The Middlebury School in Argentina offers a Public Health track that allows students to explore public health within the Argentinian context through a social science lens.

Click here to watch a presentation about Public Health in Argentina

This track is a specialized option for Public Health. Students not interested in enrolling in a track may opt to participate in our standard direct-enrollment program

On the School in Argentina’s Public Health Track, students may take classes at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) Facultad de Ciencias Sociales or the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), choosing from a large array of suitable courses in the subject areas of sociology, demography, social work, psychology, and health-related careers such as nursing and nutrition. At each university, students also will have access to some courses from many majors and departments, such as Sociology or Social Work at UBA, or Nursing, Nutrition, and Kinesiology at UCA.  



Students will learn about public health and the social determinants of health from an Argentine perspective, incorporating knowledge of Argentine history, present-day governance and service provision in Argentina, contemporary social challenges, and theories specific to academic disciplines.



In addition to coursework, students will have the opportunity to apply classroom learning in a real world setting through a credited academic internship within their specific field of interest, addressing issues such as access to public services, public policy, and private and public programs for disadvantaged communities, taking advantage of the Middlebury School in Argentina’s network of partner organizations in Buenos Aires.





Sample Courses

  • Women, Care, Health and Families 
  • Sociology of Health 
  • Violence, Sexism, and Human Rights 
  • Quality of Adolescent Health Care from a Gender and Rights Perspective
  • Best Community Practices in Disability
  • Psychological Intervention in Emergencies and Disasters
  • Health Psychology and Public Health
  • Economic Sociology: Public Services in Recent Argentina 
  • Aging and Society 
  • Social Demography
  • Nutrition
  • Biostatistics
  • Public Health
  • Food Technology 
  • The Economy and Private Entrepreneurship

     

Sample Internship Providers

Health access issues

  • Damas Rosadas
  • Fundación Manos Abiertas
  • Asociación Síndrome de Down
  • Asociación Esclerosis Múltiple
  • FUNDAFASIA
  • Organización Panamericana de la Salud
  • Consejo Argentino de la Relaciones Internacionales
  • Fundación Huésped
  • Fundación Interamericana del Corazón

Public policy Issues

  • CIPPEC
  • Poder Ciudadano
  • FARN

Poverty issues

  • Observatorio de la Deuda Social Argentina
  • Asociación Alicia Moreau de Justo
  • Asociación Banco de Alimentos
  • Revista Tercer Sector

Housing access issues

  • TECHO

Human rights issues

  • CELS
  • Fundación Tzedaká
  • Fundación Luisa Harabeidián

Gender equality issues

  • FEIM
  • Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad
  • Asociación Familias Diversas Argentinas

Drug addiction issues

  • Fundación Williams

Children’s issues

  • Fundación Manantiales

Past Internship

Annie Aguilar (Middlebury College)



I recommend working with las Damas Rosadas in Hospital Ramón Sardá if you are interested in public health and/or women’s health and seeking an interactive internship. Although the pace of the work is very relaxed, assisting the other volunteers and the patients requires that you are on your feet and speaking in Spanish the entire time. The other volunteers are generally very kind and open to answering questions. They always tried their best to cater to my interests. I got a chance to visit each of the different care departments and gained a more holistic understanding of the inner workings of a maternity hospital. I witnessed women resting, recovering, working through labor, and giving birth, and I observed babies that needed extra care in Neonatology. My favorite part of this internship was speaking with the mothers while they recuperated with their babies after giving birth. During my time at Hospital Ramón Sardá, I learned a great deal about how the public health system works in Argentina. Because public health care in Argentina is free for all, I met women from many different countries in South America. Argentina has several very progressive laws regarding women’s health and respectful birth within the hospital setting. This internship introduced me to the difficulties that public hospitals and their limited resources can face with the application of such laws and what they do to combat these limitations.