Hello! My name is Tanya Isaac. I’m from Bangalore, India and I’m a rising junior pursuing a dual degree in Psychology and Public Health. I’m really interested in international health and health equity in developing countries and hope to pursue a career in the field. This year, I also worked at the Sherchan Lab at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; a soil and water microbiology lab where we research water quality and pathogens present in local soil and water bodies such as Naegleria fowleri and Vibrio vulnifucus.
For the latter half of this summer I will be a midwife intern at Asosiación Manos Abiertas (AMA) in Antigua, Guatemala. AMA is a birthing centre that aims to provide empowerment tools to women to make informed decisions about their healthcare through providing prenatal, delivery and holistic healthcare for women. During my time at AMA, I will shadow midwives, nurses and doctors, take down patient histories, and assist with deliveries. I hope to accomplish the following learning objectives:
- To explore and get some practical experience in the field of maternal and child health
- To improve my conversational Spanish and achieve a level of fluency.
- To understand how culture plays a role in women seeking medical care in a developing country
- To gain an understanding of women’s reproductive rights in a different culture.
- To gain a better understanding on childbirth practices
NCI’s mission is to educate undergraduate women for leadership in the 21st century and I believe that my internship fits with this mission as the clinic is completely staffed by women to help better women’s health, to help women make informed decisions for themselves. And this will give me the opportunity to grow as a leader and gain confidence in the field of reproductive health.
This internship will also give me exposure in international health and give me hands on experience for which I am so excited for! My time in Antigua will also expose me to a culture that is very different from where I have been brought up in, but at the same time shares a lot of similar values when it comes to reproductive rights and women’s role in society, which will be very interesting to observe. To prepare for this internship, I will be staying at a language institute in Antigua for two weeks before starting at AMA to improve my Spanish.