News Advisory - Belleville Resident Returns Home from Six Month Internship in Kenya

TORONTO, Dec. 17, 2013 /CNW/ - A resident of Belleville will soon be returning home after spending six months in Kenya interning with the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF). Jordan Jarvis is one of 10 young Canadians who has just completed an internship with AMREF in sub-Saharan Africa, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD, formerly CIDA) through the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy.

As the Operational Research Officer for AMREF in Kenya, Jordan took on a wide variety of jobs, including: researching what motivates and attracts Kenyan health care workers in different regions (in one northern region, the vacancy rate for health care workers is 93%); helping to improve cervical cancer services in an urban slum (only about 3% of women in Kenya have been screened for cervical cancer); and travelling to rural Tanzania with AMREF's Flying Doctors service.

Jordan is available for interviews after December 17, 2013.

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY: Speak to Jordan about her experiences in Kenya. Find out about her most treasured memories, the challenges she faced, and what the internship has meant to her.

About AMREF (www.amrefcanada.org; @AMREFCanada): The African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) works with communities to improve Africans' health. African-based and African-led, AMREF is a global organization with intimate first-hand knowledge of the health challenges facing African communities. With more than 55 years of experience we are a recognized global leader in African health, having won both the Bill and Melinda Gates Award for Global Health and the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

SOURCE: AMREF Canada (African Medical and Research Foundation)

For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Jennifer Foulds, AMREF Canada, [phone]; [phone] (cell)