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 Nations’ 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.
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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 Phillip Chao, New Zealand Patricia Fruelund, Denmark Design/Layout Hassan Aboul-Nour, Egypt Omar H. Safa, Egypt Proofreading Phillip Chao, New Zealand Patricia Fruelund, Denmark
Publisher International Federation of Medical Students’ 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 Ghana.
Projects Bulletin MM 2012 | Issue 11
Introduction
Projects The Beating Pulse of IFMSA By: Projects Support Division projects@ifmsa.org
The IFMSA Projects Support Division (PSD) is thrilled to present to you the 11th issue of the Projects Bulletin. This publication gives you an overview of the activities in the PSD, and shows you why projects are the beating pulse of IFMSA. What would IFMSA be without our projects, if not a federation full of ideas, hopes and visions - but with too little action. The projects span all six Standing Committees, and they are the very thing that realises the ideals behind our policy statements and, through that, the beliefs of IFMSA and medical students worldwide. Through our many projects we advocate for the opinions of medical students, we push for social change, and we create 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 motivated to making a difference, working with health related issues both at local, national and international levels. In this issue we will focus on the projects directly related to IFMSA. But it is still of utmost importance to recognise all the other amazing projects running in our National Member Organisations.
We are almost half way through this term and it has already been a very busy and productive, time for the PSD. In this issue we will share with you some of the things we have been working on since October; we will showcase a selection of the great Transnational Projects we have in IFMSA; and you should look forward to reading about Think Global’s exciting plans for the future. As a new initiative, the PSD has been present at the first three IFMSA Regional Meetings of this term (African, Americas and Eastern Mediterranean Regional Meetings), giving workshops on Projects Leadership, organising Project Fairs and Project Presentations and providing consultation to NMOs regarding their projects support structures. You can read about all of this, and much more, in this issue of the Projects Bulletin on the following pages. Sign up to our regular newsletter on http://goo.gl/Ohlfm to receive more frequent updates about the Division and check out our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ifmsaprojects
Phillip Chao Projects Support Division Director
Patricia Fruelund Projects Support Division Assistant
www.ifmsa.org
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Initiative
What’s next for
Think Global? Mike Kalmus Eliasz thinkglobal@ifmsa.org
For those of you who do not know Think Global it is the IFMSA’s cross cutting Global Health Initiative aiming to raise awareness of global health issues and empower students to take action on them. IFMSA Initiatives are projects or series of projects centrally coordinated under the responsibility of the IFMSA Executive Board who elect the project coordinator. At the moment Think Global is one of two Initiatives in IFMSA and togehther with the Tobacco Initiative Project we represent issues which are core to the beliefs and values of the Federation. As an initiative project we run in all the Standing Committees and will continue to seek to have at least one presentation in each standing committee.
cross cultural learning.
In the past few years we have worked on issues relating to climate change sending delegations to the climate talks in Cancun and Durban as well as on transformative medical education. Most recently we organised five workshops in all the IFMSA regions funded by UNESCO on advocating for curriculum change so that global health could be incorporated into the medical curriculum. These workshops were an unprecedented success and have trained a new generation of student leaders working towards creating a truly transformative medical education.
As mentioned before we have engaged with climate change in previous years as this work transitions over to Healthy Planet we shall be looking at engaging with the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June next year. We hope students will get involved both through pushing the health community in their own countries to engage with all three pillars of the sustainable development agenda: environment, economic and social. In addition to this we intend to provide opportunities for engaging with the conference itself and making sure the health dimension is not ignored from the conference so as to ensure a healthy future.
After taking over from our predecessors myself and Nilofer Khan (Development Division Coordinator) will be taking Think Global forward in 2012 with some exciting and ambitious plans for the year ahead: We will as usual be running our PreGA workshops with our next one at the March Meeting in Accra looking at Non-Communicable diseases and Social Determinants of Health in conjunction with the Small Working Group on the Social Determinants of Health. Our workshops will be aimed at providing a small group of students with knowledge of a specific global health topic and the skills to take action on it and build a movement upon their return home.
There will also be new ways for students to engage with policy makers through online open access webinars, where students can challenge the key actors in global health and give suggestions to them from wherever they are in the world. In addition to this we will host physical events where students at meetings around the world can give their own policy suggestions to these actors. These opportunities will be accompanied by a new set of advocacy and lobbying resources that individuals and NMOs can use to encourage student engagement with global health actors.
We shall be keeping you updated in the coming months about how our plans are progressing and how you can get involved with Think Global both through acting locally and joining our team. We look forward to working with those of you interested in global health and in the mean time feel free to contact us via thinkglobal@ifmsa.org or talk to any members of our team in Ghana.
We will develop an online Global Health Leadership Programme provided via state of the art webinar technology. It will allow a small group of students every 2-3 months the chance to learn from some of the leading experts in the field. Participants will also work together on small group projects over the internet to facilitate
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Projects Bulletin MM 2012 | Issue 11
The African Regional Meeting
Waruguru Wanjau (MSAKE- Kenya), Training Projects Assistant.
The African Regional Meeting (ARM) 2011 was held in Nairobi, Kenya from the 14th to the 23rd of December. Due to the logistics, only the Projects Presentation was held, however it was a successful display of projects in the region. There were presentations from both NMO Projects and IFMSA Transnational Projects with an engaging audience, eager to discuss specific aspects to all projects. The participants of the Pre-ARM Projects Workshop also delivered projects management trainings to four of the standing committee sessions.
Pre-ARM Projects Workshop
Prior to the RM we held a Projects Workshop aimed at identifying project leaders and giving them tools to run successful projects. Some of the key challenges facing projects in the African region is continuity and relevance to the local situation. Thus the focus of the workshop was on sustainability, legacy and the cultural context of projects in the region. The pre-ARM workshop was a three and a half day adventure; a safari through the land of projects and was aimed at training the participants with skills on project management all the way from inception of an idea to the evaluation of the project. The first day of projects adventure was focused on the participants taking an inward look and getting to know more about themselves. This was to ensure that the participants “knew where they were coming from”, in order to assess their motivations for being involved in projects and plan for the future. At the end of this first day, they each came up with an ongoing project or a new project that would serve as their blank canvas to apply the skills they would learn throughout the rest of the projects expedition. The focus on the cultural context was to motivate the participants to take a keener look at the unique aspects of their communities and design projects around those aspects to have a more meaningful impact on the community. A memorable moment occurred during an exercise when participants from seven of the participating countries had to explain, to the puzzled IFMSA Projects Support Division Director from New Zealand, why cows are still used as a
www.ifmsa.org
Regional Meetings
The PSD’s Tour of Regional Meetings Three out of the five IFMSA Regional Meetings (RMs) have now successfully taken place and the IFMSA Projects Support Division (PSD) has been an active part of them. Prior to all three RMs members of the PSD have been giving workshops on Projects Leadership and Management with the purpose of creating skilled and motivated leaders ready to make a positive in their communities. You can read much more about what the PSD has been up to at each of the Regional Meetings below.
means of paying dowry. The participants explained the economic and cultural value of cattle even in 21st century Africa. This intercultural moment can be extrapolated to highlight the importance of tailormade projects to suit the unique health issues in the region. These unique health situations provide an opportune context for the IFMSA members to think global and act local in the community through well-designed and well-executed projects. The next two days involved soft skills trainings essential to projects such as leadership, conflict management, teamwork and presentation skills as well as hard skills such as needs assessment, strategic planning, proposal writing and evaluation. Each participant applied these tools and models to their project to develop a thorough action plan for implementation after the Regional Meeting. During the last day the coordinator of the post-ARM Medical Camp presented the project and gave the participants the opportunity to critically analyse the project and provide feedback which was taken into account for the post-ARM. It is our hope that the passion, motivation and new skills developed by these project leaders will result in numerous sustainable and relevant projects for the region in the many years to come.
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Regional Meetings
The PSD’s Tour of Regional Meetings
The Americas Regional Meeting
Mardelangel Zapata Ponze de León (APEMH-Peru), Americas Regional Projects Assistant
The Pre Regional Meeting Projects Workshop
The Projects Workshop was one of the most successful workshops presented in the Pre Americas Regional Meeting (Pre-PAMSA-RM). It was held in Trujilo, Peru, from the 3rd to 5th of January 2012. There were 24 active participants, the biggest group of the pre-PAMSA-RM. We had a diverse mix of participants, spanning from those with much experience and those without previous experience in projects. This provided the opportunity to share and engage with participants in a fun and involving way.
Similar to the format of the Pre-ARM, we worked for three days on different aspects of project development techniques and leadership topics. On the first day we worked on finding our own individual motivations and values. The unique PAMSA spirit bonded us all together in sharing our personal passions. People with similar ideas worked together in the next two days to develop projects that could cross the borders of our countries, especially with many countries sharing a similar history and culture. Through the process of learning about transforming an idea into a well-structured project, eight concrete projects were developed with a well-founded basis to be implemented after the workshop. It wouldn’t have been a PAMSA workshop if it were all work without any fun. The final half of the last day was spent on finishing off the topics at the beach, providing space for personal reflection and sharing the amazing experience of the team through public energizers and games.
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The Regional Meeting
The Americas Regional Meeting (PAMSA RM) 2012 was held in Lima, Peru, from the 6th to 10th of January. The Projects Support Division visited each standing committee session to give an update about the developments and gave trainings on projects management and skills. These included cause and effect analysis, steps for campaigning, developing marketing strategies, personal motivation in projects, proposal writing and presentation skills. We also had the Projects Fair and Presentation, where there were 23 projects of the Americas region represented. It was a great platform to get in touch with inspiring people from different parts of the region who shared their experiences with all the Americas. The Fair was an especially productive space where there was a lot of exchange of contacts to develop projects that will fit in different NMOs, so much in fact that the fair continued well into the lunch break. During the whole Regional Meeting we had the opportunity to talk with 13 NMO teams about the projects structure in their NMOs. It was a privilege to get to know more about each NMO’s situation and get new contacts for each NMO. Each conversation was very productive with many outcomes to follow up on. It gave us a better idea of the specific situations in order to provide a more suitable, tailored support. The variety of cultures and the similarities of the Region made us feel the special essence of the Americas. We look forward to keeping in touch with all PAMSA NMOs throughout the term to empower the region’s many great projects!
Projects Bulletin MM 2012 | Issue 11
The Eastern Mediterranean Regional Meeting
Omar Abu-Zaydeh (IFMSA-Palestine), Eastern Mediterranean (EM) Regional Projects Assistant
The 8th Eastern Mediterranean Regional Meeting (EMR8) from the 19th to the 22nd of January in Amman, Jordan, was one of the most successful meetings of the region. There were 34 unique projects present at the meeting, with many of the projects represented in both the projects fair and projects presentation. We had the privilege to receive externals from the High Population Council of Jordan and the University of Jordan at the projects presentation, which took place at a venue next to the Dead Sea. This year was the first year of the establishment of the EMR project awards with certificates and plaques kindly donated by the Local Committee (LC) of IFMSAPalestine in Nablus. This LC also donated the project fair and project presentation certificates for each project. The judging panel consisted of the Projects Support Division Director, Regional Coordinator of EMR, EM Regional Projects Assistant, EM Regional Assistant for the Standing Committee on Research Exchange (SCORE) and EM Regional Assistant for the Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME). The judging criteria emphasised the quality of the project and delivery at either project fair or project presentation. After a long night of collating the scores and discussions, the first place was awarded to “Protect Your Child: Pneumonia Awareness Campaign” from EMSAEgypt with a special prize kindly donated by the Regional Coordinator for EMR Lujain Al-Qodmani; second place went to “Fight Chance Clubs” from KUMSA-Kuwait; third place went to “NORPAL-SAWA & IMSTAR3” from IFMSA-Palestine; fourth place went to “Carnival for Compassion II” from IFMSA-Jordan; fifth place went to “Female Genital Mutilation Awareness Project” from IFMSA-Egypt. There was also a special prize awarded to SQU-Oman for their SCORE projects, which target an underrepresented area of projects in the region. Throughout the regional meeting, the PSD also delivered trainings on projects management in four of the standing committee sessions and received invaluable input from the presidents’ session about the direction of projects in our region. There were informal consultations with NMO presidents as well as NMO members about specific projects issues, which were extremely helpful for the PSD to follow up on in the region.
www.ifmsa.org
Regional Meetings
The PSD’s Tour of Regional Meetings
Pre Regional Meeting Projects Workshop The pre-RM workshops were held from the 17th to 19th of February in Amman, Jordan. A small and dedicated group attended the Projects Workshop from five countries. We went through much of the material indepth and at pace, with many opportunities to implement the tools that were discussed. It was a mixture of essential leadership skills such as conflict management, teamwork, communication skills, presentation skills and public narrative and projects-specific tools. The Think Global Workshop participants also worked with us to plan for projects related to women’s health and Non Communicable Diseases. At the end of the workshop, all participants were able to take with them a framework for implementing a project specific to their interests and needs. Some of the projects that were developed include increasing organ donations, improving primary health care system and an intervention programme for women suffering from domestic violence. All in all, we hope that the workshop not only provided new projects and skills to those who attended, but also the ability for participants to capacity build members of their NMOs in projects on their return home. Together, let us develop sustainable and effective projects for our region!
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NMOs
NMOs and their Projects Divisions projects@ifmsa.org
In October 2011 the IFMSA Projects Support Division (PSD) sent out a survey on the NMO server regarding National Projects Officers and Projects Divisions within all the NMOs. We would like to thank all the NMOs who filled in this survey and for those who have yet to do so, the link is here: http://goo.gl/zXRvJ. This survey provides an important background for the PSD in our work to support your NMO projects structure. We hope to publish the results of the survey towards the middle of 2012 once the responses have been analysed. Each NMO has a varied and mostly unique system for supporting international, national and local projects. We wanted to gather the information about NMOs and get to know more about how each NMO functions to be better able to tailor our support accordingly. Through this and other consultations at the regional meetings, it has become increasingly obvious that NMO projects divisions are needs-driven, with roles that may be defined for the period of need. For example, a newly starting Division may have the role to establish new projects in the NMO if the NMO currently does not have many projects, or it may have the role to review and improve the quality of the many projects an NMO currently has. tThe role of a longer standing Division may have
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changed from that of involvement in the assessment of new projects to capacity building people involved in projects. The bottom line is that perhaps unlike any other role in an NMO such as a Vice-President Internal, Treasurer or Local Committee President, the role of a National Projects Officer or National Support Division Director is not fixed. It is dependent on the need of the organisation. Thus it has been crucial for us to get the contact details of a person to liaise with in your NMO to provide any assistance as required in analysing and supporting your national structure. Through this targeted support, we aim to create resources that will be useful for how each Division functions, in different roles and with different levels of experience. We also hope to set up a network of Divisions to provide support and community for us all in this shared experience of projects. Projects are the heart of IFMSA and of your organisations. Thus your Projects Division are the engine room that keep the heart of your organising in a healthy, beating rhythm. If you have any suggestions or want to be involved in a working group of Divisions, please get in touch with us on projects@ifmsa.orgt We would be very grateful to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Projects Bulletin MM 2012 | Issue 11
IFMSA Transnational Projects at a glance projects@ifmsa.org
FGM Awareness Project Khalid Hussein Khalid khalid_scora@yahoo.com
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has always been a serious issue in a lot of countries world wide. We, as medical students and future doctors, should find ourselves responsible for raising awareness among people and promote a zero tolerance for FGM. The FGM awareness project was founded to fight the harmful practices that lead to serious damages and complications for the mutilated females. This project is working in the most poor developing countries due to religious and cultural beliefs. Through a joined effort between IFMSA-Egypt and MedSINSudan, we hope to develop a basis through which medical students are sensitized and empowered to take on a significant role in preventing FGM and increase the public’s awareness about the risks and dangers of this act. NMOs involved: MedSIN-SUDAN (Sudan) and IFMSA-Egypt (Egypt)
Residency Database Project Maria Christina Papadopoulou rdb@helmsic.gr www.residency-database.helmsic.gr
The Residency Database Project’s aim is to help international medical students and young doctors to reach information concerning the residency system and application procedures in different countries. Furthermore, it provides visitors of the Residency Database site with the chance to compare the advantages and the disadvantages of the many different countries’s residency systems along with the opportunity for further research in this field. The importance of this project is due to a continuously growing number of medical scientists from all over the world who desire to specialise or sub-specialise in a medical field outside their own country and they face a lot of difficulties in finding the proper source of information.The Residency Database Project facilitates this process and helps people to easily and quickly access the relevant information. NMOs involved: HelMSIC (Greece) and IFMSA-Spain (Spain)
www.ifmsa.org
Transnational Projects
IFMSA Transnational Projects at a glance
An IFMSA Transnational Project is either a project that involves more than one National Member Organization (NMO) or a project that is a collaboration between at least one NMO and another organization. Many countries face the same health issues or challenges and IFMSA is a great opportunity for medical students around the world to share ideas and experiences and work together on health related projects. IFMSA creates a unique framework for these projects by not only facilitating the contact between different NMOs but also by providing a forum for these projects to continue to develop and work together across borders. The General Assemblies in March and August make it possible for Project Coordinators to meet across the NMOs to discuss the projects and to showcase their projects at the Project Fair or Project Presentations. Being an IFMSA Transnational Project also has other advantages such as support from the Projects Support Division, letters of recommendation from the IFMSA Executive Board on request, use of the IFMSA website, the official projects database and much more. In this section you can read about some of the many great Transnational Projects in IFMSA and maybe get inspired to start a project in your own NMO. You will find contact information on each of the projects and do not hesitate to contact them for any question you may have. Should you have any questions about how to become an IFMSA project or are you just curious about how the Project Support Division work and how we may help you please contact Phillip Chao on: projects@ifmsa.org.
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Transnational Projects
IFMSA Transnational Projects at a glance
Calcutta Village Project (CVP) Mario Staccioni internationalcvp@gmail.com www.projectforpeople.org www.sism.org
Calcutta Village Project (CVP) started as a collaboration between SISM-Italy and an Indian NGO called the Institute for Indian Mother and Child (IIMC). The IIMC is a development project located in the south of Calcutta, India, established in 1988 by Dr. Sujit K. Brahmochari Mandal with the purpose of improving health conditions for the people who live in the villages in the rural area in the south of Calcutta, especially focusing on mothers and children.
The IIMC activities include medical, sponsorship, educational and nutritional programmes as well as a micro-credit project for women. All these activities are aiming to improve health and living conditions for people living in the south of Calcutta. CVP also works in Europe, in Italy, as well as the other affiliated countries. Every month about six medical students from many different countries fly to Calcutta to participate in the local activities of the IIMC as volunteers to learn how a project of development cooperation works and to give Indians their little but important help. NMOs involved: SISM (Italy), AMSA (Austria), FiMSIC (Finland), BVMD (Germany) and AECS (Catalonia-Spain)
to help their patients, as well as raise awareness of the problem among the general public. There are several activities organized within the Eating Disorders Awareness project, such as fashion show against anorexia and bulimia, peer education lessons, workshops for parents, workshops for medical students, eating disorder campaigns and conferences. Through the Eating Disorders Awareness project we wish to expand our activities reaching more and more communities and develop a collaboration between international medical students. NMOs involved: IFMSA-Poland (Poland), MMSA (Malta) and IFMSAMexico (Mexico)
Eating Disorders Awareness Tomasz Trojanowski t.trojanowski@yahoo.com
The problem of eating disorders is often underestimated, quite unmatched by the extent to which it is prevalent. Actually in some countries the threat of an epidemic arises. Unfortunately the majority of our societies are ignorant of this problem. The reason for such a low social awareness of this issue is the lack of widespread information. Eating Disorders Awareness is a transnational project aiming to unite medical students in a fight against eating disorders. Through our initiatives we want to provide medical students with knowledge and skills 10
Projects Bulletin MM 2012 | Issue 11
For a Homophobia Free World
Johanna Katharina Reichel joka.reichel@gmx.net
Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuality and people identified or perceived as being homosexual. Definitions refer variably to antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, irrational fear and in some countries jail and even murder. For ages, people have been suffering from discrimination and prejudice due to their sexual orientation and this is why we, in the Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including AIDS (SCORA), are trying to make a change in the attitudes and mentality towards people with a sexual orientation other than the heterosexual orientation and gender identity other than male or female - LGBTQ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer). NMOs involved: IFMSA-Mexiko (Mexico) and SloMSA (Slovakia)
Transnational Projects
IFMSA Transnational Projects at a glance
Dying a Human thing
WHO Simulation
Sara Ben Youssef sara_yusuf@yahoo.com
Kenrry Chiu kenrry.chiu@gmail.com
Dying a Human Thing is a project addressed to all medical students, who are interested in working with terminally ill patients. We want to teach future doctors how to support dying patients. Through workshops with specialists we give answers to questions like: “How to reveal a fatal diagnosis to a patient?”, “How to talk to the family of a dying patient?” and “How to support my patient?”. Sometimes the most obvious questions are the most difficult ones. The aim of the project is to create future doctors who will be ready to work with terminally ill patients. The project consists of workshops in small groups. They are led by specialists who work with terminally ill patients in their everyday life. This year we will be working with other aspects of the topic like “the unexpected death of a young and healthy person”, “the death of a new born” as well as “the death of a terminally ill patient”. We will try to help medical students by giving them tools that will help them deal with the most difficult and uncomfortable situation of announcing bad news. NMOs involved: AssociaMed-Tunisia (Tunisia) and IFMSA-Poland (Poland)
The World Health Organization Simulation aims to promote interest in global health through simulated conferences on specific health themes. The Montreal World Health Organization Simulation (MonWHO) in Canada is currently in its sixth year and the European World Health Organization (EuWHO) is in its second year. These model debate conferences target students from medicine, health sciences, political sciences, and other fields relevant to health policy. By having students act as delegates from member states and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at a conference, they learn to debate health policy on challenging health problems. Over the course of the conference, the delegates write and vote on resolutions addressing the target health care problems of the conference. Through this experience, students learn about the creation of health policy and develop interdisciplinary relations with students from different universities and professions. NMOs involved: IFMSA-Quebec (Canada) and Medsin-UK (UK)
www.ifmsa.org
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Transnational Projects
IFMSA Transnational Projects at a glance
Crossing Borders for Health Matthew J Saunders matt.saunders10@gmail.com www.crossingbordersforhealth.org
Crossing Borders for Health is an international network of students whose mission is to remove barriers to health care for refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. Article 25 of the UN declaration on Human Rights declares that the right to healthcare should be assured in every country, for the entire population and we believe this statement applies to all individuals, regardless of immigration status. Unfortunately, in many countries migrants often receive substandard levels of healthcare, if they receive any at all. We believe that health is a universally recognised, fundamental human right and that as future health
professionals we are in the unique position to promote and defend the right to health care for vulnerable populations. Through education, direct assistance and campaigning for policy change, we aim to realise our belief that migrants should receive the highest standard of healthcare, irrespective of immigration status. Crossing Borders for Health is an initiative to centrally coordinate projects in different countries working on these issues and share resources, best practice guidelines and funding between them. NMOs involved: Medsin-UK (UK), CroMSIC (Croatia), IFMSA-Sweden (Sweden), NMSA (Norway), IFMSA-Mexico (Mexico) and AMSA (Australia)
IlluminAIDS relies on a collaboration between the IFMSA standing committee on Reproductive health including AIDS, Human Rights and Peace and Medical Education. The project received “Transnational Project� status at the IFMSA March Meeting 2011 and is currently active in 6 National Member Organisations within the IFMSA. In the coming few years, the project is planning to expand to more countries from all regions in the IFMSA. NMOs involved: LeMSIC (Lebanon), IFMSA-Quebec (Canada), HelMSIC (Greece), MMSA (Malta), ANEMF (France) and CroMSIC (Croatia)
IlluminAIDS Fadi Fouad Halabi
fadi.halabi9@gmail.com IlluminAIDS is a newly established IFMSA transnational project that aims at eliminating the discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS particularly in the health care settings. The project mainly targets medical students to make them sensitive to this issue and train them to avoid it as future physicians. This is done via peer education sessions and through integrating trainings on discrimination and human rights in the medical curricula. Advocacy and awareness campaigns against discrimination targeting the general public are also organised on the local, national, and international levels within this project. 12
Projects Bulletin MM 2012 | Issue 11
NECSE
Eva Wooding necse2012@gmail.com www.necse2012.com NECSE is the North European Cooperation of Sex Education Projects. Held annually in March or April, NECSE is a 4-5 day conference where members of various peer-led sex and relationships education projects can get together to share teaching methods, ideas, network and teach others about their respective cultures. NECSE is attended by members of 12 countries: UK, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. NECSE is normally attended by 50-70 students. The main purpose of NECSE is that the countries exchange their sex education lessons or games to teach to the rest of the group, to allow sharing and improvement of teaching methods. In addition to that, keynote speakers present topics surrounding the conference theme. In 2011 Finland presented a conference exploring sex, gender and culture. In 2012 the UK will explore sexual morality. NMOs involved: Medsin-UK (UK), IMCC (Denmark), IFMSA-NL (The Netherlands), AMSA (Austria), IFMSA-Poland (Poland), IMSIC (Iceland), NMSA (Norway), BVMD (Germany), SwiMSA (Switzerland), EAYS (Estonia), IFMSA-Sweden (Sweden) and FiMSIC (Finland)
Transnational Projects
IFMSA Transnational Projects at a glance
municate with the deaf patient. This will be done by: - Organising sign language courses and workshops for the benefit of students, young doctors and medical personnel in each of the countries participating in the project. - Providing basic sign language courses online. Through this, IFMSA can play a major role in covering the now existing gap in providing hearing impaired people the appropriate medical assistance. NMOs involved: CIMSA-ISMKI (Indonesia), HelMSIC (Greece), FASMR (Romania), IFMSA-NL (The Netherlands), IFMSA Poland (Poland), LeMSIC (Lebanon), CroMSIC (Croatia) and SloMSIC (Slovenia)
Breaking the Silence Georgios Tsaknias bts@helmsic.gr www.bts.helmsic.gr
Breaking the Silence aims to establish a better way to interact and relate with the deaf/hard of hearing patient - doctor relationship. The economic impact of hearing loss is very high, considering in its most severe form, hearing loss affects an estimated 22.5 million Europeans and 28 million Americans. Many suffer from work related difficulties, educational delays, social stigmas and exclusion. Breaking the Silence as a transnational project aims to create and promote a common platform for teaching medical students and young doctors how to comwww.ifmsa.org
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Transnational Projects
IFMSA Transnational Projects at a glance
Organ Donation Awareness Project Petar Krasimirov Velikov p.velikov@ymail.com
The main goal of this project is to educate medical students about the process of organ donation and organ transplantation. Medical students whom receive certain education about this issue are more likely to have a positive approach to the organ donation process and will be capable of providing their parents, friends and communities with all the information needed when deciding to become organ donors. The duration of the project on the transnational level (since 2005) confirms us that we are doing the right things in the right places (lectures, workshops, public oriented campaign, promotion within the students) and we hope that it will continue. NMOs involved: IFMSA-Serbia (Serbia), AMSB (Bulgaria), TurkMSIC (Turkey) and BoHeMSA (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Sexperience
Research Workshop
Aris Hadjinicolaou sexperienceifmsa@gmail.com
Rony Salloum researchworkshop.tnp@gmail.com
Sexperience is the IFMSA Transnational Project on Sexual Health Peer Education. Our vision is for every male and female to make well thought out choices on the subject of sexuality, for people to be tolerant towards the sexual choices of others and for worldwide eradication of sexual transmitted infections (STIs). Our mission is to create awareness amongst teenagers worldwide about their choices on the subject of sexuality, relationships and puberty; as well as to reduce the frequency of STIs and unwanted pregnancies. The aims of Sexpressience are the following: 1. To make teenagers aware of their choices with respect to sexuality, love and puberty. 2. To make the before mentioned subjects discussible with teenagers. 3. To decrease the frequency of STIs by promoting safe sex and correct usage of condoms. 4. To decrease the frequency of unwanted pregnancies by giving information on available contraceptive methods. 5. To create and further develop teaching abilities and the competence in the field of sexology in future doctors. NMOs involved: IFMSA-QuĂŠbec (Canada), IMCC (Denmark), IFMSA-NL (The Netherlands), MedSIN-UK (UK), CIMSA (Indonesia), AMSA (Austria), BVMD (Germany), LeMSIC (Lebanon), IFMSA-Mexico (Mexico) and MMSA (Malta)
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The Research Workshop is a course designed to teach medical students how to become good consumers and producers of research. Without research medical practice would be outdated, and we, as students, would not be able to pursue competitive medical programs. Unfortunately, in most of our medical curricula, there is no formal teaching of the proper way of conducting research. We therefore believe that SCORE plays a vital role in trying to fill this gap, as SCORE’s ultimate aim is promoting research. The Research Workshop teaches the medical student how to read research, how to think critically about medical problems, and how to produce research. To achieve its purpose, the Research Workshop is designed to be an interactive course. The course takes the student from having a topic of interest, to formulating a specific research question, to designing an experiment to prove the hypothesis, and finally to writing the research proposal. After that, the students are expected to actively engage in their projects, whether they opted for basic or clinical research. NMOs involved: LeMSIC (Lebanon) and AMSB (Bulgaria)
Projects Bulletin MM 2012 | Issue 11
Nilofer Khan Habibullah and Renzo Guinto on behalf of IFMSA SWG on Health Inequalities nilo.metalrex@gmail.com | renzo.guinto@gmail.com
We marvel at cutting-edge health care technology, yet there exists a life expectancy of 34 years in Sierra Leone and lack of basic amenities of life such as pure drinking water in other under developed and developing regions of the world. We proudly register progress made by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), yet maternal mortality, one of the MDG indicators, reveals that as many as 170 for every 1,000 mothers die due to inaccessible or inadequate maternal care in the Philippines alone, while only 8 die in Japan. People affected by these disparities are not merely faceless statistical figures; they live amongst us and once dreamt of a better future and fair means to live. Their only ‘misfortune’ is that they happened to be born in underdeveloped regions of the world, regions where health disparities are still rife, and will continue to be unless we are strongly committed to fight it. The vision of the IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative is simple – mobilizing youth towards the achievement of, in the words of the Alma Ata Declaration,“Health for all”, and in words of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health “Closing the gap in a generation”. The mission of the IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative is to lead the world’s medical students and future physicians in advocating for health for all,and in
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Initiative Proposal
The IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative
fulfillment of Rudolf Virchow’s vision of physicians being “the natural attorneys of the poor.” The IFMSA Global Health Equity Initiative will serve four main purposes. It will act as an Institutional voice for global health equity and social determinants of health within IFMSA, it will be a Clearinghouse of information, advocacy tools, and technical guidance on global health equity for IFMSA members, it will provide a Dynamic forum for intellectual exchange and dialogue on health equity between members and external partners, and lastly, it will be a Cornerstone of health equity advocacy and campaign within the Federation and to the larger global health arena. Key areas in programming the Initiative will focus on, but are not limited to: advocacy with grassroots action, education and training, policy dialogue and legislative action, media and publications, and building external networks and coalition on the subject for the IFMSA. The Initiative team structure will also involve lead contacts on each of these domains of action. Let us root out the causes of inequity, and let us reach out to the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable, and the underserved! Rooting out and reaching out are what medical students – and IFMSA as a whole – can do, here and now.
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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) Hong Kong (AMSAHK) Hungary (HuMSIRC) Iceland (IMSIC) 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 (TAMSA) 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)
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