Public Health Practice Spotlight: Emma Bebarta, MPH ’26 (Social and Behavioral Sciences; Global Health Concentration)

This summer, I worked with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) at its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional office. I served as a Health Section Fellow, supporting regional initiatives related to community health systems, immunization, and adolescent health.

Amman, Jordan.

I plan to build a career at the nexus of global health, policy, and clinical care to advance equitable, community-based health systems. My experience this summer deepened my interest in improving the delivery of frontline care in crisis-affected settings and in strengthening the alignment between local realities and the policies that shape health responses.

My primary funding source was through the Yale Institute of Global Health as a Leadership in Global Health Fellow.

During my internship, my primary focus was on maternal, newborn, and child health, as well as community health worker strategies across the region. I contributed to a series of maternal and newborn health reports covering five countries, synthesizing the country-level data into a comprehensive regional analysis. I also conducted a review of community health worker systems in 11countries, identifying key gaps and strengths, and developed strategic recommendations to support more sustainable and equitable models of community-based care. In addition, I had the opportunity to present on youth engagement in tobacco cessation at the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region's Intercountry Meeting, representing UNICEF's perspective on adolescent health engagement and multisectoral collaboration. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to engage in a range of different projects that have allowed me to explore new areas of global and regional health and develop new skills.

This experience deepened my understanding of how regional health guidance is shaped and the importance of integrating community voices in that process. I developed a greater appreciation for how policy, trust, and cross-sectoral collaboration play essential roles in designing effective health strategies in the region. Additionally, my internship broadened my understanding of the complexities of delivering health services in humanitarian settings. It underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation in establishing responsive and sustainable health systems.

I had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, including contributing to regional reports, participating in on-the-ground needs assessments, and presenting at inter-agency forums. These experiences enabled me to refine my critical thinking skills, communicate complex scientific findings more effectively in cross-cultural contexts, and gain a deeper understanding of the global health system as a whole.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my internship was having the opportunity to accompany my UNICEF colleagues from the Jordan Country Office on their site visit to Balqa, Jordan. We spent the morning following a mobile immunization clinic as it provided immunization sessions for migrant communities on the farms of the Jordan Valley. In the afternoon, we visited a local clinic to discuss its micro-immunization plans and participated in a round-table discussion with community health workers. This experience was an excellent complement to my work within the regional office, as I could see firsthand how the different community health strategies I had been analyzing and the guidelines I was developing impacted communities.

The most challenging aspect of my experience was learning how to navigate the complexity of cultural and societal norms that impact public health in the region. While reviewing adolescent health programming, I became increasingly aware of how these norms shaped who could serve as community health workers, how the norms impacted a person’s decision to seek care, and they led us to change how we framed more sensitive topics such as mental health, tobacco use, and reproductive health. This forced me to think critically and creatively about the measures we were recommending to support evidence-based initiatives that were appropriate in this context.

The most surprising aspect of my internship was the adaptability and responsiveness of the UNICEF regional office's work. Despite working at a systems level, they maintained close communication with both UNICEF headquarters and country-level offices to advocate for the country's specific needs and the lived experiences of individuals.

My academic training at the Yale School of Public Health provided the groundwork to bridge theory and practice, an integration I observed throughout my work with UNICEF. A key theme in many of the classes I have taken was how service delivery is molded by the allocation of resources, local and national policy, and the involvement of local communities. During field visits, I was able to clearly observe how these dynamics play out i and their impact on patients and providers. I watched community health workers navigate the rhetoric surrounding the vaccine hesitancies that are prevalent in the region. I watched as the mobile clinic providers navigated a large, unwieldy truck down narrow dirt roads between farms— the only vehicle they could get for their vaccination efforts. And I watched as community health workers expressed their frustration at having to treat different groups in different ways due to unsustainable, project-based funding for their efforts. YSPH's approach to public health allowed me to understand the nuances of my time in both in the field and in the office and to analyze, both in theory and in practice, why these interventions do or do not work and what public health professionals can do to address them.

Go for it! Working and living in Jordan was an incredible opportunity for both personal and professional growth. Being immersed in a new country for 10 weeks allowed me to step fully outside of my comfort zone, experience a new culture, and engage with different approaches to public health that I might not have been exposed to otherwise. I recommend approaching this kind of experience with humility, curiosity, and openness. You'll gain valuable insight into how global guidance is translated on a regional and local level and develop a deep appreciation for the international coordination and innovation required to drive global health work. It's an excellent opportunity to apply the lessons you have learned in the classroom while broadening your academic and cultural perspective.