Worked with a school-based health education initiative in rural Africa. Led the refinement of a manual and curriculum guide that peer educators and teachers are using to encourage high-school students to delay first intercourse or use dual protection contraceptive methods.

Worked with a counseling center for women, men, and children infected with HIV/AIDS to increase knowledge, skills, and use of safer sex practices among HIV-positive women. Led workshop discussions on safer sex for married women and women and their partners in order to involve their husbands, who are typically the primary decision-makers when it comes to sex.

Evaluated community-based reproductive health activities for an international NGO and its local partners. Among the projects were a feasibility study of moving from free to fee-based reproductive health services; an assessment of the integration of safe motherhood into other services offered by community-based contraceptive distributers; and a documentation of best practices in the integration of HIV care and family planning/reproductive health services.

Worked on an acceptability study of a male hormonal contraceptive injection, which was in clinical trials in two sites in Asia. The intern conducted semi-structured interviews at both sites with the male participants of the trials as well as their partners. Carried out with World Health Organization instruments, the research examined several issues: motivations for participating in the clinical trial; contraceptive histories of the men and their partners; perceived physical and psychosocial effects of the hormones; and willingness of the men to use the injection along with a barrier method of contraception for STI-prevention. In addition to these 24 interviews, the intern conducted six focus groups with community members not enrolled in the clinical trials to gather their opinions on the method’s acceptability.

Population-Environment: Worked to reinvigorate a faltering health promoter/midwife network in several communities within a South American national park. Among the internship’s milestones was a two-day workshop the intern organized for 19 health promoters on topics from vaccines and diarrhea to prenatal care and contraceptive methods. Sessions aimed not only to strengthen promoters’ ability to deliver health information in their communities, but also to tease out community barriers to family planning adoption. The intern used this information to make several programming recommendations to the park’s indigenous management team for sustaining and strengthening the health promoter network.