EA Spotlight - May 2021

External Affairs Spotlight May 2021 edition

External Affairs IT 2020/21 Eglė Janušonytė - Vice-President for External Affairs Klaudia Szymuś - External Affairs General Assistant Hamaiyal Sana - External Affairs Policy Assistant Adham Osama Sleem - External Affairs Capacity Building Development Assistant Yousra-Imane Benaskeur - External Affairs Regional Assistant for Americas Ali Amirkafi - External Affairs Regional Assistant for EMR Maria Inês Francisco Viva - External Affairs Regional Assistant for Europe Iris Martine Blom - Liaison Officer for World Health Organization Olayinka Fakorede - Liaison Officer for Students’ Organizations Mahmood Al-Hamoody - Liaison Officer for Human Rights and Peace Issues Iftekhar Ahmed Sakib - BMSS-Bangladesh Layout Mohamed Atef - PRC Publications & Content Creation Assistant

Contents www.ifmsa.org

Welcome Note

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Getting to know External Affairs

5

How to be a part of the IFMSA delegation?

7

Capacity Building

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External Meetings Report

11

General Assembly

15

Conducted Campaigns

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EA Regionally

20

Articles from Members

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EA Spotlight

Welcome note Welcome note Welcome note

Eglė Janušonytė VP for External Affairs

Dear IFMSA members, I hope this note finds you well! Please be welcome to the second edition of the External Affairs International Team Spotlight. We are eager to share with you some of the most exciting projects that were carried out, and hope to involve our members in the upcoming editions. I would also like to thank Christos, our General Assistant, for coordinating and making this dream of the newsletter come true.

With this, I invite you to discover what IFMSA has been up to externally and to get to know our EA IT better!

Hugs, On behalf of the EA IT, Eglė

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EA Spotlight

Getting to know External Affairs 1) Meaningful Youth Participation MYP is when young people are given equal opportunity in decision and policy making in a specific body or system on equal terms with adults at a number of levels, or alternatively to work independently from adults and make decisions solely with the involvement of youth voices.

Young people have the fundamental right to meaningfully participate in decision-making processes when it comes to programs or policies that affect their lives.

Meaningful participation should take place in all stages of decisionmaking: during development, implementation and evaluation.

No matter if the program/policy is big or small, young people should be included.

Young people not only have the right to participate, there’s also an advantage of their involvement: if the voice of young people is heard, programs and policies can become more effective and can be adapted to the actual needs of young people.

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May Edition

Getting to know External Affairs 1) Meaningful Youth Participation Most programs that are developed for young people are not developed by young people. This limits the effectiveness of the program.

To help solve this issue CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality has developed the Flower of Participation! The Flower of Participation is a tool that uses the metaphor of a blooming flower to describe the different forms of youth participation and how it can grow and flourish in meaningful ways.

2) Digital Health Digital health is a concept of cooperation between technology and healthcare sectors that leads to the attainment of better health through more precise and personalized approaches and digital tools. It aims to implement innovative technological solutions to address health needs and

encompasses data collected from individuals through mobile phones or the internet and big population data managed by computer sciences or artificial intelligence. The Resolution on Digital Health adopted by WHA recognizes the importance of digital health in the achievement of UHC and SDGs.

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EA Spotlight

How to be a part of the IFMSA delegation?

Applying to a delegation can seem intimidating, especially when it’s the first time. We wanted to share some tips and tricks as well as resources to help get you started with your applications and know what is expected from good candidates.

The Process When Possible, IFMSA opens calls for delegations to have members engage in external relations and advocacy during certain external events that we attend. For your application to be valid, you must submit an Application Form and a Candidature Form.

Application Form: This is the core of your candidature. You will have to provide basic information about yourself, including your NMO as well as your availability for a given meeting. The application questions include experience in the topic of the meeting, experience in external affairs, your potential contribution to the delegation, your follow up plans and your motivation. There is a word limit for each question, so be concise and select high-yield information you want to convey! Be specific, be creative and think about what will be the impacts of your participation, during and after the event. Also know about the event you are applying for to tailor your ideas based on that.

Candidature Form: This a document that must be signed by a representative of your National Member Organisation (NMO), usually the President, to support your candidature.

Therefore, do not leave it for the last minute and give sufficient time to the NMO representative to sign it.

Avoid being last minute to have time to proofread your application, get input on it and not be stressed by possible technical issues.

The Tools To better prepare for your application, resources are available for you! First of all, remember to research the event you plan on applying for and IFMSA’s participation in it during previous years. This will help you grasp what contribution you can bring and what impact you can make.

Second, a good thing to do is to consult people who went through the application process and got selected. Their experience can provide you with valuable insight, both in terms of application and expectation for the event itself. You can also read delegation reports and testimonies that are shared regularly by IFMSA Delegates on social media. For instance, here you can find the joint report of IFMSA participation at the WHO Regional Committees Sessions in 2020.

Finally, IFMSA published a manual on How to Write an Application to give you some objective tips and best practices when preparing a candidature - check it out! This will surely help you get started.

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EA Spotlight The Do's and Don'ts

Contact people who were selected for the the same event or a delegation Read about the event you are applying to and the specific themes/topics of the year Read about IFMSA’s participation in the event Prepare the application in advance (include a brainstorming period!)

Focus on your vision and ideas in the motivation Include SMART objectives Be concise Have someone proofread the final application Apply!

Stay vague in the motivation and objectives Write only one sentence in the contents of the application form List your experience in the motivation part Use informal language Use acronyms that are uncommon Underestimate your experiences or chances to get selected

The Next Steps If you are interested in an external event, you can check out IFMSA’s previous participation and plan your application in advance. You should check beforehand if IFMSA plans to open a call for delegates before preparing your application. Feel free to reach out to the Official in charge of coordinating IFMSA attendance to a certain event for additional information and to ask questions regarding the plans for attendance.

To stay tuned on delegation opportunities, keep your eyes peeled for calls opening on IFMSA social media, email servers and Facebook groups!

Remember that different levels of experience are considered, since delegations are an opportunity for continuous capacity building. Do not be afraid to apply even though your experience is limited or you’ve recently started getting involved within IFMSA. Simply put all chances on your side by preparing a robust application!

Finally, though your application may be fantastic, you may still not get selected on your first try.

Delegations are a great opportunity that however have limited capacity in terms of number of participants and various criteria come into play, including gender and regional representation.

Don’t get discouraged, keep trying and make sure all your candidatures are high quality to maximize your chances.

And when you get selected, enjoy, learn and build lifelong friendships!

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May Edition

Capacity Building 1) EA CB Regulations The External affairs workshops have been around for many years but were never regulated resulting in 2 issues: first, that they were confined only to Pre-GAs and RMs with no possibility of NMOs to host one, and second is the variable quality between different workshops considering that they do not have a certain structure to follow; So from December 2020 to February 2021 EA CBDA with the help of the EA IT and Global Health Diplomacy SWG, have worked on the creation of regulations to be included in the CB IOGs as an annex to be voted upon in the CB plenaries; With these regulations, we aimed to address both issues with providing a general outline for all External affairs workshops hosting, a clear format that allows NMOs to host GHA workshops in case they meet the stated requirements and lastly we created a framework for GHA to ensure sustainability and standard quality between different workshops.

The regulations are currently composed of 3 sections the first are a general overview that provides future space to add more workshops, Section 2 is about the Global Health Advocates workshop, it is about the technical aspects of GHA workshops, who can be a trainer, what is need for graduation and holding a GHA workshop in SRTs and other international events In the last section we aimed to tackle sustainability by adding a section of the GHA framework, where all the steps need to hold a GHA are present with a detailed explanation These regulations provide a huge step in establishing external affairs as the sustainable integrated and strong entity it deserves to be in IFMSA

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EA Spotlight

Capacity Building 2) Global Health Diplomacy Course In 2013 in the 132nd session of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO), held in January of that year, the phrase “health diplomacy” was mentioned time and time again. The Director-General used it in her opening remarks: “Health diplomacy works.” In two papers published in this Bulletin in 2007, the importance of global health diplomacy was underscored, particularly the need to build capacity in this domain within WHO and in WHO’s Member States, in line with changes in the global environment. During the years that have since transpired, it has become amply clear that health diplomacy is not a transient fashion. In fact, the Global Health Programme 2012, launched by The Graduate Institute in Geneva to promote research and knowledge translation and diffusion, represents a turning point in global health diplomacy training.

Years later the same concept emerged again after the corona pandemic: Health has many dimensions other than just the clinical skills taught in universities, and the last year has further proved to us the importance of the political and diplomatic dimensions in Global Health.

And now it was up to us in IFMSA as a major stakeholder in the youth and advocacy world to educate our members on that concept through a dedicated workshop that can be applied in physical and virtual platforms to disseminate as much knowledge as we can, which can be achieved through an experienced SWG to draft the curricula and set the standard of such a course In March and April, the call for the SWG was opened and the selection was done; With consultation of the LWHO the SWG will work tirelessly till September to provide IFMSA with an online course that will be sustainable for years to come and provides IFMSA with the needed info for understanding diplomacy in global health

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May Edition

External Meetings Report 1) ECOSOC The ECOSOC youth forum took place on 7 and 8 April 2021 where youth from all over the world were connected and where IFMSA had 2 side events LRA, EA CBDA, and RA EMR for EA “COVID-19: Redefining Women Leadership in Global Health Workforce” and RD Asia-Pacific in "Addressing Health Inequities: Youth Action and Empowerment", 3 sessions by the LRP "A People-centric Response", and the LME “REFLECTING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD: CELEBRATING A DECADE OF THE YOUTH FORUM AND THE START OF DECADE OF ACTION” and our VPE in “Harnessing Partnerships, Resources and Science: Working Together to Get Things Done” and lastly our LPH and VPE were PMNCH Side Event speaker and moderator in “Uniting Adolescents for COVID-19 and Beyond".

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EA Spotlight

2) CSW65 The 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women(CSW) conducted virtually from the 15th to 26th of March 2021. The priority theme for the 65th meet was Women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life; as well as elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Over the course of 2 weeks, there were discussions in the form of Ministerial Round tables and Interactive Dialogues happening virtually with informal consultations happening in the UN headquarters in NY, along with side events organised on the said topics by the UN. Parallel to these were events organised by NGO CSW, different Civil Society organisations and Governments of different Member States, in which the delegation actively took part in, ranging from topics on Gender-Based Violence, Gender Equity in Healthcare and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in exacerbating violence and injustice against women and people of the LGBTQI+ community. Some of the speakers included global researchers from WHO to local leaders and head of NGOs working to create local impact to effectively tackle violence, stigma and stereotypes which hamper the productive participation of women in making decisions and claiming autonomy for themselves.

The end of two weeks of dialogues, round-tables and consultations resulted in the recommendations the Commission provides to its member states to facilitate the pursuit in gender equality. With an eventful two weeks, IFMSA delegation had a productive and educational meet with interactive dialogues with important stakeholders such as Ipas, and advocating for youth representation and gender parity.

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May Edition

3) WHO EB Meeting The 148th World Health Organization Executive Board Meeting took place in January of 2021. The momentum of global health with the current pandemic has rarely been this large, so eyes were on this meeting and its proceedings.

During the meeting, health emergencies were discussed at large but other topics that are important health issues also came by. A strong message was sent from the World Health Organization to improve equitable vaccine distribution. The IFMSA was present with a delegation of 11 delegates from across all regions.

This was the first time that the IFMSA Delegation was present at this event in the virtual setting. Since advocacy was limited in some ways, we had to think of other creative manners to advocate. The IFMSA delegation successfully prepared and read 8 statements, worked on social media advocacy, performed a youth and gender watch, and wrote and published a blog post!

Read the details on all our efforts in the report and refer to the delegates' experience below!

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EA Spotlight

General Assembly EA at the GA (sessions overview)

1) NMO Management session: Shadow Reporting (Hamaiyal and Christos)

NMO Management session was facilitated by Christos and Hamaiyal where the topic of discussion was Shadow Reporting. The session addressed the topics of: Agenda 2030: Sustainable Development Goals SDGs & IFMSA HLPF 2021 Reporting on SDGs Volunteer National Reports UN Progress Report Shadow Reporting

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May Edition

General Assembly EA at the GA (sessions overview)

2) SCORE Session on Policy Documents (Ines and Hamaiyal)

Research, Exchanges and Policy Making session was facilitated in MM21 by Kevin, Inês, Hamaiyal, Sayed. During this session we tackled the following topics: Advocacy, Campaigning, Lobbying Evidence-based advocacy and research Introduction to (National) Policy-making What topics can we have for Policy-Making in Research and Exchanges?

How to get involved in Policy-Making?

Participants showed great interest in this topic is engaged in the discussion.

Once again, we had the opportunity to highlight the importance of advocating for research and open science!

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EA Spotlight

General Assembly EA at the GA (sessions overview)

3) SCORA Session on Policy Documents (Hamaiyal)

IFMSA Policy Documents and SRHR session was facilitated by Hamaiyal (EAPA) where an overview of Policy Documents and their structure and timelines were discussed. The session also included information on the ways SRHR has played a role in generating strong and useful policy documents in IFMSA.

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May Edition

Conducted Campaigns 1) Policy Campaign - the global campaign The IFMSA Global Policy Campaign initiated on the 10th of January with a stellar opening called the “Policy Highway” where the What, the Why, the Who and the How of the Policy Documents were shared in interesting and informative graphics.

The graphics were complemented with videos recorded by the Liaison Officers and the Small Working Group members, where each video brought IFMSA Policy documents one step closer to our members.

On 15th January the first-ever Twitter Hour of IFMSA was carried out where the main idea was to initiate an hour-long discussion on the official Twitter handle of IFMSA about Policy Documents, their usage, reflections, implementations and ways for members to get involved in them. The initiative proved to be the most enlightening discussion that made it possible for our members to learn about policy documents and their impact as well as unlocked a new dimension of engagement and participation for our members to contribute according to their potential. The discussion included the Team of Official members, the Global Policy Campaign SWG as well as the EA IT. The campaign received a massive number of engagement and positive feedback from our members. The Small Working Group members included Enwereuzor Okechukwu (NiMSA, Nigeria), Doğa Nur Köşker (TurkMSIC), Mahmoud Ismail (IFMSA-Egypt), Lucas Ponte (IFMSA-Brazil) and Sahiba Maniar (MSAI India) who worked hard with the campaign coordinators Hamaiyal (EA PA) and Imane (EA RA Americas) to make this campaign a great success.

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EA Spotlight

Conducted Campaigns 2) SC x SDGs Weekends

SCOPH X SDGs weekend: The SDGs weekend kicked off on 18th April when a highly engaging webinar was held with our speakers Omina El Omrani (LPH), Iris Blom (LWHO) and Olayinka Fakorede (LOSO) talked about the connection of SDGs with SCOPH focus areas. The discussion revolved around multiple SDGs especially SDG number 3.

The LPH shared very strong points “We at IFMSA have the power to make our governments accountable through our action and that is no small thing” Another quote from our LWHO “If we do not get vaccine equity then we are not going to achieve any of the SDGs, however, there are still bright lights in the sky when it comes to equity so there's still hope” “Sometimes as young advocates, we forget our own impact and it is through active efforts that we learn to believe in ourselves” were the impactful lines shared by our LOSO during the session.

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May Edition

Conducted Campaigns 2) SC x SDGs Weekends

SCOPE X SDGs weekend: The campaign was utterly conducted on SCOPE channels as firstly a survey on SDGs implementation in exchange programs was conducted. The only voted answer was that there are no SDGs in exchanges but respondents would like to work on it. Therefore, capacity building on SDGs was performed. All SCOPE members could get familiar with SDGs by a series of posts showcasing basics and relevance to exchanges of specific goals with ideas of putting them into life. The campaign was held during the weekend of the 7th and 8th of May.

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EA Spotlight

EA Regionally 1) EAZone “Let us take a leap toward empowering the EMR family regarding External Affairs”; this idea was the basis for organizing a 4-day workshop in pre-EMR17.

According to previous baseline assessments, EMR lacked enough number of EA related workshops and trainers. In order to fill this gap, various topics were covered in the workshop including: The importance of EA and what is the role of EA in IFMSA Partnerships, stakeholder mapping and IFMSA partners UN structure, UN 2030 agenda and Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy and how to influence decisions Policymaking and how to be a policymaker WHO simulation

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May Edition

EA Regionally 1) EAZone This workshop was not only about theoretical lectures but various interactive sessions and activities were planned to maximize the quality of learning.

Also, this whole event was based on a competitive scenario in which the participants started a journey and throughout this journey, they were visiting different countries in the region and had to finish EA related tasks there in order to earn points.

At the end, the participants were highly satisfied not only with the content of the workshop but also with the way this content was presented to them. All this positive feedback was acquired due to the amazing energy and dedication of our participants but more importantly thanks to our great trainers and facilitators who worked tirelessly to make the journey unforgettable: Yousra, Sarah, Fatima, Christos, Ali and Adham.

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EA Spotlight

EA Regionally 2) YAS YAS! (Youth, Advocacy and the Sustainable Development Goals) was organized as one of the capacity building activities in the IFMSA Pre European Regional Meeting, being facilitated by Inês, Christos, Kevin, Adham. Having also other trainers (Mustafa and Mariona) attending and co-facilitating some sessions. During this event, we discussed the role of youth in advocacy and sustainable development goals. With our amazing and very active participants, we tackled the following topics: Social Media and Advocacy Tools for sustainable partnerships: MoUs, TOR, stakeholders mapping and analysis United Nations and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development The Sustainable Development Goals and European Regional Priorities (National) Policy Making and Advocacy External Affairs in IFMSA We also had the opportunity to organize an advocacy simulation under the topic: Health, Environment, and Climate Change.

The simulation allowed our participants to prepare and deliver statements. Besides taking part in more theoretical training sessions, participants had the chance to put into practice the knowledge (either by developing their own Memorandum of Understanding or their own Policy Document).

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May Edition

EA Regionally 3) Africa SWG for Advocacy and Policy and Policy Hackathon Meaningful Youth Participation Hackathon was organized as one of the activities under the Africa Policy and Advocacy Month which was done in collaboration with FAMSA and IPSF. The hackathon aimed at enabling participants to develop learner-centred and outcome-based learning strategies to utilize all previous knowledge from the Policy and Advocacy Webinar Series and translate it into actions to solve a specific problem related to meaningful youth participation and learning at the same time, hence this hackathon was a trigger to be engaged in shaping FAMSA, IFMSA and IPSF identity by being involved in their future policy activities as well as actively participating in developing policies that serve your community needs and advocate for it.

Primary target group: IFMSA Africa, IPSF and FAMSA members.

Secondary target group: any Healthcare student interested in promoting youth participation in Africa.

The goal was to empower IFMSA, IPSF and FAMSA members about meaningful youth engagement in the decision-making process to address the regional priorities.

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EA Spotlight

EA Regionally 3) Africa SWG for Advocacy and Policy and Policy Hackathon The hackathon was organized mainly by IFMSA policy and advocacy SWG, however, the participants were members of IFMSA, IPSF and FAMSA. A registration form was opened for teams to register.

5 teams were selected namely - 1- Neoterics - 2- Us Too - 3- The Achievers - 4- Standing Committee on Youth Empowerment and Engagement - 5- Volcano Each team had a mentor from whom all were experienced in external affairs members of IFMSA. The working period was about 3-4 weeks. All groups met and prepared their ideas, had sessions with their mentors and finally presented their ideas in the final presentation The winning teams are; 1. Standing committee on Youth Engagement 2. Us too 3. Neoterics The winning teams will have follow-up sessions with the EARA on how to bring their ideas to life and also connected with externals who can further mentor them.

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May Edition

Articles from Members

World Immunization Week 2021 - A Critical Look on Immunization Iftekhar Ahmed Sakib

We must not tolerate a world in which a child dies from a disease that can be easily prevented with a low-cost vaccine -Dr Tedros Adhanom, WHO Director-General World Immunization Week – celebrated every year in the last week of April – aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. Immunization saves millions of lives every year and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful health interventions. Yet, there are still nearly 20 million children in the world today who are not getting the vaccines they need, and many miss out on vital vaccines during adolescence, adulthood and into old age.

Using the theme ‘Vaccines bring us closer’, World Immunization Week 2021 will urge greater engagement around immunization globally to promote the importance of vaccination in bringing people together, and improving the health and wellbeing of everyone, everywhere.

When we get sick, our body makes antibodies to fight the disease to help us get better. These antibodies stay in our body even after the disease is gone, and protect us from getting the same illness again. This is called immunity. However, we do not have to get sick to develop immunity. We can gain immunity against disease through immunization.

Immunization (or vaccination) protects people from disease by introducing a vaccine into the body that triggers an immune response, just as though we had been exposed to a disease naturally. The vaccine contains the same antigens or parts of antigens that cause the disease, but the antigens in vaccines are either killed or greatly weakened. Vaccines work because they trick our body into thinking it is being attacked by the actual disease.

At any age, vaccination provides the longest-lasting, most effective protection against disease. Vaccinepreventable diseases can be serious, and in some cases can cause life-threatening complications that can lead to hospitalization. This is especially a concern for infants and young children, who have particularly week natural immunity. Having children vaccinated on time is important and helps ensure that they receive the protection they need as early as possible to fight off diseases before they are exposed to them.

Immunization is important not only in childhood, but in adulthood as well, to help promote healthy aging. This is because childhood immunization does not provide lifelong immunity against some diseases such as tetanus and diphtheria. Adults require helper, or booster, shots at certain intervals to maintain immunity. Adult vaccinations are exquisitely important to prevent COVID-19 complications in older ages.

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May Edition

Immunization is a global health and development success story, saving millions of lives every year. The practice of immunisation dates back hundreds of years. Buddhist monks drank snake venom to confer immunity to snakebite and variolation (smearing of a skin tear with cowpox to confer immunity to smallpox) was practiced in 17th century China. Edward Jenner is considered the founder of vaccinology.

In 1796, he inoculated a 13 year-old-boy with cowpox and demonstrated immunity to smallpox. Over the 18th and 19th centuries, systematic implementation of mass smallpox immunisation culminated in its global eradication in 1979.

Louis Pasteur’s experiments spearheaded the development of live attenuated cholera vaccine and inactivated anthrax vaccine in humans The past two decades have seen the application of molecular genetics and its increased insights into immunology, microbiology and genomics applied to vaccinology.

We now have vaccines to prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives. Immunization currently prevents 2-3 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza and measles.

In Bangladesh, it has prevented an estimated 2 million deaths from 1987-2000, and continues to prevent approximately 200,000 deaths each year. WHO introduced EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunization) in 1977 for underdeveloped countries. Subsequently, Bangladesh has launched the EPI programme. Recently AD (Auto Disable) syringes and vaccination against Hepatitis B, H. Influenzae, Measles-Rubella (MR) and Pneumococcus has been introduced in the vaccination programme.

In Bangladesh, immunization coverage of DPT(DTP vaccine is a class of combination vaccines against three infectious diseases in humans: diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus) was only 16% in 1988. It increased significantly to 69% in 1990 and 92% in 2013 which was higher than global coverage of 84% in 2013. So, EPI in Bangladesh has been recognized for its sustained high coverage and great contribution to the reduction of childhood morbidity and mortality. It received two ‘GAVI best performance award’ in 2009 and 2012.

Immunization will be a vital tool in the battle against antimicrobial resistance. Yet despite tremendous progress, nearly 20 million infants each year – have insufficient access to vaccines. In some countries, progress has stalled or even reversed. The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded the world of the power of vaccines to fight disease, save lives, and create a healthier, safer, and more prosperous future. Moving forward, strong immunization systems will be needed to ensure that people everywhere are protected against COVID-19 and other diseases.

The World Health Assembly, with the support of countries and partners, has endorsed a new global vision and strategy, called the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), to address these challenges over the next decade and save over 50 million lives.

IA2030 envisions a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines to improve health and well-being. It aims to maintain hard-won gains in immunization, recover from the disruptions caused by COVID-19, and achieve even more – by leaving no one behind, in any situation or at any stage of life.

The IA 2030 strategy—to extend the benefits of vaccines to everyone, everywhere—is underpinned by four core principles: it puts people in the centre, is led by countries, implemented through broad partnerships, and driven by data. It is now the utmost priority that every country in the world implements this strategy from the very beginning of this decade.

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May Edition In January 2021, WHO issued a call to all countries to work together in solidarity – and in each of their best interests – to ensure that within the first 100 days of the year, vaccination of health workers and older people was underway in all countries. This call to action is at the heart of WHO’s campaign for #VaccinEquity, which aims to overcome the pandemic and the inequalities that lie at the root of so many global health challenges, as well as drive a global recovery. By day 100, tens of thousands of individuals and nearly 1500 organizations around the world signed the Vaccine Equity Declaration. Over half a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered worldwide till now.

However, a lack of supply and inequitable distribution of vaccines still remains the biggest threat to ending the acute stage of this pandemic and driving a global recovery. As long as the virus continues to circulate anywhere, trade and travel will continue to be disrupted, and the economic recovery will be further delayed. Continued transmission also means more variants that could potentially evade vaccines, as well as prolonged strain on the very health systems and health workers that protect us.

Together, we must continue to push for vaccines to be both equitably distributed and equitably produced throughout 2021 and beyond. This call to action can be fulfilled through supporting COVAX and the ACT Accelerator to equitably distribute vaccines, treatments and diagnostics globally, as well as demanding leaders and vaccine manufacturers ramp up production and equitable distribution.

While the world focuses on critically important new vaccines to protect against COVID-19, there remains a need to ensure routine vaccinations are not missed. Many children have not been vaccinated during the global pandemic, leaving them at risk of serious diseases like measles and polio. Rapidly circulating misinformation around the topic of vaccination adds to this threat. In this context, this year’s World Immunization Week 2021 campaign will aim to build solidarity and trust in vaccination as a public good that saves lives and protects health.

Vaccines have brought us closer, and will bring us closer again. Whilst vaccines are not a silver bullet, they will help us progress on a path to a world where we can be together again. With all eyes on vaccines, World Immunization Week 2021 offers an unprecedented opportunity to build public trust in the value of all vaccines and help build long-term support for immunization.

Iftekhar Ahmed Sakib is currently studying at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is currently serving as the General Assistant, SCORA, BMSSBangladesh. He was awarded ‘The Emerging Young Leader’ by South Asia PartnershipNepal in 2018. He also presided over sessions organized by Tribhuvan University, Nepal, as a Guest Speaker. He has attended many esteemed conferences in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. He was the Secretary of Publication of Notre Dame International Understanding and Relation Club(NDIURC) and the Editor of ‘Jogajog’(annual magazine of NDIURC).

He has numerous newspaper articles and publications on renowned magazines. He has served as the executive board member of more than 20 International MUNs. He also served as the Judge of many esteemed public speaking competitions, debates, essay and article competitions, olympiads and so forth. He loves volunteerism, he loves to serve humanity. He inspires to bring a change, to do something for his community for a better world.

Iftekhar Ahmed Sakib BMSS-Bangladesh

References: 1. “World Immunization Week 2021 – Vaccines bring us closer”, Link: https://www.who.int/newsroom/events/detail/2021/04/24/default-calendar/world-immunization-week-2021, Accessed Date: 26 April 2021 2. “Call to action: Vaccine Equity”, Link: https://www.who.int/campaigns/annual-theme/year-of-health-and-care-workers2021/vaccine-equity-declaration), Accessed Date: 27 April 2021 3. “Immunization Agenda 2030: A Global Strategy to Leave No One Behind”, Link: https://www.who.int/teams/immunizationvaccines-and-biologicals/strategies/ia2030, Accessed Date: 27 April 2021

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