CCOUC-CGH Global Health Internship Programme and Field Trip in Vanuatu

Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC), CUHK Centre for Global Health and their NGO partner GX Foundation organised a Global Health Internship Programme and field trip in Vanuatu from 9 to 22 June 2025. Vanuatu is one of the most disaster-prone and climate change-threatened less-developed small island state in Southwest Pacific Ocean, suffering from the natural hazards of earthquake and climate change-augmented cyclone, sea-level rise, flooding and vector-borne diseases. The capital Port Vila was extensively damaged by an earthquake of 7.3 magnitude on 17 December 2024. The purpose of this trip is to provide global health internship and field-based experiential learning opportunities relating to global health and medical humanitarian assistance in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) region to students, as well as to empower local community to cope with issues relating to public health and disaster preparedness.

Nine CCOUC field trainees, both undergraduate and postgraduate students inside and outside the Faculty of Medicine from the multi-disciplinary fields of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Law, Medicine, Nursing and Public Health, joined this two-week field trip. Students were given an invaluable chance to witness firsthand the realities of medical humanitarian assistance, from preparing disaster preparedness bags to engaging directly with local communities in need. Over the course of the trip, students assisted in setting up material distribution booths and delivering health education demonstrations to villagers on how to use the disaster preparedness supplies effectively to help them maintain their health during disasters, as well as prevention of dengue fever as a prolonged biological hazard on the island state. More than 4,000 disaster preparedness bags were distributed across eight rural villages on the main Efate Island where Port Vila was located. Students were also given the training and practice of field research by conducting health needs assessment and pre- and post-intervention surveys.