Projects Bulletin 12 by International Federation of Medical Students' Associations

IFMSA

The mission of IFMSA

was founded in May 1951 and is run by medical students, for medical students, on a non-profit basis. IFMSA is officially recognised as a nongovernmental organisation within the United Nationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; system and has official relations with the World Health Organisation. It is the international forum for medical students, and one of the largest student organisations in the world.

is to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues. Through our programs and opportunities, we develop culturally sensitive students of medicine, intent on influencing the transnational inequalities that shape the health of our planet.

Imprint Editor in Chief Patricia Fruelund, Denmark Content Editors Karim Abu Zied, Egypt Patricia Fruelund, Denmark Design/Layout Hassan Aboul-Nour, Egypt Omar H. Safa, Egypt Proofreading Patricia Fruelund, Denmark

Publisher International Federation of Medical Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Associations General Secretariat: IFMSA c/o WMA B.P. 63 01212 Ferney-Voltaire, France Phone: +33 450 404 759 Fax: +33 450 405 937 Email: gs@ifmsa.org Homepage: www.ifmsa.org Contacts publications@ifmsa.org Printed in India.

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

By: Projects Support Division projects@ifmsa.org

The IFMSA Project Support Division (PSD) is excited to introduce to you the 12th issue of the Projects Bulletin. This publication showcases some of the many great projects in IFMSA and gives you an overview of the activities in the PSD. One of IFMSA’s principles is, “The Federation promotes humanitarian ideals among medical students and seeks to contribute to the creation of responsible future physicians” and has as an objective to “Empower medical students in using their knowledge and capacities for the benefit of society”. This is achieved a great deal through projects - whether it is small local running projects or larger projects running on national or international levels. Thus, projects are the heart of IFMSA, the generator of the beating pulse that nurtures the Federation. Projects contribute in a meaningful way to our communities, even before we graduate as a doctors. Social accountability is increasingly recognised as an important, although often lacking, component of the education towards becoming a doctor. Projects not only provide the theory to empower medical students with such a mindset, but also provide the action for us

Introduction

Projects The Beating Pulse of IFMSA

to practice and demonstrate these skills. Through our many projects we advocate for the viewpoints of medical students, we push for social change, and we raise awareness of global health issues; not just amongst medical students, but also in the general public, amongst policy makers and other stakeholders. It is truly inspiring to see all the dedicated medical students around the world working with healthrelated issues, motivated to making a difference.

to receive more frequent updates about the Division and check out our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ifmsaprojects

Patricia Fruelund Projects Support Division Assistant

www.ifmsa.org

Introduction

Getting to Know projects

An IFMSA ‘project’ can refer to any activity within the scope of medical student interest, that is in agreement with the IFMSA’s principles, aims, and policy statements. Considering this, a project can be anything from a series of events or workshops, to a network, survey or campaign. But being recognised as an IFMSA project means much more than just a name! Benefits include: • Personalised support from the Projects Support Division, and the IFMSA Team of Officials • Letters of recommendation from the IFMSA Executive Board, on request • Access to any international conferences, speakers, and resources that the IFMSA can help you with • The provision of support and expertise when applying for grants and sponsorship • Prime position for promotions throughout the vast IFMSA networks, and those of our partner organisations • The provision of guaranteed places at the biannual General Assemblies • Use of the IFMSA website (ifmsa.org), and the official projects database • The use of the IFMSA bank account for specific projects.

• The Projects Presentations represent three sessions (all run at the GA), where projects are given their ‘10 seconds of fame’, and the have an opportunity to present and promote themselves. Within the IFMSA’s structure, there are three kinds of projects: • IFMSA Endorsed Projects, whichare organised by a single National Member Organization, or a partner organization. • IFMSA Transnational Projects, which are organised by more than one National Member Organisation, or in collaboration between at least one NMO and another organisation. • IFMSA Initiatives, which are projects or series of projects centrally coordinated under the responsibility of the IFMSA Executive Board who elect the project coordinator. Our Initiatives - Think Global and Global Health Equity - represent issues which are core to the beliefs and values of the Federation. IFMSA is always looking for new projects, wanting to build upon the way it impacts the world around us. For information on how to become an IFMSA project, contact Phillip, at projects@ifmsa.org or join the projects Yahoo server (IFMSA-Projects).

We use our General Assemblies (GAs) as a space for celebration of the fantastic work our projects and their coordinators have been doing over the previous six months. • The Projects Fair presents an opportunity for projects to showcase their achievements and resources all on one special night. IFMSA members are given the chance to browse stalls, gathering ideas for new projects in their own National Member Organisations (NMOs).

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

Think Global?

Initiative

Rethinking Mike Kalmus Eliasz thinkglobal@ifmsa.org

It might have seemed like things have gone a bit quiet for Think Global as an initiative in the past few months. The coordinator has been a little preoccupied with the Rio+20 process. But do not despair things have been happening quietly behind the scenes. At EuRegMe in Prague we ran sessions in every single standing committee session there and also explored the theme of advocacy in Europe. It was clear during this meeting that Think Global serves to complement the existing structures within the IFMSA. Providing session content on broad issues such as Global Health Education and Sustainable Development.

Change and health which Margaret Chan provided a special shout out to the Federation in her message to the first webinar. Those of us in the Initiative hope in the coming months to build on this momentum and officially launch independent IFMSA webinars where those in the federation will have a chance to listen too and pose their questions to some of the best and brightest minds in global health on a variety of topics. We hope that many of you will be inspired to join with us in India and continue to Think Globally and Act Locally.

In addition to this we have produced our first publication of the year thanks to the excellent work of our media coordinator Etienne Chantal. We hope this will lead to future publications from Think Global in the future. For the first time at a General Assembly there will Think Global sessions running in parallel to standing committees in August in India. A new and bold pilot that is attempting to explore cross cutting issues and fulfil TGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s key missions of raising awareness about global health and running capacity building training to enable participants to both organise their own educational programming upon returning home and also advocate on local, national and international global health issues that matter most to them. This workshop will focus around the theme of sustainable development and will seek to utilise the outcomes of Rio+20 as a springboard to for future action within the federation on this topic and explore where we can move forward both in terms of supporting national work and also fit into the on going international agenda. It will also feature time to brainstorm on the future of the Think Global initiative and how it can best complement other global health work within the federation. Longer term we still hope to continue quietly working away at developing online resources. The coordinator has been working closely with WHO in organising a joint IFMSA/WHO/Health Canada webinar series on Climate

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Initiative

IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative: Fulfilling the Federation’s Mission Ramon Lorenzo Luis R. Guinto, MD

Our mission is to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues. Through our programming and opportunities, we develop culturally sensitive students of medicine, intent on influencing the transnational inequalities that shape the health of our planet. Mission Statement of IFMSA (By-law 1.4)

For someone who has been attending IFMSA General Assemblies for quite a while (which requires browsing the constitution and by-laws from time to time), certainly the mission statement of IFMSA cannot be missed. We often describe our federation as the international platform for medical students to get a starting dose of global health. With the global nature of the issues we tackle and the wide reach of our projects and programs, I agree that we truly are. But we often ignore the second sentence of our mission statement. It talks about the mandated role of IFMSA to influence the “transnational inequalities that shape the health of our planet.” Unfortunately, only until recently, we have not placed the subject of global health equity at the heart of IFMSA. During General Assemblies, we always discuss about improving health – promoting healthy lifestyle, eradicating disease, enhancing medical education – but we seldom, if at all, look into the unacceptable and avoidable inequities in health, as well as their “causes of the causes” – what are popularly called “social determinants of health.” If the 20th century aimed at improving human health as a whole, the mission of global health – and of IFMSA in particular – in the 21st century should be to ensure that the gains and improvements in health are shared and distributed equitably.

From Jakarta to Accra

The year 2011 will be historic for IFMSA, not just because we celebrated our 60th anniversary, but also be-

cause at last, we have shown the world for the first time that we cannot have more of the same – the same inequalities that left out a huge portion of our world society and worsened the state of global health as a whole. Last year, we started speaking the language in Jakarta, through a groundbreaking policy statement on health equity. The seeds were then transplanted in Copenhagen, when we had Professor Sir Michael Marmot, the chair of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, as our special guest. The spirit of SDH continued in Rio, when the IFMSA delegation danced samba for health equity during the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health. And early this year 2012, the March Meeting in Ghana became an inspiring and transformative moment for IFMSA, as we devoted an entire week to the subject of “social determinants of health.” This served as the culmination of a year-long journey of dialogues, campaigns, and conferences. And the General Assembly ended with the establishment of the new IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative.

The nerve center of health equity

And early this year 2012, the March Meeting in Ghana became an inspiring and transformative moment for IFMSA, as we devoted an entire week to the subject of “social determinants of health.” This served as the culmination of a year-long journey of dialogues, campaigns, and conferences. GHEI is envisioned to serve as the federation’s nerve center for all student activities pertaining to health equity and action on social determinants of health across the world. The GHEI aims to fulfill four roles: an institutional voice for global health equity within IFMSA; an accessible clearinghouse of information, capacity-building, tools, and technical guidance on global health equity; a dynamic forum for exchange and dialogue on pressing issues concerning global health equity; and a key platform of advocacy and campaign for global health equity within the Federation and to the larger global health arena.

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

Initiative Members of the IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative with Dr. Eugenio Villar, coordinator of Social Determinants of Health at the World Health Organization, during the March Meeting 2012 in Accra, Ghana

For the next initial two years, the GHEI will create projects and programs under the six identified action areas: advocacy and campaign; policy dialogue; internal actions within IFMSA; external partnerships; publication, media, and resources; and education and training. The Initiative will also encourage activities at all levels of IFMSA – local, national, regional, and international.

Initial steps

Since the launching in Ghana, the GHEI has received tremendous support from our members from across the globe. The online group is now composed of sixty individuals representing all IFMSA regions and is giving an open space for dynamic discussions about the future steps of the Initiative as well as our stance regarding some of the most burning issues in global health today. In addition, a video calling everyone to “Root Out, Reach Out” has turned viral right after its inaugural showing in Ghana, and has also been shown to medical student audiences in various parts of the world. (The video can be accessed in http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=8tqUfq0WlR4.)

Third People’s Health Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa and engaged in dialogue with the global health civil society led by the People’s Health Movement. IFMSA gave a presentation about its advocacy and lobbying work on the subject of global health equity. Finally, following the theme of the 61st General Assembly August Meeting in Mumbai, India, the GHEI is also holding a pre-General Assembly workshop on “Universal Health Care.” The Initiative considers universal health care – a basic guarantee of health care to all citizens – as the first step towards global health equity. Today, nearly a hundred countries are undergoing massive reforms in health care financing and delivery to reach universal access before the end of this decade. Indeed, these are exciting times for IFMSA, for after sixty years, we have responded to the call – as the WHO Commission would say, to “close the gap in our generation.” As present members of IFMSA, it is our obligation to pass the torch to the next generations of medical students and to ensure that the global movement we have kindled lives on until the day when the right to health becomes achieved by all.

As a continuation of our harmonious partnership with WHO since the World Conference in Rio, IFMSA co-organized with the WHO and the Government of the United Kingdom a side event on building capacity for action on social determinants of health during the 65th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The forum was again graced by Professor Sir Michael Marmot. Last July 6 – 11, 2012, the GHEI participated in the

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Training

Leading Volunteer Projects advanced training in project leadership Patricia Fruelund & Benjamin Skov Kaas-Hansen

What drives volunteer projects? How can you unleash the nearly-infinite potential that lies in them? How do you make sure the project reaches its goals, and that everybody stays onboard as you go there? Do you have some experience with leading projects or are you planning to take on a more leading role in the future, and are you also intrigued by these questions, then this training is exactly what you need!. “I may be lost, but I’m way ahead of schedule”. Although uttered by a fictive character in a children’s movie, “Dennis the Menace”, this neatly encompasses the issue of administration versus leadership. Because, what is the point of gearing up your project, if you have no idea where you are headed? This exactly why every project needs competent leaders. As alluded to above, it is meaningless to be a great administrator of a project if you are not leading the project as well. Having responsibility over the administration means to ensure that the project is functional and effective. Seeing the project as a machine with nuts, bolts, and gears can therefore be a good approach for the administrator. The leader’s perception of their project, however, must be of a much different nature. Being a leader means to ensure that the machine moves in the desired direction, and the leader must therefore take on a more coordinating and dynamic role. A great manager is characterised by the ability to both administer and lead. Managing a corporate project differs greatly from managing a volunteer project. The key reason for this difference is the motivation for your team’s engagement. In a corporate setting you have the possibility of employing people with specific skills needed in your project, and to a certain degree to raise the salaries of key team members if you risk losing them to competing companies or institutions. This is seldom the case in a volunteer setting, where by definition there are no financial bonds between team members and projects, and in which it can be extremely difficult to find potential team members with the specific competencies you need, at the right time. This under-

Patricia Fruelund - Projects Support Division Assistant - IMCC Vice-President for Projects Benjamin Skov KaasHansen - AM2011 Organising Committee President - IMCC Vice-President for International Relations

lines the importance of understanding the context of your team to utilise the massive potential therein, and to further develop your team’s skills. So, being a leader for volunteer students is about creating an inspiring vision for your team; motivating and inspiring your team; and managing the delivery of this vision through understanding and supporting your team and resolving conflicts when they arise. You must also know how to deal with a host of issues such as ensuring continuity, time-constraints, and clear communication.

Aim and objectives

The aim of this training is to empower the participants to be effective leaders of positive change, locally and globally. By the end of the two training sessions the participants should: • Have a better idea of what leadership in volunteer projects comprises; • Understand the concepts of different leadership theories and how to apply them in real-life situations; • Understand different leadership roles and how to use them; • Know their own strengths and weaknesses, and how to utilise this knowledge to be a great leader; • Have a solid foundation for further developing their leadership skills.

What to expect from this training

We will use both formal and nonformal learning modalities, to ensure a high technical level wellsupported by practical and interactive exercises. In particular, all participants will be able to share and exchange their knowledge and experiences, and we will take point of departure in their backgrounds, so that every participant finds it relevant to their project or organisation. If you have questions, please contact us at ifmsapsda@gmail.com, or approach any or both of us at the preGA or GA.

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

Rex Crossley Award Best 10 projects The Street Play “Rose Valley and Lion-Hearted Princes” Psychodrama for Those Suffering from Down syndrome and Performing Street Play by them Dawood Safari, Rasoul Haghshenas, Hanieh Fattahi, Somayyeh Kiadarbandsari Abstract

Art is a medium for non-verbal communication, and on the other hand speaking disorder and delayed expression are among the most obvious problems of the children suffering from Down syndrome. 13 persons suffering from DS underwent Psychodrama for a period of 8 months (128 hours) until this play reached the step of street performance. The play was performed on 2829 April 2012 at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The results were improvement of communication between such patients and the society, enhancement of expression, etc. This project shows the effects of Psychodrama in those suffering from some kind of mentalphysical disorder.

Content

Down syndrome is the most prevalent chromosome disorder which is caused by the existence of an extra chromosome 21 in all or part of body cells. This extra genetic influences physical and mental evolution of the people, causing physical and cognitive disorder. There are a large number of symptoms in Down syndrome. Among the most prevalent we can mention insufficient cognitive disability, intelligence often between 20 and 80 and appearance characteristics such as abnormally small head, short neck, small mouth, big tongue and short organs.

Rex Crossley Award

Rex Crossley Award | Best 10 Projects

support from their family and the society. From the beginning their childhood, the children suffering from Down syndrome are able to communicate with others by using non-verbal abilities. However, most of them have some problems win language and speaking skills. These children suffer from delayed speaking and specific language disorders. They often have a better listening skill than speaking skill. The people suffering from Down syndrome should be treated as a human first and a person with Down syndrome next. They should enjoy benefits of a normal citizen. This mentality preserves their personality in real sense. If social rights and benefits of the people suffering from Down syndrome is amended and they are treated according to dignity of a human, they can provide the society with their valuable human effects. Unfortunately, the way such people are treated in the society is not good. Some of them are frightened as others ridicule them or feel pity for them. Even some of physicians refuse to examine and treat them. Positive attitude of the society, particularly specialists and parents, and awareness of capabilities and talents of such people definitely causes a big transformation in their life and they can live naturally, happily and efficiently along with other people. By using their talents in a proper way, they wouldn’t be an extra burden for their families, but can be useful for themselves, families and even the society.

There is no special treatment for Down syndrome. Notwithstanding delayed evolution in such people, they have numerous abilities and potentialities which should be cultivated by creating suitable opportunities. Medical teams usually include specialist physicians, physiotherapist, work therapist and dialogue therapist. Of course, the speed of their treatment depends on

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Rex Crossley Award

Rex Crossley Award | Best 10 Projects

INDONESIAN DISEASE TODAY (IDT) 2012 “Towards a Healthy Indonesia in Combating Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever”

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is one of the dangerous communicable diseases that can cause death within a short time and often cause outbreaks. As we know that until now the drug to eradicate the virus and the vaccine to prevent the dengue fever is not available yet. Appropriate way to tackle this disease is completely eradicate the vector/mosquito.

We as Indonesian Medical Students must participate in the eradication of dengue fever, as a CIMSA member who active in public health it is a must for us to make a major contribution to the community. So that, SCOPH CIMSA held an event ‘Indonesian Disease Today (IDT)’. For this year the theme is Dengue Hemorraghic Fever. The aims of IDT are: • To provide training to participants focus on the health issues • To facilitate the participants to be able to contribute for the community • To provide an overview of people health problems directly • To gather SCOPH members in Indonesia We as Indonesian Medical Students must participate in the eradication of dengue fever, as a CIMSA member who active in public health it is a must for us to make a major contribution to the community. So that, SCOPH CIMSA held an event ‘Indonesian Disease Today (IDT)’. For this year the theme is Dengue Hemorraghic Fever. The aims of IDT are: For the year 2012 IDT was held on April 13th-15th 2012 at Bantul, Yogyakarta, and hosted by Faculty of Medicine Gadjah Mada University. Participants stayed at the house of village residents. A whole series of events, started from training and health promotion campaigns was carried out directly in the village and communities that had been selected. The activities were: Day 1 1. Lecture 1: Lecture was emphasised on the epidemiology of dengue fever cases in Indonesia and more focused on the role of doctor in DHF’s cases in the community.

2. Lecture 2: Lecture was focused about clinical dengue. How the patogenesis of dengue infection, examination, diagnosis, drug and vaccine development. There were also some stories about cases of dengue fever in Indonesia. 3. Public Health Training. This training contained the art of public speaking in public health. The presented material was more applicable to the participants so they can practice it directly. Day 2 1. Enviromental observation, this activities took place from morning until afternoon for observing the DHF risk factors in the workplace, home environment, and lifestyles of the society in Kedanton Village. 2. Health care services. Health care services and free medicines were given by doctors to 60-100 residents in the village. 3. Small Working Group (SWG). After observation, all participants discussed to determine their findings related to DHF so that they could share their obtained knowledge and experience. Then the participants discussed what to do for the project as a follow-up. 4. Training by National Public Health Committee (NPC) 5. Community service. This was taken by the participants from the SWG result. The form of this activity was cleaning up the environment at the residents’ homes and educated them about some matters that must be addressed. Day 3 Discussion session (participants and residents of Kedanton Village). This was a closing session and the conclusion from activities that had been done.

Conclusion

SCOPH CIMSA has committed a project with the aim of trying to solve the health issues in Indonesia by implementing it through annual national project called Indonesian Disease Today (IDT). After doing this activity participants are expected to have an understanding about the issues that are the focus of disease in Indonesia, capable of being a good counselor to medical students and the community, and able to conduct follow-up activities related to efforts to increase public knowledge about health issues in Indonesia

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

Project Glimmer

Transcending International Borders to Reach a Common Goal

From May to June 2012, two university student groups from different continents came together to participate in a voluntary medical project to administer healthcare to disadvantaged children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Project Glimmer was organized and conducted by the Ethiopian Medical Students Association (EMSA) and the Student Association for Medical Aid (SAMA) from McGill University, Canada. It consisted of a 3 week long child screening program, during which volunteer Ethiopian medical students and doctors screened underprivileged children from ages 5-13 for malnutrition, fungal skin infections, conjunctivitis, worms, parasites and respiratory infections. Approximately 90 medical students and doctors from EMSA volunteered their time and expertise towards this project, and 6 SAMA biomedical students participated in the organization and coordination of the entire project on site in Addis. The project was conducted through 3 local organizations; Hope Enterprise, Biruh Tesfa School and Hiwot Integrated Development Association (HIDA), that work with street children, orphans, or children from lowincome families. Using the $5,000 raised by SAMA to purchase the required medicines and supplies, 1,065 children were successfully screened. The most common ailments were fungal skin infections and worms, for which children were given the appropriate medicine on site. Those with more severe health problems were also referred to seek additional help from local doctors. As well, some children were found to have severe vitamin A deficiencies, which, if left untreated, could result in blindness. These children were promptly referred to seek additional care. In addition to medical screening, SAMA and EMSA members conducted a health education program for the children. This program focused on personal hygiene and sanitation and how to prevent the spread of infections. As well, a number of the female members

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Rex Crossley Award

Rex Crossley Award | Best 10 Projects

worked with young girls older than 11 in focus groups designed to educate and empower young women about the changes taking place in their bodies. Sanitary materials such as pads and soap were also distributed, as well as multivitamins and pencils for all the screened children. Not only did this project directly impact the health and well being of more than 1,000 underprivileged children in Addis, but it also provided EMSA with a significant research opportunity. The results of the intervention days will be used to evaluate which ailments were most common amongst children from each organization, and EMSA will advise that organization based on their findings. Moreover, these results will help EMSA to design future outreach programs to respond to the specific needs of children from this age group over the next year. The EMSA-SAMA project will also be conducted in summer 2013 so as to continue creating a more sustainable impact on the health of children in Ethiopia. One of the great successes of this project was the overwhelming amount of voluntary support by students from both universities. This experience established a valuable partnership between medical students from Canada and Ethiopia who found a common interest and passion in helping those in need. It is SAMA and EMSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan to build upon this partnership, and channel their passion towards helping even more children in future years.

Rex Crossley Award

Rex Crossley Award | Best 10 Projects

Rwanda Village Concept Project (RVCP) Rwanda Village Concept in Communities of Southern Province of Rwanda Abstract

Since the creation of the Rwanda Village Concept Project (RVCP) in 1997 with focus on the health of impoverished communities in southern province of Rwanda, valuable work was done including health education activities at different levels namely children, youth and adults. However, all of it’s activities were challenged with the major problem of the targeted people and the country in general, the “poverty”. It is in this regard that RVCP has developed new strategies of developing health education and income generation for our target groups; the later include agriculture and farming. RVCP activities were sustained via a good capacity building of members and keeping the graduated students via the alumni.

Text

After the genocide 1994 in Rwanda, 98% of the population was settled in the villages. The majority of the population is women and children. With respect to the history, Rwanda is facing gender imbalance. The common diseases are malaria (cause 94% of mortality), diarrhea, respiratory infections, kwashiorkor and HIV/ AIDS. This results in poverty (most of the people earn 150-200$ US per year), and 98% are small scale farmers. People have low access to health care, with lack of sanitation facilities (water, latrines, etc.), 36% cannot read and write, high child mortality and maternal mortality, and high fertility rate are present. In this perspective, through different teaching sessions, campaigns, workshops, community based income generating activities after grouping people into cooperatives, RVCP contributed in resolving the problems of villages’ general sanitation situation; reducing the prevalence of malaria, HIV/AIDS, STIs and cases of unwanted pregnancies. The community was also empowered in matter of family planning skills, human rights and gender balance. In addition, this has contributed to the good education of national and international students on development aid projects, interdisciplinary and primary health care.

Content

Rwanda Village Concept Project (RVCP) is nongovernmental, nonpolitical, voluntary organization. The overall goal of RVCP is to provide sustainable improvement in the living conditions of underprivileged communities and to develop the skills and knowledge of participating students. It involves national and international students - primarily medical students. The objectives of RVCP are met through five programs and two initiatives namely malaria prevention, HIV/AIDS awareness and family planning, hygiene and sanitation, women/girls empowerment (Pyramid), income generation programs and Huye Health Clinic capacity development, protection of childrens rights LLCCM (Let the Little Children Come to Me) Centre.

Conclusion

With the mutual effort and shared responsability with international organizations, government and other healthcare responsible, the need community based work should be more realized hence moving towards the elimination of different problems they face, regular and permanent mobilization should be continued.

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

LGTB Medicine

The health disparities between the heterosexual and LGBT populations have been documented in a great number of studies. The fields in which those disparities seem to be the biggest are: • Mental health (depression, anxiety, suicide, eating disorders etc.) • Reproductive health (HIV/AIDS, STIs) • Gynaecological cancers (breast cancer and cervical cancer) • Substance abuse (alcohol, tobacco, drugs) • Domestic violence

Rex Crossley Award

Rex Crossley Award | Best 10 Projects

Like in many countries, medical universities in Poland do not incorporate this topic into their curricula. This has determined us to initiate ‘LGBT medicine’ as an IFMSAPoland project, as we see a need to educate medical students in this area and to try to close this health disparities gap in Poland through peer-education-based programmes targeted to the LGBT community. In one American study (based on questionnaires), more than half of the transsexual male-to-female respondents claimed to have experienced depression and/or suicidal thoughts/attempts and 1/3 of the respondents claimed to have used drugs [ClementsNolle 2001]. In another American study, 16-56% (depending on the ethnicity) transsexual male-to-female respondents claimed to be HIV-positive, with the infection rate being 2% among female-to-male transsexuals [Herbst 2008]. With the help of Lambda-Warszawa - a local LGBT-rights organization we carried out a questionnaire among homosexual and bisexual men to determine ‘safe words’ which can be used in clinical practice when referring to patients’ sexual orientation, sexual activities and partner(s), without offending the patient. To our knowledge, no such research has been performed in Poland previously. A number of American LGBT organizations (e.g. GLAAD) have previously made recommendations on this subject, yet they dealt with English terms, hence the necessity of investigating which Polish words are considered offensive and which aren’t.

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Based on this information we prepared a seminar on communication and healthcare issues affecting disproportionately members of the LGBT community (e.g. depression, suicide, obesity, smoking, substance abuse, body image, HIV/AIDS, social stigma, reproductive options for gay men and lesbians, sex reassignment therapy). The aim was not to stigmatize members of the LGBT community as ‘inherently sickly’, but to familiarize with the notion of ‘cross-cultural care’ in regards to the LGBT community. The seminar took place on the 25th of march 2012 and is planned to reoccur every 6 months!

Goals

• To minimize the amount of homophobia among medical students; • To coach medical students in the area of LGBTspecific cross-cultural care; • To perform questionnaire-based research to determine the specific healthcare needs of local LGBT populations, in particular those that can be met by peer-education-based programmes; • To educate members of the LGBT community via peer-education on topics such as HIV/AIDS, smoking, substance abuse, eating disorders, domestic violence etc., using the available IFMSA-Poland programmes (such as: PE HIV/AIDS, Anti-tobacco etc.)

Rex Crossley Award

Rex Crossley Award | Best 10 Projects

SCORA X-Change

3 weeks, 3 cites, lots of new experiences! To all those who love IFMSA Exchange programmes! Agnieszka Bogusz Coordinator of SCORA X-change Transnational Project Mail:aga.bogusz@yahoo.com

Goals:

• To stimulate the formation of international student projects on STIs • To encourage research and education in the field of HIV/AIDS and STIs • To act against socio-cultural stigma associated with HIV/AIDS affecting patients in group of medical students.

HIV testing procedures and laboratory techniques, seminars at the Department of Infections Diseases an Gynecology, lectures and workshops on related subjects. Want more? We are waiting for YOU!

If you have been involved in at least one SCORA project or action you should find our venture interesting. SCORA X-Change is for those eager beavers who want to make a “deep” study of HIV/AIDS and other STIs. The aim of this transnational project is to raise awareness and increase knowledge about HIV/AIDS. We also want to give medical students from different comities an opportunity to learn many kinds of exchanging methods, create discussions and develop transnational collaborations. This project is organized by local SCORA groups in 3 different cities from one of the countries which are involved in SCORA X-Change. The course takes place usually during university holidays at last 3-4 weeks. The participants work in groups selected to represented as diverse mix as possible of different countries and cultures. The program include seminars with a number of clinicians and specialists on HIV research and virology,

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

Safe Liver

Step on the way of protection Fekry Elbagory IFMSA-Egypt npo@ifmsa-eg.org

Abstract

Hepatitis which can attack us from several ways, food, blood transfusion, even tools sharing and through these multiple pathways, this lethal danger acquire magnificent threat against our life promoting all of people and we as medical students in advance to take step towards fighting this horrible disease. Based on this facts we in IFMSA-Egypt SCOPH believed in that we’ve to get our role in fighting this danger & protection of people especially health workers from its harmful effects through setting awareness campaigns supported by intervention steps represented in vaccination of all of medical students and health workers in Egyptian hospitals to achieve both advantages of any public health project which increasing awareness and taking actions. Safe liver achieved high rates of success till now in the field of health education about hepatitis epidemiology, besides supporting our target group (Medical students and health workers), vaccination and providing them with needed materials that can help them to know more about how to avoid this danger.

Text

Through global findings regarding hepatitis as WHO screenings for hepatitis mortality rate we can find that the mortality rate is low (0.2% of icteric cases) and the disease ultimately resolves. Occasionally, extensive necrosis of the liver occurs during the first 6-8 weeks of illness. In such cases, high fever, marked abdominal pain, vomiting, jaundice, and hepatic encephalopa-

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thy (with coma and seizures) are the signs of fulminant hepatitis, leading to death in 70-90% of the patients. In these cases mortality is highly correlated with increasing age, and survival is uncommon over 50 years of age. Among patients with chronic hepatitis B or C or underlying liver disease, who are super infected with hepatitis A virus, the mortality rate increases considerably. Hepatitis has prominent scope of distribution worldwide as both hepatitis A and E are found worldwide. Hepatitis A is particularly frequent in countries with poor sanitary and hygienic conditions (in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America). Countries with economies in transition and some regions of industrialized countries where sanitary conditions are sub-standard are also highly affected, e.g. in Southern and Eastern Europe and some parts of the Middle East. Outbreaks of hepatitis E have occurred in Algeria, Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Somalia, and the Central Asian republics of the CIS. For all previous causes it’s our mission as medical students to take our role in primary prevention setting looking forward helping our community to get rid of Hepatitis. As we make deals with all Egyptian hospitals to provide them with three vaccination doses of hepatitis B and awareness materials in collaboration with Egyptian Ministry of Health, National Liver institute and Egyptian vaccination authority after statistical step to have well settled background about diseases indices in Egypt, targeting by the end of the project to create new generation more protected against this horrible disease and more health care for health sector’s workers.

Conclusion

Safe Liver project till now reached well rates of success and achieved most of it’s goals, besides being appreciated from many hospitals for it’s team efforts in the field of awareness against hepatitis and intervention steps for its protection in addition to providing simple sources that is easily understandable to the public to raise the awareness about Hepatitis B and methods of prevention and getting positive attitude from the community regarding the awareness about ways of protection from hepatitis B.

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Tuberculosis Awareness Program â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stop TB in My Life Timeâ&#x20AC;?

Shankar Raj Lamichhane & Nitesh Shrestha NMSS,Nepal

Abstract:

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). It is a lethal disease that does not only affect the sick but also their families who have to watch their loved ones suffer through immense hardship. Tuberculosis is still prevalent and remains as one of the significant public health problems in most developing countries. In Nepal also, tuberculosis ranks as one of the most prevalent communicable diseases throughout the country. Risk of infection of TB is higher in countries like Nepal, the poor sanitation, crowded living conditions, and poor nutrition compound to create a suitable environment for the spread of TB. According to the World TB report 2011, there were an estimated 49,000 new cases of TB and according to the annual report from the department of Health Service Nepal 45% of the total population are infected with TB of which 60% are adults. With the objective of creating awareness about the disease, treatment and prevention to the general population, NMSS conducted the project on the occasion of World TB Day 2012. The methods used were demonstration in the stalls, symposium, and inter-medical college marathon. Altogether 60 students volunteered and 250 students participated in the marathon and as many as 2000 people were estimated to be benefitted.

Text:

Tuberculosis is rampant in the developing countries like Nepal. The role of medical students in creating awareness is great because people have faith in

us and we have better knowledge about the disease process too. To achieve our objective we conducted some programs. On March 23rd, we had stalls for general public containing pamphlets, posters, arts, leaflets, mini quiz etc. in the hospital premises where many out patients and visitors of the patients were benefitted. We also gave knowledge about DOTS, its availability and effectiveness in the treatment of TB. On the same day, we also had a symposium for health professionals where paper presentations were done by our respected professors & treatment modalities of TB were discussed. On March 24th we had an inter-medical college marathon which created a positive impact upon the medical students towards their role in prevention of the disease. The huge number of medical students wearing T-shirts, giving information about TB in the street raised curiosity among the general public and the media helped to spread the knowledge in the community. The winners of the marathon were given prizes. The project was accomplished with the financial and technical assistance of National Tuberculosis Center (NTC).

Conclusion:

TB awareness program is a regular program of NMSS. In the scenario where national programs are being launched to tackle this dreadful disease, we feel our responsibility towards the community and carried out our project that has definitely left behind a positive impact in the society. This project has helped us develop our skills and personality. We hope to continue this project with great vigour in the coming years as well.

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

Together for the rural health For the rural areas to be healthier

Delia Roxana- Dragici Haider Mohammed Naser Coordinators of “Together for the rural health” project. FASMR ( IFMSA- Romania).

A brave history about our project

We are a group of medical students in “ Carol Davila” faculty of medicine an pharmacy Bucharest- Romania. We start our project because of the augmented need for medical help to the people in the rural areas in Romania. In our country the rural areas are very extended in all the country and very far away from the large cities in which there are some hospitals, for these reasons we start our project which was at the beginning constituted from 10 medical students volunteers, all of them were in the 5-th and 6-th year of medicine study. In the beginning they get the help from some professors these professors offered them “ abdominal ecograf, ECG, some drugs from the hospital” all these were offered for the period of the weekend in which they go to the village to consult the people who live there. In that weekend they consulted about 80 persons who live in that village it was really a big success for these students and for the project in general. From that time and till now they do the same thing every month sometimes they do it two weekends in the month, also they extended from the villages that were in near by Bucharest to the villages that are in the north of Romania, and now we hope to cover all Romania

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responsible for health issues.

Conclusions

The population of Romania, to the national Institute of Statistics (2010) is 21,469,959 people of which 55.17% in urban areas - 320 municipalities and cities - and 44.93% is rural population. The health of the population is determined by access to healthcare, on one hand, and access to health services, on the other. People in deprived areas have no access to basic health services. This is because practitioners do not open their offices in villages, especially from lack of profitability. Doctors consider that they cannot earn enough to provide medical services to these kind of villages. That’s because a report of the National Health Insurance Fund indicates that there is a medical center in four villages in rural areas.

Text

The “Together for Rural Health” project along with the active involvement of medical students, interns, specialists, partners and medical institutions aims to give a helping hand to the Romanian healthcare system by providing investigation and specialist consult in rural areas. The health system in Romania is faced with major problems such as underfunded healthcare services and a deficit of specialized medical personnel that can assist in primary or specialty care. Identifying areas which are deficient in providing primary care (a very large number of patients have access to a single practitioner or none at all) and which lack the ability to conduct basic medical tests is our primary step in developing each edition of our project. Our major objectives are: • To provide primary health services in disadvantaged rural areas; • To offer our contribution to medical education of students by carrying out practical activities; • To raise public awareness in the state institutions

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Water the World Project A simple way to water your world…

Water the World (WTW) is a developmental project that was set up in August 2010 at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) in Khartoum, Sudan. What started off as a simple idea soon grew to become a full-blown project; later adopted by MedSIN-Sudan in May 2011 as one of its own. It is currently running under the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace (SCORP) and aims to bring clean water to the disadvantaged communities in Sudan and promote the concept of personal hygiene and proper health among the different age groups and tribes. We are often asked why we choose to work on a project that seems more appropriate for engineering students. This question remains as baffling to hear now, as it was the first time. As medical students, health is our primary goal. Unfortunately when living in a developing country such as Sudan, clean water becomes a luxury. Often, it is not easily accessible to those living in the rural villages and towns outside the city of Khartoum. Without water, the local communities struggle to survive on a daily basis. Education is neglected and the promotion of health and personal hygiene becomes difficult to achieve. Simple put: A life without water is no life at all.

funding came from VIS- Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo, an Italian NGO working in the country. Together with a group of engineers we managed to bring water to Noor al Rahman school primary in the Angola District of Mayo IDP camp. The school registers 900 students a year and had absolutely no running water. This was our first concert step to achieving our goals and was an inspiring moment for everyone involved. This summer we hope to continue our work with VIS in more schools in Mayo camp. Why? Because Article 29 of the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that: Everyone has duties to the community. In other words, it is their right and our responsibility to work with great dedication to create an environment; fit to live in and free from poverty; where basic rights are granted and no one is left behind. No one is forgotten. The WTW team wishes to invite you to join our campaign, to participate, to fundraise and to spread the word of hopes of a better future…one that begins today.

So once we had answered the first question another crucial thought came to mind. How do we do it? This question needed a more technical answer but the options were infinite. We could fix the existing broken and rusted pipelines in the homes, schools and hospitals that lay on the outskirts of the city. We could add filters to the taps to provide a higher standard of drinking water. We could install water coolers in the local markets for people to drink from. Yes, the possibilities were exciting. But, what if we could work outside the city and connect pipelines from wells in one village to another village? In fact, what is we could dig a new fresh wells to help sustain entire towns and villages? What if? What if? The WTW team began to work to promote our project. We held bazaars, movie nights, art exhibitions and even a national SCORP Party inviting an audience of over 1000 people from the community to help spread awareness. But it didn’t stop there. In July 2011 our first

Projects Bulletin AM 2012 | Issue 12

The IFMSA

Alumni Jubilee Fund

“GIVING SOMETHING IN RETURN FOR ALL THAT IFMSA HAS GIVEN US”

Objective

In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of IFMSA’s founding, IFMSA Alumni have set up the IFMSA Alumni Jubilee Fund (IFMSA AJF).

Rationale

Many IFMSA Alumni had life-changing experiences being a part of IFMSA. Now, as medical professionals, that experience makes us want to give something in return for all that the IFMSA has given us.

Goal

The IFMSA AJF aims in providing two types of grants: 1. IFMSA GA Scholarships – Awarded to promising first-time GA attendees from any current or prospective IFMSA member country. The award will recognize the contributions the students have made at a local level and their potential to contribute to the activities of IFMSA. 2. IFMSA Local Project Micro-Grants – Small grants to local committees of any IFMSA member country for a project that can become a successful long-term tradition.

Structure

The IFMSA AJF is managed by a Board of Directors, which consists of a Chair, a Secretary, an External Relations Officer and a Liaison Officer to IFMSA. Its members get elected by IFMSA Alumni for a 2-year term, while the current IFMSA Alumni Relations Support Division Director acts as Liaison Officer to IFMSA.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2011-2012 Konstantinos M. Roditis Chair

Yon J. Chong Secretary

Stefan Buttigieg

External Relations Officer

Beata Syzdul

Liaison Officer to IFMSA

Erik Holst Samer Abi Chaker Xaviour Walker Advisory Board

The IFMSA Alumni Jubilee Fund c/o IFMSA General Secretariat c/o WMA B.P. 63, 01212 Ferney-Voltaire CEDEXFRANCE Phone: +33 (450) 04 47 59 Fax: +33 (450) 40 59 37 E-mail: alumni@ifmsa.org

Our Appeal

We encourage all IFMSA Alumni to contribute to this initiative and donate to the IFMSA AJF. By donating you may help IFMSA flourish also for future generations of IFMSA-activists. Feel free to contact us at alumni@ifmsa.org for more information!

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Algeria (Le Souk) Argentina (IFMSA-Argentina) Armenia (AMSP) Australia (AMSA) Austria (AMSA) Azerbaijan (AzerMDS) Bahrain (IFMSA-BH) Bangladesh (BMSS) Belgium (BeMSA) Bolivia (IFMSA Bolivia) Bosnia and Herzegovina (BoHeMSA) Bosnia and Herzegovina - Rep. of Srpska (SaMSIC) Brazil (DENEM) Brazil (IFMSA Brazil) Bulgaria (AMSB) Burkina Faso (AEM) Burundi (ABEM) Canada (CFMS) Canada-Quebec (IFMSA-Quebec) Catalonia - Spain (AECS) Chile (IFMSA-Chile) China (IFMSA-China) Colombia (ASCEMCOL) Costa Rica (ACEM) Croatia (CroMSIC) Czech Republic (IFMSA CZ) Denmark (IMCC) Ecuador (IFMSA-Ecuador) Egypt (EMSA) Egypt (IFMSA-Egypt) El Salvador (IFMSA El Salvador) Estonia (EstMSA) Ethiopia (EMSA) Finland (FiMSIC) France (ANEMF) Georgia (GYMU) Germany (BVMD) Ghana (FGMSA) Greece (HelMSIC) Grenada (IFMSA-Grenada) Haiti (AHEM) Hong Kong (AMSAHK) Hungary (HuMSIRC) Iceland (IMSIC) India (MSAI) Indonesia (CIMSA-ISMKI) Iran (IFMSA-Iran) Israel (FIMS) Italy (SISM) Jamaica (JAMSA) Japan (IFMSA-Japan) Jordan (IFMSA-Jo) Kenya (MSAKE) Korea (KMSA)

Kurdistan - Iraq (IFMSA-Kurdistan/Iraq) Kuwait (KuMSA) Kyrgyzstan (MSPA Kyrgyzstan) Latvia (LaMSA Latvia) Lebanon (LeMSIC) Libya (LMSA) Lithuania (LiMSA) Luxembourg (ALEM) Malaysia (SMAMMS) Mali (APS) Malta (MMSA) Mexico (IFMSA-Mexico) Mongolia (MMLA) Montenegro (MoMSIC Montenegro) Mozambique (IFMSA-Mozambique) Nepal (NMSS) New Zealand (NZMSA) Nigeria (NiMSA) Norway (NMSA) Oman (SQU-MSG) Pakistan (IFMSA-Pakistan) Palestine (IFMSA-Palestine) Panama (IFMSA-Panama) Paraguay (IFMSA-Paraguay) Peru (APEMH) Peru (IFMSA Peru) Philippines (AMSA-Philippines) Poland (IFMSA-Poland) Portugal (PorMSIC) Romania (FASMR) Russian Federation (HCCM) Rwanda (MEDSAR) Saudi Arabia (IFMSA-Saudi Arabia) Serbia (IFMSA-Serbia) Slovakia (SloMSA) Slovenia (SloMSIC) South Africa (SAMSA) Spain (IFMSA-Spain) Sudan (MedSIN-Sudan) Sweden (IFMSA-Sweden) Switzerland (SwiMSA) Taiwan (IFMSA-Taiwan) Tanzania (TAMSAz) Tatarstan-Russia (TaMSA-Tatarstan) Thailand (IFMSA-Thailand) The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MMSA-Macedonia) The Netherlands (IFMSA-The Netherlands) Tunisia (ASSOCIA-MED) Turkey (TurkMSIC) Uganda (FUMSA) United Arab Emirates (EMSS) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Medsin-UK) United States of America (AMSA-USA) Venezuela (FEVESOCEM)