Field Placement:  Population Council
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Preceptor: Kate Wilson
Student Name: Courtney Burks
Year: 2008

Over the summer of 2008, Courtney conducted her field work at Population Council in the Mexico office which is located in Mexico City.  This field work was conducted as part of her academic requirement toward her Master’s in Public Health degree.  Population Council is an international, non-profit, non-governmental research organization that works in three program areas—Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and Poverty, Gender and Youth—and seeks to improve the health and well-being of populations around the world.

Courtney worked on a number of tasks during her time in the country office, including research studies in Mexico and other regions of Latin America and the Caribbean.  She collected and analyzed data for a qualitative study on the quality of abortion services in Mexico City health clinics.  This, along with an abortion public opinion study, were one of the main foci of her work in the Mexican capital, as recently (in April 2007) the legislative assembly of Mexico City passed an abortion reform, that allows women to legally get an abortion up to 12 weeks of gestation.  The law is applicable to any Mexican national or non-national.  As well, all the abortion services are free to the women who receive them.  This was a landmark piece of legislation for Mexico and the rest of Latin America, which will hopefully pave the way for many cities, states and countries in the future.

Courtney also worked on analyzing data and writing part of an academic manuscript for a study on the use of maternity waiting homes among indigenous women in rural Guatemala.  Additionally, she analyzed data and created a presentation on the sexual and reproductive health status and violence against women among women living with HIV in Mexico for the International AIDS Conference held in Mexico City.  As well, she assisted with various other on-going projects, such as a national abortion incidence study in collaboration with the Guttmacher Institute, a medical abortion study for the World Health Organization, an update on the use and availability of emergency contraceptives in Mexico, a research proposal on child trafficking in Belize and a program evaluation proposal on political violence in Guatemala.

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