WHO Internship Programme in Geneva for Students 2026

The World Health Organization runs an internship programme at its offices, giving students a period inside the organisation that sets global health policy. Placements sit across health and medicine, the social sciences and business and management, reflecting that WHO needs analysts and administrators as much as clinicians.

Who can apply

The programme is open to applicants of all nationalities at undergraduate, Masters and PhD level. The language requirement is practical rather than formal: you must be fluent in at least one of the working languages of the office of assignment. That phrasing matters, because it means the relevant language depends on which office you target, and a francophone candidate is not disadvantaged in an office that works in French.

What interns receive

WHO provides all interns with medical and accident insurance coverage for the duration of the internship. A living allowance is also provided to eligible selected interns who need financial support. The wording is deliberate: the allowance is needs-based rather than automatic, so an applicant should establish early whether they qualify rather than assume the placement is funded.

Deadline and how it works

There is no single closing date. Internship opportunities are posted on a continuous basis, each with different requirements and its own application deadline, so the programme page has to be checked regularly for new postings. This is the part applicants most often get wrong: treating WHO internships as one annual round rather than a stream of separate vacancies.

Before you apply

Decide which technical area and which office you are aiming at, then watch that stream specifically. A targeted application to a posting that matches your background beats a general one, and because each posting closes on its own schedule, the habit of checking regularly is worth more than any single strong application submitted late.