Argentina: Public Health in Urban Environments

Examine urban epidemiology and the challenges and inequities in public health policy in Buenos Aires.

Program Highlights

• Study in Buenos Aires, home to renowned health institutions and highly engaged professionals working on health policy, research, delivery, and advocacy.
• Examine significant social and economic disparities in health.
• Benefit from SIT’s close partnership with ISALUD, the nation’s top health university.
• Learn Spanish with a focus on public health.
• Use your new research skills to conduct a final Independent Study Project or enhance your skills with an internship.
• Work side by side with Red Cross volunteers on a community project in Tucumán, one of poorest provinces in the country.

Independent Study

During the final four weeks of the program, you can choose to use your new language and cultural skills and the academic knowledge you have acquired to complete an Independent Study Project (ISP) on a topic of interest to you. Spend the final four weeks of the program engaged in an independent research project conducted in Buenos Aires or another approved location in Argentina.

Projects should demonstrate your understanding of the components of the program and should contribute in some way to a greater understanding of public healthcare in or the epidemiological profile of Argentina.

Sample Topics:

• Grassroots advocacy and healthcare services
• AIDS policy and care
• Public health consequences of environmental contamination
• Gender and reproductive rights
• Challenges to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals in Argentina
• Healthcare among immigrant populations

SIT internships are hands on and reflective. In addition to completing the internship, you will submit a paper processing your learning experience on the job and analyzing an issue important to the organization you worked with, and/or you will design a socially responsible solution to a problem identified by the organization.

You will complete work assigned by the organization and/or shadow the work of professionals within the organization. A person from their staff will be designated to make sure your experience is relevant to you, and to give you the training and advice you need to perform your duties.

Sample internship topics and sites:

• Working in different community projects with Red Cross in Tucumán province
• Collaborating with health programs teams at primary healthcare centers in Buenos Aires; San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán; and Maipú, Mendoza
• Assisting the work of different hospital services at public hospitals in Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Tucumán province
• Working in health promotion and directing educational and recreational activities at daycare centers for elders in Buenos Aires
• Supporting social organizations promoting access to social and health rights in Buenos Aires and the surrounding area
• Supporting families with hospitalized children

Key Topics of Study

• Health system organization
• The political process of defining a public health agenda
• Social determinants of health
• Intercultural barriers to quality care
• Chronic diseases in urban environments
• Health needs specific to urban environments 

Money Matters

Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor.  

SIT tuition and room and board fees include the following:

All educational costs, including educational excursions

• All accommodations and meals for the full program duration
• Transportation to and from the airport, and on all educational excursions
• Health and accident insurance

Scholarships:

• SIT awards nearly $1.6 million in scholarships and grants annually.
• All scholarships and grants are need-based.
• Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.  
• The SIT Pell Grant Match provides matching grants to all students receiving Federal Pell Grant funding when it is applied to an SIT Study Abroad semester program. 
• Contact the financial aid and/or study abroad office(s) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.

Contact SIT Study Abroad

• Visit our website: studyabroad.sit.edu
• Request more information or email us: studyabroad@sit.edu
• Call an admission counselor: 888-272-7881
• Contact a former student.
• Apply to SIT