Public Health and Medicine
Overview
Gain hands-on experience in public health and medicine while living in the heart of the Amazon. This is an opportunity for passionate and curious interns to explore healthcare delivery in rural and underserved communities while strengthening their medical Spanish skills. Interns are placed with local hospitals, clinics, or public health organizations, supporting efforts to strengthen health systems and promote wellness in both clinical and community-based settings.
In addition to shadowing healthcare professionals and contributing to public health campaigns, interns live with host families in Indigenous communities—offering a broader view of health and healing that includes food systems, forest ecology, cultural resilience, and everyday life in the Amazon. This immersive, intercultural internship invites you to see public health through a much wider lens.
Daily Life
After orientation in the city of Tena, interns settle into their host communities and begin to build relationships with their host families and placement teams. Mornings might start early with a cup of guayusa tea before heading to a health center or hospital to observe local doctors, nurses, and public health workers. Some days you’ll support rural health visits or shadow workshops on topics like nutrition, reproductive health, or disease prevention. Other days might be spent creating brochures, analyzing local data, or helping to coordinate school health campaigns.
Afternoons could include time in the pharmacy or dental clinic, or exploring the nutritional benefits of plants grown in the chakra. Interns interested in traditional medicine can connect with local healers or join their host families in collecting and preparing medicinal plants. Evenings and weekends are filled with shared meals, hikes, storytelling, and the opportunity to reflect or for free travel time with other interns of friends you meet along the way.
Price:
$550 per week, 4 week minimum