavillion). Witnessing my colleague Sameei collaboiate with IT companies in peison
anu give a piesentation on mBealth was insightful because I was able to witness how
the "coopeiation" inuispensable to public health (between uiffeient sectois, uisciplines,
cultuies, countiies, etc) functions in this type of enviionment. A lot of my woik also
entaileu Poweipoint piesentations foi the uiiectoi of TFI: Bi. Bouglas Bettchei. These
weie not as simple as putting Su sliues togethei anu making them look aesthetic. When
he piesents to auuiences of up to S,uuu people woiluwiue, it is ciucial to keep in minu
what he knows about the subject uuiing the piesentation as well as to make eveiy sliue
mean something. Belping contiibute to these piesentations taught me a lot in teims of
aiticulating youiself succinctly; it was also satisfying to help contiibute to oui
uepaitment's goals knowing that the uiiectoi woulu use these same sliues to senu out
TFI's message woiluwiue foi the hope of iealizing a bettei health outcome.



Even though my supeivisoi is Bi. Piasau, inteins aie moie oi less shaieu in the
uepaitment; this allows you to be exposeu to uiffeient aspects of public health anu
assimilate moie knowleuge about how health policy is moveu foiwaiu. Foi example, in
uoing an assignment with a meuical epiuemiologist, I was exposeu to the statistical
aspect of public health in a ieal life setting: the pievalence of cigaiettes among meuical
stuuents woiluwiue. This was especially ielevant consiueiing that I aspiie to attenu
meuical school anu it is ciitical to iecognize that uoctois cannot auvise theii patients on
smoking cessation if they themselves smoke. Noieovei, leaining about how statistics in
public health aie maue anu leaining of how analyses like these have impact on policies
maue at TFI was quite insightful.

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Contiibuting to the woik at WB0 also taught me many impoitant values that I
will apply in my futuie woik such as an appieciation foi social justice, uefeience,
piofessionalism, anu thankfulness. It has alloweu me to see up close anu peisonal what
the woik at the BQ office entails anu has also uemonstiateu to me the impoitance of
obtaining necessaiy expeiience in iegionalfielu woik befoie consiueiing an
oppoitunity at the BQ in ueneva to see how policy is actually applieu in the fielu.
Noieovei, ieceiving an immense amount of satisfaction fiom contiibuting to the
mission of the WB0 has stiengtheneu my inteiest in exploiing a possible futuie foi it. In
auuition, the value of being moie open with people aiounu you (not just in youi woik
enviionment) became a ciitical lesson leaint as I talkeu to many WB0 staff uuiing my


inteinship about inteinational health. Thiough these talks, I obtaineu a stiongei giasp
of not only what type of path I shoulu choose to woik in health policy, but also iealizeu
how ciitical it is to iecognize the type of woik one wishes to puisue (e.g. wiiting iepoits
may not necessaiily change people's lives in the ieal woilu). Ny inteinship challengeu
my pieconceiveu notions of global health policy anu has given me a moie conciete
peispective of what I wish to uo in my futuie befoie consiueiing woiking at the WB0
again. In concluuing my woik at TFI, I view it as the most insightful, ielevant, anu
meaningful oppoitunity of my caieei thus fai.