Science
Global Health, ILR Students Gain Service Experience Collaborating with Indian NGO
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This summer, 15 Cornell students embarked on a journey that reshaped their awareness of global health systems. In partnership with the non-governmental organization Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement and the ILR School, students in the Global Health program worked on four to six week projects at SVYM sites that related to students’ career and service interests. In addition to projects, the students took classes at the Vivekananda Institute of Indian Studies in Mysore, India, where they learned about Indian culture, gender, labor relations and economics, language and yoga. Global Health student Simran Malhotra ’20 saw her project on digitizing patient history have a tangible impact despite organizational complications. “Because I was not working to publish something, I could work immediately with the NGO and actually saw them using my work,” Malhotra said. According to Malhotra, since the doctors in India see up to 50 patients in a day — such a high volume of visits means that doctors do not have time to go over treatment procedures with patients.