FMSA Africa Newsletter - March / April 2006

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter Means of communication for African Medical Students

March/April 2006, Volume 2, Number 2

Editorial

Events in Africa

Dear IFMSA fellow,

24th March World TB Day

It is our pleasure to present the fourth volume of the IFMSA-Africa newsletter, the newsletter that is becoming a very important trademark of our lovely region! By this volume we feel that the newsletter finds its way in IFMSA and proves its ability to continue. However, we are still looking for fresh blood to join the team.

In this volume we start the "African Tourism" with a nice article about beautiful Malawi. We hope that this kind of articles will increase the knowledge between the medical students about the wonderful features of the African countries and will increase the inter-African exchange contracts. Apart from the tourist aspects of Malawi, we also learn more about the Malawian health care system, the health problems that are being faced and the work of the College Of Medicine Student Union.

The passed two months also included three very important days for the African region: the World TB Day on 24th March, World Health Day on 12th of April and the Africa Malaria Day on 25th April. In this issue you can read more

12th April World Health Day 25th April Africa Malaria Day 8th – 12th May 2006 HIV/AIDS, Food Security and Nutrition Conference, Lusaka, Zambia 31st May World No Tobacco Day 19th -21st June 2006 2nd African conference on Sexual Health and Rights, Nairobi, Kenya 29th October – 2nd November 2006 Global Forum for Health Research, Cairo, Egypt

about the human rights impact of TB and the treatment and prevention

IFMSA-AFRICA Leadership 2005-2006

activities against Malaria.

We hope you enjoy reading!

Regional Coordinator Africa Ahmed Ali, Sudan Regional Assistants Africa • SCORA Jennifer Mbabazi, Rwanda Oluwatosin Omole, Nigeria

Contents Who is who

2

Welcome to Malawi

3

25 April: Africa Malaria Day

6

Minutes of African Regional Meeting at IFMSA MM2006

7

Important notes: the Human Rights impact of TB

8

st

31 of May: World No Tobacco Day

8

Join the newsletter team !

9

Next issue: more on AMSTC

9

• SCOPE Charles Obeng Mensah, Ghana • SCORE Hany Ezzat, Egypt • SCOPH Hossam Hamad, Sudan • SCORP Tana Mohammed, South Africa Mubashar Ahmed, Sudan • SCOME Vacant Liaison Officer WHO Serini Murugasen, South Africa

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

March/April 2006

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I think we still have a long journey towards the rank the potentials of the African region allow us to be.

I see steps forward taking place towards my dreams and still looking forward for more with your cooperation!

Who is who?

Students who are active in the African region introduce themselves. In this issue: Hany Ezzat, Hossam Hamad and Sophie Gubbels.

and Karina; for the amazing work they do for SCOPH and IFMSA. Hopefully, Africa becomes the best.

Finally, without ''u'' we can not spell ''Success''.

I would like finally to thank you all for your patience to read until here â˜ş

Sophie Gubbels, the Netherlands Newsletter team (lay-out)

Hany Ezzat, Egypt SCORE Regional Assistant My name is Hany Ezzat, twenty three years old. I am a fifth year medical student at my university Alexandria, Egypt. I am currently the NORE of Egypt, SCORE D. EMR assistant for the EMR besides being honoured to be the SCORE coordinator in the African region.

I joined the IFMSA Family almost 5 years ago as an active member at my LC. To be honest to you IFMSA became much more than just an activity for me, it inspired me to the extent I can say, it definitely offered me a great opportunity to experience different aspects of life, gain skills and knowledge that I would have never dreamt of!. I believe so much in teamwork towards any goal in general and that a person should never stop learning.

Afterwards my Journey with IFMSA through my LC, my activities was crowned by being elected as the NORE of my NMO. Research exchange and this great opportunity it offers to the students to travel abroad and gain the experience of scientific research and tourism at the same time was always inspiring me, and I was very glad to participate effectively among the standing committee on research exchange SCORE to conduct its fabulous aim to others.

My dreams For the African region in general is to be more and more developed and leading throughout the IFMSA, specifically for SCORE in Africa

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

Hossam Hamad, Sudan SCOPH Regional Assistant My name is Hossam Hamad. Sudanese, 6th year at university of Khartoum. Live in Khartoum; the capital of Sudan and the point where the Blue Nile and White Nile get united. (Almogran).

I am really proud joining the work with the place; that I think it is the place to fulfil my dreams. That is ''SCOPH''. I really joined the activities on Public Health nd since the 2 year. I have joined many Medical Days and many Medical Missions. Then, participated in the Sudan Village Concept Project 3; a place where gave me more than I did for it. I learnt a lot, and gain more experience in the Coordination tasks. Then, another station that added and charged me with high energy to work for the Public Health is the time when I met Emily Spry and Auden at the Sudan Training New Trainers (TNT) 2005.

Appointed then as the SCOPH regional coordinator for the beloved country ''Africa'', broaden my horizon and let me dream more and more; why not?

My dreams are for the Africa region to be developed, strongest and the leader of the global movement. We have to work and plan for that, and have to start that. '' Plan ahead, it was not raining when Noah built an Ark''.

Being SCOPHian, it is a step forward to fulfil your dreams! I would like send my thanks for our wonderful Directors: Jade

March/April 2006

You might have been wondering what the girl from the Netherlands is doing in the African newsletter team‌So, let me explain a little bit about myself.

I grew up with stories of Africa, especially Ghana, since my grandparents used to live there for about ten years. I was always fascinated by the stories. Almost nine years ago a dream came true when I was able to travel through Ghana for some weeks. It was so impressive!

Later on, I got involved in IFMSA-Africa during a research project at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, where I met the wonderful people of the College of Medicine Student Union.

In IFMSA-NL I have been active as a Local Public Health Officer, Local President and National Public Health Officer. After that I became project coordinator of the new magazine of IFMSA-NL, called Global Medicine, and I got caught by the interesting world of publications. And that is also how I got involved in the IFMSA-Africa newsletter.

I think the newsletter can be a very nice tool to improve the communication and cooperation in the African Region. By sharing information on different projects, others will get ideas to set up new projects or improve the ones they already have. It can also be a useful tool for NMOs to get more students interested in IFMSA and maybe even to show to (possible) sponsors. Therefore, I hope that many of you will write about your NMOs and the projects you are running, so that everybody can enjoy the great work that is being done in Africa!

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In this section every National Member Organization can introduce itself and teach us more about the country and their activities. In this issue you can read more about:

Malawi

Welcome to Malawi!

Welcome to Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa!

By: Medson Matchaya A visitor will hear this, coming from local toddlers, more often than not upon stepping on our humble but gracious soil, the sound of cool breeze from our ostentatious Lake Malawi playing on the background.

Malawi is a long and narrow country, bordered by Mozambique to the south, Tanzania and Mozambique to the East, Tanzania to the North and Zambia and Mozambique to the West. It covers more than 1000 km from North to South.

The country, which was originally known as Nyasaland got its name from inspiration by the word malavi, which means haze or reflected light. This word was seen as a reference to the sun rising over the lake, with new rays of hope for the new country. Lake Nyasa was a name given by the locals, derived from nyanja, which means lake in Chichewa, the local language. It was not until independence in 1964 that Nyasaland and her beautiful lake got the new name.

It is a country dominated by the tranquil waters of Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi is nearly 600km long and up to 80km wide, bordering the east of the country. It is the greatest attraction for visitors to this peaceful place, well-known for its friendly people, golden shores and stunning t l

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

Malawi is a stable and peaceful democratic country that meets all the prerequisites for a thriving tourist industry. The healthy climate, especially in the dry season, is ideal for holidaymaking. There are many resort and leisure areas, clubs and lodges along the length of Lake Malawi.

The Malawi government has planned to develop the tourism industry as an alternative source of foreign exchange for the country.

Malawi has eleven national parks and game reserves, where everything, from Elephants to orchids, is protected.

There is a huge variety of accommodation along the lakeshore and in the national parks for tourists to sample according to their culture and class. Up market hotels and lodges have full facilities, including TVs, telephones computers and internet cafes with

Lake Malawi

March/April 2006

reasonable rates. Some lodges have game drives. All our hotels and lodges are usually of excellent standard. Selfcatering chalets and cabins and campsites are available with varying facilities. Self-catering usually includes the use of a communal kitchen, or a staffed kitchen, where your food is prepared to your specifications by cook.

There are a total of forty five airports within Malawi, of which only five are tarred.

Air Malawi has a domestic schedule which provides regular connections between our main towns - Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu. It also serves the southern Lakeshore at Club Makokola and Liwonde National Park at Mvuu Lodge. Jakamaka Express and Ulendo Safaris' new Nyasa Express are air charter companies which link most of the tourist destinations in the country as well as the main towns.

source: www.sfoarts.org

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There are many Asian and European settlers who mostly live in the cities.

Malawians are generally very easy-going and friendly to foreigners.

Going through Malawi, you are greeted with smiling faces, beaming with allencompassing beauty and pure invaluable kindness. This, however, does not mean Malawi is utopia - all milk and honey. Behind these smiling faces are hidden machinery of desperate poverty, hunger and deprivation.

There are many craft and curio stalls where local arts and crafts may be purchased. One may also buy many items along the roadside as you go to the lake. Wooden bowls and chess sets and carvings of people and animals are widely available, as are soapstone carvings, paintings and clay pots.

Malachite (green stone) jewelry can be purchased in a variety of forms. A popular souvenir is the chief's chair, which is a high-backed chair made of two intricately carved pieces of wood.

Our capital city is Lilongwe located in the central region.

Lilongwe became Malawi’s capital in 1975, a role previously filled by Zomba which is now a municipality, in the southern region.

There are several first-class hotels and numerous guest houses, lodges and chalets and camps in Lilongwe.

Most international visitors to Malawi arrive at Lilongwe, the capital; hence their first view of the country is the Central Region. It gives easy access to the rest of the country, including the Lake, as well as being an exciting region in its own right. The State House is now the seat of parliament and there is a small nature sanctuary within the town.

Lilongwe’s range of services and facilities is unsurpassed except, possibly, in Blantyre.

College of Medicine, Blantyre

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

Queen Elisabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre Health problems The health system in Malawi is rocked with myriad, interlocking problems that hinder quality and equitable health delivery to a pandemic-plagued nation.

The problems concern human resources, finances, congestion and drugs and equipment and also HIV - AIDS. There are three government central hospitals which offer specialist services in the three regions of Malawi. Below there are district hospitals that cater for each of the 28 districts. Under the district hospitals, there are many health centers.

These usually offer outpatient services, family planning and primary health care services to a population of ten thousand each health centre on average. All government health facilities are free, except for a few special wards at the central hospitals.

The problem of space in hospitals is a chronic one, adding to understaffing and lack of drugs and medical equipment.

These problems are not particular to the hospital, as other hospitals are facing problems of the same nature, to similar degree.

The College of Medicine is the only college in Malawi providing undergraduate training for students to become doctors.

There are currently around 100 doctors and 2000 nursing staff in the whole of

March/April 2006

Malawi, to attend to the health needs of 12 million people. This is partly due to the thousands of medical professionals who leave Africa each year to find work in developed countries. It is also due to the fact that many health professionals themselves are falling victim to the AIDS pandemic, leaving hospitals seriously understaffed and needy patients underserved.

Effects of the HIV scourge on the health delivery system in Malawi are very debilitating. At Queen Elizabeth Central hospital, about 90 percent of patients admitted in the medical wards are HIV positive presenting with opportunistic infections. As such, attention and resources - both human and financial – are diverted into fighting the pandemic.

Another problem on top of divergence of resources is the inadequacy of the resources to achieve and sustain quality health care. Malawi is a landlocked agricultural based country with a population of 12 million people, of whom 46.2 percent (2002) are below 15 years of age. It remains one of the least developed and one of the poorest countries in the world, with a life expectancy at birth of just 37.8 years (2002) and an under five mortality rate is 330 per 1,000 live births (2002).

However, in the absence of exact figures, suffice to say that the under five mortality rate and maternal mortality rate, which was also horribly high, are now on the decline. This probably has been due to the new found commitment and motivation among health workers and public awareness in general.

Nevertheless, health interventions are faced with a serious struggle to make any meaningful impact in an economically compromised environment.

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College of Medicine The College of Medicine is one of the five constituent colleges in the University of Malawi. Our majestic campus is situated along the Mahatma Gandhi road, in the heart of Blantyre, the commercial city.

We also have a small campus in Mangochi district, some 200 kilometers away from the main campus. This is mainly for research purposes.

The college admits local students as well as international students. We have students from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Botswana and Lesotho. We enjoy the peaceful coexistence of students from different backgrounds. The entry requirements to College of Medicine can be found in its new prospectus, or by visiting the website www.medcol.mw.

Since last year the medical School at the University of Oklahoma in the U.S.A. has been offering to one outstanding fourth year student from the college a place for an elective year. So far this arrangement has worked very well for both institutions involved in it.

Upon being admitted into the college, students automatically become members of the College of Medicine Students' Union. Various clubs responsible for student spiritual and recreational life are affiliated to this body.

The majority of the graduates from the College are working in various institutions which include government hospitals, the private sector and the College of Medicine.

College of Medicine Student Union (COMSU) board 2006-2007

The Student Union The College of Medicine Students Union (COMSU) has about 360 members – every student is by virtue a member. Its activities are coordinated by the executive consisting of 17 members. The executive is voted by the COMSU itself in ballot elections and serves a one year term of office. It works formidably with College of Medicine Administration to make sure the college lives to its billing as a centre of academic and research excellence. Under COMSU as the mother body are the organizations and societies which do the various activities. These register with the umbrella body every year and as a Union, it provides all the necessary support for the success of every society. Some of these Clubs and societies are as listed below.

COM-ACTS HIV/AIDS activities are coordinated by College of Medicine Aids Counseling and Training Society (COM-ACTS) that has established itself as one of the successful youth groups in the country. It is involved in outreach programmes to the youth in schools and colleges in the country preaching about HIV prevention, STIs and also prepares health talks. It has donor support from within and without to fund its activities.

FOCUS Friends of College of Medicine Undergraduate Students (FOCUS) is another society that has fine activities taking place on campus.

This organization is aimed at improving students’ welfare in by purchasing medical equipment and diagnostic kits in bulk and selling them to students at heavily subsidized and affordable prices.

Students are also able to acquire second hand shoes and laboratory kits by the same principle.

Bar The students union also runs a bar, which is adjoined to the cafeteria. It is a popular bar in Blantyre and is well patronized. A wide selection of refreshments is sold here.

Christianity Several Christian organizations that are very responsive to the students’ spiritual inclinations exist on campus. All denominations are represented as long as they have at least some members among students.

COMSU executive board (from left to right: Felix Chingoli, Vice President; Medson Matchaya, President; Delia Mabedi, Secretary General; Kumbo Jere, Treasurer)

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

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25 April: Africa Malaria Day This year, like every year, the malaria community commemorated Africa Malaria Day on 25 April to show solidarity with African countries battling against this scourge.

This day has been set aside by African governments committed to rolling back malaria and endemic countries all over Africa will be raising their voices in unison. Many other parts of the world also suffer from malaria just like Africa: Thailand, the Amazon region, India, and Vietnam for instance. Africa Malaria Day is therefore an opportunity for ALL countries to reaffirm their commitment to reduce the burden of this disease.

This year's Africa Malaria Day highlighted the need to provide universal access to artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) and call for these treatments to reach those who need them as quickly as possible.

Overview About 80% of all malaria deaths occur in Africa south of the Sahara, and the great majority in children under five. The inappropriate use of antimalarial drugs during the past century has contributed to many of these deaths: antimalarial drugs were deployed on a large scale, always as monotherapies and were generally poorly managed in that their use was continued despite unacceptably high levels of resistance. However, over the past decade, a new class of drugs derived from the plant artemisia annua has brought new hopes - artemisinin.

When used correctly in combination with other anti-malarial drugs, (Artemisininbased Combination Therapies - ACTs), artemisinin is nearly 95% effective in curing malaria.

Facts on ACTs In Africa today, 34 countries have adopted ACTs as first-line treatment. As adoption is not immediately followed by implementation, only 17 out of 34 countries which have adopted ACTs are currently deploying these medicines in their health systems.

Sources: WHO and Malaria Medicines & Supplies Service

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

History On 25 April 2000, African leaders from 44 malaria-endemic countries participated in the first-ever African Summit on Malaria in Abuja, Nigeria. At the Summit, the leaders signed the historic Abuja Declaration committing governments to an intensive effort to halve the burden of malaria in Africa by 2010 and setting interim targets for the year 2005. To highlight the gravity of the malaria situation on the continent, the leaders at the Summit also declared that 25 April of each year would be commemorated as Africa Malaria Day. LILONGWE, Malawi, 24 April 2006 – Barely one year into her life, Chisomo Mavuwa has already been struck by malaria three times. But something different happened on her last visit to the local clinic. This time, besides getting treatment for Chisomo’s illness, her mother Christina was given a free insecticide-treated net.

Every day in Malawi, over 110 people die of malaria – nearly half of them under the age of 18. Throughout Africa, 3,000 children die each day from this preventable disease.

“I am really thankful for this bed net.

Maybe now things will change,” says Christina, who has five other children at home. “At times it’s like an epidemic. One child gets cured, another is attacked by malaria. It’s sad.”

For Africa Malaria Day this year, UNICEF and other partners in Roll Back Malaria are calling for an accelerated effort to make combination drug treatments for malaria widely available for victims of the disease in more than 30 nations on the continent. At the same time, UNICEF continues its focus on malaria prevention, primarily through the distribution of mosquito nets.

A crucial distribution In Malawi, UNICEF is supporting the government’s fight against malaria by handing out the treated nets at motherand-child clinics. Since 2002, a total of 3.8 million nets have been distributed in this malaria-prone country.

March/April 2006

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Since the establishment of the GFATM in 2002, a total of US$ 230 million have been allocated for programs fighting the disease, mainly for the procurement of ACTs, and mostly for African countries.

The GFATM grants enable countries to scale up their fight against the three diseases in a sustainable way by strengthening health systems and paying for drugs, diagnostics, mosquito nets and other commodities.

Source: http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/amd2006/ Still, the percentage of families protected by bed nets remains low. It costs between $5 and $15 to produce, handle and distribute each net – but even the government-subsidised price of 40 cents per bed net for a mother with a child under five (and 80 cents for all others) is still far too high for most residents.

With the income of a family of six averaging around $1 a day in Malawi, UNICEF’s efforts to provide free insecticide-treated nets are crucial.

Sleeping safely UNICEF’s involvement in malaria prevention extends beyond the procurement and distribution of bed nets.

The Roll Back Malaria partnership has used stars of the African music world and international public health experts to heighten the public profile of malaria control initiatives.

Other key actions, like draining marshy lands and clearing surrounding tall grass around villages, are also being promoted with the help of medical professionals, religious organizations and other local networks.

“Malaria accounts for about twice the number of deaths amongst young children compared to the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” says local Clinical Officer Isaac Msambira. “This is really unfortunate, especially when one of the answers to the problem is a simple bednet.”

Source:http://unicef.org/infobycountry/ma lawi_33583.html

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Minutes of African Regional Meeting at IFMSA March Meeting 2006 Facilitator and minutes Serini Murugasen (President, SAMSA 2005-2006 and Liaison Officer to WHO, IFMSA 2006-2007) Present Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan

1. AMSTC 2006 Mubashar, Sudan, reported back on the current status of AMSTC 2006, touching on fundraising, sponsors and registration fees (preferably free but will not be more than 100euros), theme (Millennium Development Goal 8) and general progress.

Issues raised included concrete sponsorship plans (local vs international sponsors to counter donor fatigue) and communication between the Organizing Committee and IFMSA-Africa, which must be done on a regular basis i.e. monthly at least and more regularly as AMSTC approaches.

FINO Training Task Force: New initiative by students from FINO to assist other IFMSA NMOs with training at conferences. PowerPoint to be sent to IFMSA-Africa for further information.

Point was added to agenda at ARM since there was direct correlation to AMSTC and FTTF may be able to assist with trainers for AMSTC. FTTF now in contact with AMSTC OC and further discussion will take place on that front.

2. Think Global Presentation Niina (Thing Global Project Co-ordinator) explained scope and aim of project with further discussion on relevance in African context. There was discussion on a possible thematic workshop at AMSTC and the OC will have to follow up on this themselves.

3. IFMSA-Africa server Positives of the server included ease of information dissemination and email as a relatively cheap form of mass communication. Negatives include that internet and computers were inaccessible on a regular basis in many countries.

Solutions included active promotion within NMOs of IFMSA-Africa and its server, as well as individual responsibility of follow up with existing personal

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

contacts in other NMOs who may not participate.

4. Presentation on UK Exchange Policy Kim, NEO from Medsin-UK, asked to explain why the NMO could not sign exchange contracts with African NMOs. A powerpoint will be sent to IFMSA-Africa from her. In summary, this is due to restrictions from their own medical schools in terms of what constitutes an academically recognized elective and includes countries from all regions of the world including Europe as well.

5.

IFMSA-Africa newsletter and website Everyone present was impressed by the quality of the newsletter and had nothing further to add on improvements that could be made.

Several suggestions were made regarding the structure and content of the website: 1) Name of NMO 2) Contact details of National Committee 3) Logo, vision and mission 4) Projects, specify contact details 5) Photos 6) Challenges 7) Achievements 8) Partners 9) Announcements Mubhashar is to draw up a simple Word document with all the above subheadings to be sent out on IFMSA-Africa for completion and submission to Ahmed Ali, RC Africa by every African NMO president. The deadline for the form to be emailed is 21 March 2006.

6. Regional Assistants Regional assistants struggle to get a response to their emails and requests for information especially with regards to contact details of National Officers.

Others within the region were not aware of Regional Assistants or had seen the list of names without understanding their role. Serini suggested having a specific page for RAs on the website with their job descriptions and contact details as a means of promotion.

March/April 2006

7. NMO issues including godfathering and involvement in IFMSA There was much discussion on the current structure of IFMSA-Africa and suggestions with regards to the restructuring of the region. Since many of these points are identical to those discussed at MM2005, Serini added a summary of the minutes from the African Regional Meeting AM2005 to stimulate discussion on the server again and to address the general problems facing the region such as those specifically mentioned above.

Minutes of ARM at MM2005 1. Recruitment of African NMOs Regional Coordinator: • Recruitment and sustenance of NMOs within IFMSA structure • Focus on specific NMOs identified as currently weak but with recognized potential • Appoint regional assistants to help – guidelines for division of Africa into regions and for duties of each regional assistant needed NMOs: • Contact with adjacent countries to share resources and ideas • Primary focus is recruitment within own NMO • Commitment to continuity within NMO to build long-term relationships internally and externally 2. Fundraising Regional Coordinator: • Providing assistance in finding international partners for projects • Assisting in drawing up project proposals according to international standards (IFMSA) to ensure they are competitive on an international market • Create database of grants available to African NMOs NMOs: • Fundraising for internal affairs, IFMSA membership fees and transport to international meetings through projects and exchanges • Drawing up project proposals and implementing national, transnational and international projects 3. Communication across language barriers Regional Coordinator: • Promoting use of the ifmsa-africa server for open transparent communication and sharing of ideas and information NMOs: • Create awareness within own NMO of various languages internally and throughout Africa • Preparation for international meetings must include rudimentary working knowledge of primary languages of Africa (English and French)

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Important Notes: the Human Rights Impact of TB Photo: www.sudantribune.com

As TB started to be global problem again great efforts are being done by many organizations, agencies, governments and individuals to solve this problems and to decrease the epidemic of TB and as TB is not only a health problem I want here to stress some points about relation between TB and human rights .

"Tuberculosis is not only a health problem. It is asocial, economic, and political disease. It manifests itself wherever there is neglected, exploitation, illiteracy and wide spread violation of human rights", director South Africa Panos institute. TB is deeply rooted in populations where human rights and dignity are limited where everyone can contract TB the disease thrives on the most vulnerable the marginalized discrimination against populations and people live in poverty.

Gender discrimination; affecting vulnerability to TB and access to TB services can deny girls and women access to education information and various forms of economic, social and political that increase health risk.

Children in household with TB may also be taken out of school or sent to work.

Because TB is easily diagnosed, treatable and curable, but may lead to death if neglected contacting tuberculosis and not getting treatment because of poor living conditions especially in prisons, camps or every place that people brought together by force may considered as human rights violation.

Lack of essential knowledge about TB is playing a big role in getting affected with TB, so dissemination of information is emphasized as strategy to eliminate health related discrimination. The right of women, children and adolescents to such information is particularly stressed.

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

Stigmatized and criminalized; people who abuse substances are pushed to margins of most societies. This does not, however, obviate their right to equal and non discriminatory access to TB information and treatment services, as well as to social services that would address the underlining conditions that increase their vulnerability to TB. Conditions that enhance vulnerability to TB – poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, psychological stress, poor nutrition (or unbalanced), crowded living conditions also enhance vulnerability to HIV. Both epidemics HIV/AIDS and TB register their highest rats of infections among populations that are typically marginalized in their own societies.

The important note here is that HIV patients in many populations are marginalized and that may lead to psychological disorders in these patients due to this discrimination, so in some health policies the health workers

don't tell the patient about his HIV/AIDS which in some way may lead to another infections with HIV and also TB. Human rights has implications for data collection, recognizing that human rights principles and norms are relevant when choosing which data are collected to determine the type and extent of health problems affecting a population. Decisions on how data are collected (e.g. disaggregated by age, sex) also have a direct influence on the policies and programs that are put into place. Collection and analysis of data on subpopulations that are particularly vulnerable to TB should be disaggregated so that discrimination can be detected and action taken.

Source: Most of these notes are from "guide line for social mobilization - human rights approach to Tuberculosis".

Chosen and rewritten by: Mubashar Abogossi SCORP Regional Assistant for Africa

Let's do it together, celebrate the World No Tobacco Day 2006

31st May Let's fulfill the mission, step forward toward World Tobacco Free.

Join SCOPH Hossam Hamad, SCOPH Regional Assistant Hhm2025@yahoo.co.uk

March/April 2006

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Join the Newsletter Team!

The IFMSA-Africa Newsletter Team is looking for assistance Editors First of all we would like to welcome some more editors in the team. You will be discussing the content of the newsletter, collecting articles and pictures. If you like, you can also write articles of course.

Translator(s)

Colophon

Furthermore, we think that the communication in the African Region would be improved a lot if we could publish the newsletter in French as well. So, if you could translate the articles from English into French, we would be very happy with your help!

If you would like to work with us, please send us an email at ifmsa-africapublications@yahoogroups.com You don't have to have experience in publishing or writing, your enthusiasm is what we are looking for!

Next issue : More on the AMSTC !

Editor in Chief: Jennifer Mbabazi, Rwanda Editors: Ahmed Ali, Sudan Hossam Hamad, Sudan Authors: Hany Ezzat, Egypt Medson Matchaya, Malawi Mubashar Abogossi, Sudan Serini Murugasen, South Africa Lay-out: Sophie Gubbels, the Netherlands

If you are organising a project or activity, please share it with us! Also, if you want to ask attention for certain topics or if you want to contribute to one of our existing sections, please do write us. You can send your articles to ifmsa-africapublications@yahoogroups.com

Important Addresses/ Websites for NMOs www.emsa-ethiopia.org (Ethiopia) www.fgmsaghana.org (Ghana) www.medcol.mw/comsu/ (Malawi) www.nimsanigeria.org (Nigeria) www.medsar.org (Rwanda) www.rmsa.org.rw (Rwanda) www.samedsa.org (South Africa) www.ifmsa.org www.ippnw-students.org/africa ifmsa-africa@yahoogroups.com ifmsa-scora@yahoogroups.com ifmsa-scorp@yahoogroups.com ifmsa-scope@yahoogroups.com rvcp@yahoogroups.com (Rwanda)

IFMSA-Africa Newsletter

March/April 2006

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