Reflections of my internship in public health with Sutton Council

Now in my third year of the Global Health & Social Medicine (GHSM) BSc (Neuroscience pathway), I have been struck by the constantly shifting terrain of global health and social medicine. This can be difficult to traverse, especially without a proper understanding of the origins and underpinnings that cause these shifts – whether they be economic, historical, social or even cultural.

Learning about the elements that constitute global health outcomes made me wonder whether the theoretical knowledge that I had gained would be effective in a practical setting. So in 2022, I found it incumbent upon myself to gain some practical experience in the field. Although I understood the critical importance of the theoretical aspects and frameworks of global health and social medicine, I wanted to bring them to life in a practical setting.

I applied to multiple public health internships with different firms and health companies and finally managed to get a summer internship with my local public health department in Sutton Council.

The internship lasted two months and during this time, I worked in different sub-departments. I quickly learnt that it takes professionals from a variety of academic backgrounds and sectors to keep the public health department running.

I worked with epidemiologists who collected and analysed health data. At the time, the immediate focus was on COVID-19 and monkeypox, but there was also an investigation of obesity and smoking as long-term issues. The raw data then made its way to the public health experts in the council to decide whether it would be necessary to create interventions – protection against these diseases, if they were deemed dangerous or spreading.

Once the interventions were approved, they would be carried out on the ground by social workers, and the media team would aid in publicising the interventions effectively.

Observing the interconnectivity of these different professions working under one umbrella made me appreciate every specialty and how each sub-department contributed uniquely but collaboratively to creating better health outcomes.

The role assigned to me was to create content for the JSNA (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment) document, which aims to update the birth rate statistics in the borough. I also decided to go slightly beyond and pitch my own intervention, posing the idea of reducing fat and cholesterol rates in the borough by introducing industrial air fryers rather than consuming deep-fried foods. My aim was to reduce levels of obesity, cholesterol and unhealthy foods in the local area.

Overall, I learnt a huge amount during my time working for the local public health department, from analysing data to creating policy interventions. I was very much inspired by the team at Sutton. This gave me the idea of proposing a five-day intensive summer programme for other GHSM undergraduate students – to provide them with the chance to experience working in a public health department.

I successfully managed to connect Sutton’s public health department with King’s students with the help of Dr Nele Jensen, and the summer programme ran successfully for the first time in June 2023.