SUMMARY

An internship is any carefully monitored work or service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience.

We completed our internship at the regional delegation of Public health within 6 weeks, from 17th March to 24^th April 2015. The objective of the internship was to enable public health students acquire practical experience in the execution and management of public health activities.

The activities we carried out in the delegation include: Active disease surveillance, data entering, participated in weekly and evaluations meetings, visiting the various units and programs, participate in yellow fever and deworming campaigns.

In all, the internship was an exciting and enriching experience as the staff collaborated with the interns. As such we were able to achieve our objectives. We recommend that the duration of internship be increased to three months so that interns can have an opportunity to participate actively in all activities of the delegation.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Internship is defined as any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession[1].It is a well-defined program based on the intern’s objectives. An internship thus blends together working practical and theory studies in the class [2]. In this light,the Department of Public Health and Hygiene had provided intensive lectures to the student. After the students have received lectures, the department decided that the students should undergo public health field experiences.

This field practical experience is to help the students to blend theory and practice in partial fulfillment of a degree in Public Health and Hygiene. A team made up of four second year master students from the department of public health and hygiene from the faculty of health sciences of the University of Buea carried out internship at the Regional Delegation of Public Health. The internship lasted for six weeks.

1.2. Objectives of the Internship

The Department of Public Health set the following objectives to be attained by the students on field placement in the various selected institutions.

General objectives

To acquire practical experiences in the execution and management of public health activities in Cameroon.

Specific objectives

1. To understand the organisational structure of the Regional Delegation of Public Health.
2. To visit and understand the functioning of all the units of the Regional Delegation of Public Health.
3. To carry out systematic review of literature on existing project.
4. To find out the various funders of specific projects at the delegation.
5. To participate in project/program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
6. Work with institution staff to achieve institution’s short term objectives/outcomes.
7. To understand and design data collection tools, data management and data analysis.
8. To participate in drafting and presenting reports; design and publication of IEC tools.

CHAPTER TWO

FIELD PRACTICAL SITE.

2.1 Location

The internship was carried out at the Regional Delegation of Public Health for the North West. The Regional Delegation is located at the Bamenda 2 sub division at the hospital round-about. That is, along the road to the Regional hospital Bamenda. The delegation has good infrastructure with necessary equipment and personnel.

The delegation is headed by the delegate, who is a medical doctor and holder of a master’s in Public health. He is assisted by a chief of brigade who is also a medical doctor and a holder of an MPH.

According to the hierarchy of the health system in Cameroon, the delegation is in the intermediary level. The regional delegation supervised the peripheral level (districts and health areas).

The regional delegation coordinates and controls the health activities in the nineteen health districts and two hundred and twenty- six health areas found in the North West Region of Cameroon. The delegation receives data from these districts, analysis and forwards them to the central level.

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