Ms. Devabala Smitha

Ms. Devabala Smitha is a PG Diploma FSP student at FLAME University, Pune. She completed the Summer Internship Program at GIPH from 5 June 2024 to 31 July 2024.

Her internship study was titled Back to Basics: An Exploratory Study of Menstrual Practices and Hygiene Habits in the Coastal Village of Poonthura, Kerala.

I wanted to understand public health as more than protocols and numbers. The internship gave me an opportunity to examine it as a human endeavour shaped by context, contradiction and care, and to learn through community-centred research.

My time at GIPH was less about completing tasks and more about questioning assumptions. Each day reminded me that data separated from context says little about the lives it is meant to represent, and that real understanding often requires patience rather than immediate answers.

Working with mentors such as Mr. Jinbert Lordson A., whose approach to problems was thoughtful and attentive, taught me to listen before trying to solve. I came to see public health as an ongoing dialogue with people rather than something imposed on them. The internship also helped me recognise that uncertainty is not a failure of knowledge, but an honest starting point. Meaningful work often begins when we take the time to understand that uncertainty instead of rushing past it.