Primeros Pasos – Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Primeros Pasos is a clinic in rural Guatemala that has a comprehensive outlook on healthcare. With the collaboration of health professionals, health educators, volunteers, and community leaders, Primeros Pasos offers quality and affordable health care and health education to the rural, underserved communities of the Palajunoj Valley of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

Georgetown Public Hospital, Ministry of Health, & University of Guyana – Georgetown, Guyana

The Georgetown Public Hospital is a large public hospital in the capital city of Guyana and is the national leader for medical student and resident education within Guyana. The University of Guyana was established in April 1963 and began its operations in October of the same year with a batch of 164 students in temporary premises loaned from Queen’s College in Georgetown. The current enrolment at the Turkeyen Campus is in excess of 5000 students pursuing more than 60 under-graduate and post-graduate programs. To date, more than 15,000 students have graduated and gone on to successful careers both locally and internationally.

LOCATION: Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is located on the northeastern coast of the country.

LANGUAGE: The official language of Guyana is English.

RECENT TRAINEE PROJECTS:
– The burden of MRSA among patients with acute S. aureusinfections, as well as the carriage rate in asymptomatic individuals in geographically distinct regions in Guyana
– Assessing the link between Filariasis, Tropical Pulmonary Eosinophilia, and Asthma in Guyana
– Determining high-yield criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus among patients presenting for care at a tertiary care public hospital in Guyana

Visitation Hospital – Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes, Haiti

Lwala Community Alliance – Lwala, Kenya

The mission of the Lwala Community Alliance is “to build the capacity of the people of Lwala to advance their own comprehensive well-being.” Through honed focus, holism, community collaboration, cultural sensitivity, and accountability, the Lwala Community Alliance works to accomplish this mission as a multi-dimensional community development agency. With health as the central focus, Lwala Community Alliance also has programs that encompass education, economic development, and public health outreach.

LOCATION: Lwala is located in a rural area of Western Kenya.

LANGUAGE: The official languages of Kenya are English and Swahili. Additionally, each ethnic group has its own dialect, and most people in Lwala speak Dholuo.

RECENT TRAINEE PROJECTS:
– Developing a knowledge-behavior survey of women, men, and Lwala Hospital Staff to assess attitudes, understanding, and practice regarding family planning
– Improving Malaria Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention at the Lwala Clinic, Kenya
– Implementing Health Passports in Lwala, Kenya
– The Challenges of Establishing a Clinic in a Rural Village Clinic in the developing world: The Case of Lwala Community Clinic in Western Kenya

Friends in Global Health – Zambézia, Mozambique
Friends in Global Health (FGH) is an affiliate organization of Vanderbilt University currently operating in Mozambique and Nigeria. Working in partnership with local government and civil sector organizations, FGH aims to implement health development programs using sustainable strategies with the long-term goal of improving communities’ well-being. FGH organizes activities around two core principles: 1) directing technical assistance to government health facilities to implement integrated HIV clinical services at the provincial/state level, and 2) developing human capacity. In Mozambique, Vanderbilt/FGH is the lead PEPFAR partner, working in health facilities throughout 12 districts of Zambézia, the country’s second-most populous province with an HIV prevalence estimated at nearly 20%.

LOCATION: FGH has sites in districts throughout the Zambézia region of Mozambique including: Pebane, Maganja de Costa, Namacurra, Inhassunge, Chinde, Mopeia, Morumbala, Lugela, Namarrói, Ilé, and Alto Molocué. The FGH District Office is located in Quelimane.

LANGUAGE: The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese.

RECENT TRAINEE PROJECTS:
– Identifying factors associated with loss-to-follow-up among pre-ART patients in Zambézia Province, Mozambique through interview and other qualitative methods
– Assessing a community development project associated with a micro-lending of livestock to HIV infected persons
– Constructing and validating a stage of change measure for “readiness to engage with the health care system” among a sample of traditional healers in Zambézia Province, Mozambique

AMOS – Managua, Nicaragua

Each summer, AMOS Health & Hope, a non-profit with 50 years of collective experience implementing successful public health programs in Nicaragua, offers highly-motivated students the chance to participate in a Global Health Practicum that aims to empower a socially conscious generation of public health workers. Fostering a critical analysis of international health development and social theories of power and privilege, the Practicum examines current models and methodologies for improving health in low-resource settings and combines the best of classroom and hands-on experience to take students’ knowledge of public health and community empowerment to the next level.

LOCATION: AMOS is located in Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, as well as various rural communities. Site location depends on project type (ex: WASH, nutrition, health education, etc.)

LANGUAGE: The official language of Nicaragua is Spanish, but along the eastern coast, indigenous languages and English are also spoken. The most common indigenous language is Miskito.

Danang Psychiatric Hospital – Danang, Vietnam
Danang Psychiatric Hospital (DPH) is the third-largest psychiatric hospital in Vietnam, with a staff of 37 psychiatrists, 4 psychologists, and 68 nurses. The DPH has an inpatient adult male patient unit, an inpatient adult female patient unit, an inpatient alcohol and substance addiction treatment patient unit, a forensics unit, a combined inpatient and day treatment child and the adolescent patient unit, an assessment unit, and an outpatient unit. It thus provides access to a broad range of patient populations for research purposes. The DPH houses the Center for Mental Health Research, which coordinates the research activities of the hospital. As part of the Danang Department of Health, which is under the Ministry of Health, the DPH has direct connections to 58 government psychiatric facilities in the country. The DPH has close connections to the University of Danang (e.g., the Director of the DPH, Dr. Lam Trung, teaches at the University of Danang), with undergraduates from the university often participating in research at the DPH.

LOCATION: Danang, Vietnam is located on the central-eastern coast of the country and is the fourth largest city in Vietnam.

LANGUAGE: The official language of Vietnam is Vietnamese.

RECENT TRAINEE PROJECTS:
– Substance Abuse Disorders In Vietnam
– Assessment of quality of life outcomes for psychiatric patients

University of Zambia School of Medicine – Lusaka, Zambia

The University of Zambia School of Medicine (UNZA SOM) is part of the Zambian Ministry of Education. The University Chancellor is appointed by the President of Zambia and serves as the Chairman of the UNZA Senate. UNZA SOM works closely with the University Teaching Hospital and has strong partnership links with the Lusaka District Health Board. UNZA SOM has recently established a Research Support Centre to support research projects in terms of logistics and financial management. The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) is the only secondary-level health facility in Lusaka and Zambia’s only tertiary care hospital. The Medical Care Division of UTH is comprised of eight medical specialist departments: Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Surgery, Pediatrics, Radiology, Pathology, Anesthesia, and Dentistry. Other UTH/UNZA SOM resources include the Department of Community Medicine and a virology laboratory.

LOCATION: The University is located in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. Lusaka is situated in the central portion of Zambia’s southern plateau.

LANGUAGE: The official language of Zambia is English, although there are 73 indigenous languages spoken within the country.

RECENT TRAINEE PROJECTS:
– Assess methods of accurately diagnosing TB-related severe sepsis in HIV positive patients
– Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Rural Zambia
– HIV Surveillance in a Rural South Zambian Mobile Clinic Prevalence, Predictors and Attitude

VIGH has extensive partnerships in Zambia, so other placement locations in Zambia, such as the MACHA Institute, may be possible.