PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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EDITORIAL Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
What does all of this has to do with being a medical student? In this second issue of Pulse, we explore advocacy and what we can do as medical students. Nur The General Assembly was recently ul Sh Mala ahir y sia held in Baltimore, USA with the theme ah “Advocacy and Physicians-in-Training.” This certainly is an important topic to discuss among us medical students as we are the future leaders. What we do now can determine the situation that we will encounter when we are no longer protected by the four walls of our institution. Also, as doctors, our patients are our greatest advocate. As Tenzin Gyatso, his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama says, “It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act.”
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PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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content i Editorial 1 RC’s Message 2 Know your NGO 3 Tobacco 5 A Change of Sky 7 APRM 2013 9 SCOPH 10 Advocacy in Taiwan 13 Post Nuclear Crisis 14 Through My Eyes 15 Be a Part of Us PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
1 Hello to my beloved family of the Asia-Pacific! The General Assembly was recently held in Baltimore, USA from 5th to 15th March 2013 with the theme “Advocacy and Physicians-in-Training” with much success. Thank you to all the delegates for your cooperation and participation in the last General Assembly. I hope that all of you will bring back lessons from the past General Assembly and disseminate them in your community. I am happy to announce that Asia-Pacific has its own advocacy: 100% Smoke-Free University Campuses in the AsiaPacific. Tobacco is the single greatest cause of death that is preventable worldwide. Smoking is a risk factor in many diseases including lung cancer, myocardial infarction, hypertension and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease. The World Health Organization estimates death due to tobacco use to reach 100 million within the 20th century alone. The length of time a person smokes is directly proportional to the increased risk of contracting disease. Thus, it is important to curb the smoking habit at a younger age. I hope that Asia-Pacific will be able to cooperate and together, we will have 100% smoke-free university campuses within the near future. I would also like to welcome a new member to the Asia-Pacific family: BMMS Bangladesh.
Together for better health!
Cheers and hugs, Dr Vincent Khor Wei Sheng (SMMAMS Malaysia) Regional Coordinator for Asia-Pacific 2012/13 International Federation of Medical Students’ Association
PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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13
Akaihane Central Community Chest of Japan (CCCJ)
Ayaka Ishihata, SCORP Regional Assistant for Asia-Pacific 2012-2013 IFMSA-Japan Vice President for External Affairs 2013-2014
Central Community Chest of Japan (CCCJ) is one of the most well known social welfare system called “Akaihane”. Akaihane means a red feather in Japanese. If you donate to CCCJ, they give you a red feather and that is why they are known as such. CCCJ’s activity is taking root in the society with the help of Japanese culture and is being supported by the spirit of residential mutual aid, which has been the basic idea of the campaign since its establishment and, as an evidence of that, there is no one who does not know Akaihane and their organization in Japan. CCCJ was established in 1947 right after the Second World War to donate to those who were severely affected by the war. Today, the main vision of CCCJ is to urge residents to create a welfare community in which people can live at ease in a place they have lived for a long time based on the mutual aid of residents, and supporting various activities in the financial aspect for the creation of such a community. What makes Akaihane so well-known all across Japan is the number of District Offices and Branch Offices located in municipalities throughout the nation, totaling to some 3,300 offices in all 47 prefecture of Japan. Each District and branch offices nationwide implement fundraising activities, organize and train volunteers, conduct public relations, and survey the financial needs for providing welfare services. As a unique system, the money from the fund raise from prefecture
The welfare services are mainly aimed at the increased elderly population, the raising of children, and people with disabilities. Of course, on exception like when Japan suffered from a severe national disaster two years ago, they opened another window of donation for victims and reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the disaster. In 2003, Japanese Community Chest launched the new allocation database system named “Hanett”. Hanett is an internet database system. Each Prefectural Community Chests input all allocation data in detail to the particular web site, and those data are accessible to the public through the internet web site. By this system, donors can know the usage of their donation easily, and also, Community Chest can analyze the allocation statistics easily. This past three years, nearly 300 thousand allocated projects are accumulated. On this system, each distributed projects and activities are classified in the classification of (1) organization type, (2) target, (3) contents and (4) expense type. Also, the number of attended persons, amount of grant, other income, detailed description, and thank you messages from the organization are also recorded in the system. CCCJ activities are huge and elaborate, despite being a non-governmental and non-religious society. They have a lot of strategy in many fields with their long history and highly trusted social action programs conducted for both the nation and individuals. It can be considered that CCCJ is one of the symbol of consideration in Japan.
KNOW YOUR NGO
PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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TOBACCO It is a universal problem that causes mortality and morbidity in an alarming and devastating manner. We, in the entire Asia-Pacific region have been vastly affected – particularly in lower income countries. The effects of smoking do not discriminate, young or old, first or second-hand smokers, respiratory and cardiac conditions that can have lifelong complications are just some of the results of tobacco abuse. That said, we are fortunate because we know how to alleviate some of the burden – a smoke-free environment. These environments discourage smokers from smoking excessively, assist those who are attempting to quit, and provide some protection to individuals who would otherwise be subjected to second-hand smoke. In recent years, our region has seen vast changes concerning tobacco. Countries like Australia and New Zealand where their governments have taken great action to prevent the use and sale of tobacco, in contrast, developing nations are showing and increase in their smoking rates annually. There is no doubt that the medical community, several influential institutions, as well as health ministries and governments have taken action against tobacco – but what can we do in IFMSA? This year, following the adoption of the Tobacco Control Policy Statement in Mumbai, India, AM 2012, the Regional Coordinator and Team for the Asia-Pacific 2012/13 committed to advocate for 100% Smoke-Free University Campuses in the Asia-Pacific Region. We are aiming for students to create a smoke-free environment for their fellow students and colleague by advocating within their universities and NMO’s to create change. As well as this, through this campaign we are hoping to develop the use and implementation of advocacy in the region, to be used in conjunction with the wonderful projects and campaigns seen in the region. PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
4 So what is advocacy? And how can it be used to create a smoke-free university environment? Advocacy is a tool by which change is enacted at a higher level – this is a key point at which advocacy differs from projects and campaigns. For a smoke-free university environment, this higher level may be anyone from the head of your medical school, to the greatest decision-making body in your university. We, your Development Assistants for Advocacy, Education and Policy endeavour to be able to support you in this campaign in any way possible. We plan to create and release campaign specific resources such as peer education tools and social media resources for NMO’s to use to advocate for a smoke-free environment. Also, we aim to provide advocacy specific resources that may be used to provide basic advocacy training within NMO’s. As well as this, in relation to the Smoke-Free campaign itself we will strive to provide you with some of the more interesting and engaging resources available for you to use as advocacy tools.
We hope that through this campaign, we will not only be able to advocate for an extremely important lifestyle risk factor for multiple disease states, but that you will be able to utilise advocacy more. This is an incredible opportunity to not only try to create a remarkable change that has the potential to benefit a large population of our peers and friends, but also to further our skills in advocacy and engagement as a region. We hope that we, as the Asia-Pacific region, can come together to help in the fight against tobacco. For any further questions or comments, please feel free to contact Shela, Briar and Jade at da.aep.ifmsa.ap@gmail.com.
PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
5 My Internship with the World Health Organization in Manila By: Mariam Parwaiz
Mariam was part of the 2011-12 IFMSA Asia-Pacific Regional Team, and was editor-in-chief of Pulse during that period. She is a recent medical graduate from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and is currently working as a House Officer at Christchurch Hospital. She is interested in public health and hopes to work in that area after getting some clinical experience. The WHO hosts a number of interns at any point; these are students from a variety of disciplines who have an interest in public health. In late 2012, during my last year of The aim of the internship programme is to build fumedical school, I was very fortunate to complete ture public health leaders. Internships usually range an internship with the World Health Organization from six weeks to three months and offer a variety (WHO). I was based at the Western Pacific of experiences in the technical and Regional Office (WPRO) of the WHO; and this administrative work that the WHO does. To apply was the ideal experience for me as my home for an internship at the Geneva Headquarters, you country of New Zealand (NZ) is part of the WHO need to fill out an online application form, which Western Pacific region. It thus provided me can be accessed via: www.who.int/employment/ with a great opportunity to learn more about our internship/en. For WPRO, the process is fairly neighbourhood, while also learning more about straightforward and requires a CV and motivation this international organisation. letter to be emailed to: interns@wpro.who.int. The WHO is a specialised agency of the United For my internship, I spent two months at WPRO, Nations that works in the area of global public based at the Health Information, Evidence and health. It has six regional offices, which are each Research (IER) technical unit, which is part of the designed to meet the special health needs of their Health Sector Development division. The IER unit regions. The Western Pacific Regional Office is supports member states (countries) with developing based in Manila, Philippines. It operates their resources for good health information. This semi-autonomously with its own budget, and acts includes developing IT infrastructure for health as the health conscience of the Region. systems, and developing research systems to ensure the best practise of evidence-based medicine. I The structure of WPRO is quite similar to the reported to my supervisor and completed whatever WHO Headquarters, which are in Geneva, tasks she assigned me. During my internship, I got Switzerland. There is a Regional Director (or the chance to appraise research proposals and help Director General at Headquarters) overseeing with an expert consultation. a number of Divisions, which each have a main focus area and smaller units within them. At Although I was only at WPRO for a brief period, I WPRO, the Divisions are: Combating found it very interesting to work in, and be a part communicable diseases; Health security and of, a prominent international organisation. This was emergencies; Building healthy communities and my first ‘professional’ experience outside of NZ, and populations; Health sector development; and it was enlightening to observe firsthand the internal Programme management and coordination. workings of the WHO. The experience has made There is also a Pacific Technical Support Division, me more aware about and interested in global to address the unique needs of the small island public health, and I am now reading and learning nations. more about the area. PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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Loboc River, Bohol
Logistics wise, you do not have to pay anything for the internship, but you are also not paid anything by the WHO. You need to arrange your own transport, visas, accommodation, etc, yourself. Interns at WPRO come from all around the world. I think it would be great to see more students from around our Asia-Pacific region come to WPRO, to learn more about the region and the big health issues we are facing. You are expected to be at work for approximately eight hours a day, Monday to Friday. Weekends are free to explore Manila, or to visit the many beautiful islands of the Philippines. I highly recommend getting in touch with other medical students through IFMSA. It was great to spend time with fellow medical students in the Philippines, and I also enjoyed getting the opportunity to see other parts of the country. While I really enjoyed my time at WPRO, the experience may not be to everyone’s liking as there is no patient contact involved. However, if you have an interest in working in public health in the future, especially at the international level, I highly recommend undertaking an internship at WPRO. It’s a great way to get an insight into the work of the WHO and I found it quite nice to be away from the hospital for a short while! Contact for organising internships: interns@wpro.who.int
SNAPSHOTS Manila skyline including WPRO
Mariam with the WHO logo at WPRO
Conference hall at WPRO
Overlooking the garden and conference hall at WPRO
More information can be found via the WPRO website: http://www2.wpro.who.int/sites/internship/ home.htm Physical Address: WHO Western Pacific Region, UN Avenue corner Taft Avenue, Ermita, Manila 1000 Philippines. Phone: 63 2 528 8001, Fax: 63 2 521 1036
Sightseeing in Manila
I am happy to be contacted if you want further information: ctothekay[at]gmail.com PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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September 2013 is a new milestone for Indonesia as medical students from Asia Pacific countries gather in one important event. The IFMSA Asia Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) 2013 is a regional event where medical students from Asia Pacific get together, share ideas, explore new things, take action and make a change for the better. Indonesia is the right place for medical students to appreciate this because Indonesia is a country with a diverse culture and this makes it a challenge in terms of public health. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established following the Milennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000 and is targeting 2015 to achieve all of its eight development goals. Many roles, policies, and actions has been performed around the world to demonstrate active participation of the United Nation members in the achievement of the MDGs. Indonesia is one country that can be considered successful in achieving some of the MDGs. Particularly in the field of health, there are a range of activities that has been conducted as a comprehensive approach to reducing poverty, the development of health centers, improvement of access to reproductive health services and family planning, improved coordination with policy holders in the allocation of resources and empowering the people of Indonesia. But what happens when the MDGs ends in 2015? This is an interesting idea that should be explored. Now all that needs to be seen is the evaluation that occurs at this time in 2013. Many factors makes the MDGs difficult to achieve. One is the weak health systems, health inequalities and the difficulty in maintaining the achievement of a number of factors that will affect the achievement of the MDGs. A development is successful by well-established health systems and is effective for citizens. Thus, the World Health Organisation also launched a new movement that supports the MDGs and health as a predictor of the post-2015 targets. Universal Health Coverage is a movement to change the global health system, so that every citizen of the world will have easy access to health care, ensuring a good quality of life and can help contribute actively in the development of the country. PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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Post-2015 and UHC is a great concept, especially in the areas of health,but it remains a draft and have yet to be implemented. This is not the responsibility of the government alone, but also, us, as medical students to give an effect, either directly or indirectly, for a good and aplicable health system. This is because it us who will have to go through the system when we graduate as doctors. The basic system, objectives, benefits, advantages, disadvantages, and application of this system are some of the things that we need to know and participate actively in the formulation of post 2015 and UHC. This is the critical discourse we as medical students of Asia Pacific will discuss in APRM 2013. Yogyakarta, the Javanese cultural city with unique traditions and success in the health system is the city we have chosen as the host city for the APRM 2013. We hope to accommodate the aspirations and actions of medical students of Asia Pacific in terms of post-2015 and UHC through the theme “Health A Forgotten Wealth? Universal Health Coverage for Healthy and Sustainable Development “ and is our hope for medical students to be the agent of change to make a healthier world. We will present a new atmosphere for APRM 2013 which certainly supports the cause.
Amanda Boy Timor, MD & Dian Oktavia Giriningrum Co-Chairs APRM 2013 Yogyakarta
PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
9 Hello to IFMSA members of the Asia-Pacific,
This may be in the areas of helping individual NMOs with their challenges and sourcing of materials, as well as coordinating our National Public Health Officers (NPOs) across the Asia-Pacific was national days of action, such as for World Diabetes Day (WDD) and World Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Day. Of note, December 14, 2012, was a great day of action across the globe by inspired SCOPH members across the globe, from Jordan to Taiwan. We are very impressed by some of the calibre of WDD initiatives across the Asia-Pacific. These include the great video created by Taiwan, to events held in Indonesia. We would love to hear more from you about these great events so we can share them with the world. So if you have some records and would like to share (if we didn’t mention you already), please do so and we’ll make sure to feature you. My role will also be to help facilitate whatever you need to achieve in the realm of public health, either through putting you in touch with others or provide advice through my expertise and those of the SCOPH dream team. I myself have been heavily involved in public health initiatives since I started medical school, including helping coordinate the multi-national developmental and sustainability initiative, the Fiji Village Project (between Australia, New Zealand and Fiji). I’ve also helped organise large events for awareness/advocacy and interned at the World Health Organization for disaster preparedness. But I work with a great team of dedicated SCOPH representatives, led by Kitti Horvath, our SCOPH Director. It would very much be of value to us to get to know you all better, to find out how we can best serve you. Because in the end, IFMSA is about the grassroots ability of medical students and junior doctors to form and build initiatives that the wider community can take up. So, if you can please communicate with your NPOs, and for those NPOs to get in touch with me so I can coordinate with our great Dream Team and thus help you more, we would very much appreciate it. We want to represent Asia-Pacific across the world! Best wishes, Andrew PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
SCOPH
My name is Dr. Andrew Nguyen and I will be your new incoming Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH) Regional Assistant for the Asia-Pacific. I have just graduated from medical school and recently started my medical training. However, that leaves me more passionate about fulfilling public health objectives across the Asia-Pacific.
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Advocacy in TaiwanDoctor’s Working Hours by Amy Huai-Shiuan Huang, second year medical student from National Taiwan University
Are doctors overtired in your own country? Is overwork to be blame for some of thepreventable medical errors? Is it true that only after reported tragic deaths would the general public take a problem truly seriousl Let me give you a general picture of the actual working hour of residents in Taiwan. I also include the regulation of work hour in countries outside the Asia-Pacific region for comparison. As you can see from the bar chart, according to ACGME (the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) regulation in the United States, the work hour shall not exceed 80 hours a week. And as illustrated below, in European Union, residents shall not work over 48 hours a week. See the long red bar that seems to be penetrating the frame? (Hrs)
Average Weekly Work Hour
120
80
140 120 100
48
80 60 40 20 0 ACGME
European Union
Taiwan
In Taiwan, the figure is a staggering 120 hours a week! Furthermore, the maximum shift length lasts for an average of 33.5 consecutive hours. We can have up to 10 on-call duties per month while 4~6 duties are already considered a stressful burden in many European countries. PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
11 In Taiwan, almost all professions are under the protection of Labor Standards Act, which contains regulations on work hours, and compensation of occupational accidents. Doctors and residents, unfortunately, are not included. During the past three years in Taiwan, nine cases of doctors dead from overwork had already been reported. However, the general public are basically still not aware of doctor’s abysmal working conditions in the country until a tragic death of an intern in 2011. “A medical intern, Yeng-Ting Lin, was discovered dead in the bathroom after 36 successive hours of work on April 27th. Investigations are done to confirm whether his death was due to overwork.” The tragedy gained much media attention. A wave of shock and realization swept over Taiwan. This lead to the birth of Doctor Working Condition Reformation Group (referred to as Reformation Group in the following context). The group comprises about 30 active members. It teamed up with FMSTAIWAN to stand up for the rights of interns and residents to put an end to the lack of protection. The group is a great example for medical students to follow when it comes to advocacy. The approaches they take can be divided into three main categories: 1. Lobbying 2. Raising Awareness 3. Influencing Our Peers through Education
Lobbying
Through various endeavors, the Reformation Group met up with legislators and government officials on several occasions to gain support. They also attended a public hearing held by the legislative department. In addition, some press conferences are held.
Raising Awareness
The Reformation Group members tried to raise awareness through campaign, the media and social network. They marched up the street on Labor’s Day as well as Doctor’s Day. Several articles were also submitted to noted magazines and newspapers. Social networking like Facebook was by no means absent. What’s more, the group intended to evaluate the problems from different perspectives under the same big healthcare system. It built up network with organization from different disciplines, such as the NGO patient group as well as the newly established Nurse Union.
PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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Most importantly, medical students ourselves need to be aware of the problem. In order to educate them about the seriousness of excessive work hour and to acquaint them with the subject, the Reformation Group held numerous lectures in medical schools around Taiwan as well as during FMS-TAIWAN events. Publications about the working conditions of doctors were issued. Furthermore, the Reformation Group members met regularly to examine their latest achievement and to plan for the future.
In response to our effort, the Department of Health, despite continuous reluctance and procrastination, plans to include duty hour regulation into teaching hospital accreditation by employing standard contracts. The Reformation Group was invited to draft this contract for further negotiation. We recommended the principles that the duty hour be reduced to no more than 80 hours a week, the maximum shift duration not exceed 30 hours and that the maximum in-hospital on call frequency not be more than
The Challenges We Face and What We Can Do in the Future
In Asian culture, advocacy has never been the greatest emphasis among young people. Many Taiwanese medical students were absorbed in achieving better academic performance, but instead were not much concern about the medical environment. One big challenge we faced was to involve more participation of residents. Residents tend to be submissive and passive. Many of them believed they will just hang on for a few years and the sufferings will ultimately be over for fear of possibly offending their superiors. If we can know more of their thoughts about the current working conditions, we can better evaluate the situation and head for improvement in the right direction. Lastly, some people are concerned that reduction in work hours may result in shortage of manpower and impaired learning quality. We think this can be done through assigning a rotating group of doctors specifically in charge of overnight shift, omitting the unnecessary paperwork, introducing supplementary personnel and efficiently focusing on skill training. We medical students should recognize advocacy as one of our responsibilities. Medicine is a profession that has the well-being of billions of people in its hands. After identifying the elements that need to be changed, we need to have the courage and passion to embrace the challenges, to advance change, to become influential. Our ultimate goal is to create a better system overall and to improve the quality of healthcare. With a heart, a will to contribute, a positive belief and continuous effort窶馬ow off we go! Let us bring change to our medical environment! PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
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POST NUCLEAR CRISIS a Bitter Message from Japan
Erica Kojima National Officer on Research Exchange IFMSA-Japan As you well know, there was a huge earthquake on March 11th 2011 in Japan. The earthquake hit the Tohoku area, which is the eastern part of Japan, especially Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima area. This earthquake caused a huge tsunami, and this affected 1000 victims. First of all, I’d like to thank you all of our Asia-Pacific friends for your warm sympathy and kind help for Tohoku. It has been two years since the earthquake occurred, and now Tohoku is gradually recovering from the damages, except for Fukushima. As you also well know, the nuclear power plants in Fukushima were damaged and this caused nuclear leakage. Because of this, from a point of view as one of NOREs-Japan, there are NO students who visited Fukushima Medical University, which is the host university in the Fukushima area since the earthquake. Of course, we absolutely understand your and your parents’ concerns about the nuclear leak, and the future damage of radiation on our body. But here, I strongly claim that, we Japanese NEVER want you to forget or to blow off people in Fukushima. Of course the people in Fukushima were concerned about the physical damage that could be caused by the radiation at first. They were worried and unwilling to go outside, or always wore facial masks to try to prevent the radiation. But they noticed that it was no use worrying about the radiation and the current situation extraordinarily, and instead, they initiated to learn more about radiation. They started to take questionnaires or physical examination focussed on the f unction of the thyroid gland and the mental health voluntarily. This is for the children who will be leading the future of Fukushima. They noticed that it is only themselves who can do something valuable for the future of Fukushima. They all love Fukushima, and because of this, they are eager to do something useful for their future. This warm and strong feelings made Fukushima be reborn. Regardless of this warm attitude, the outsiders cast hurtful words to them. I often heard some opinion of foreign students who strongly refused to come to Fukushima; otherwise they would cancel their opportunity to study in Japan. Furthermore, there was another foreign student who told a student from Fukushima that he didn’t want to share a dormitory with him, just because of the fact that he is from Fukushima. I would like you to reconsider what you are going to speak before you actually do. Are you really sure about the precise dose of the radiation in Fukushima, or do you really have the exact knowledge about radiation? I want you to think and look at the Fukushima’s situation from calm judgments, especially as medical students. Once again, I strongly hope that you would not forget about the people in Fukushima, and if you have opportunities to come to Fukushima, we, the people of Fukushima are very happy to welcome you.
PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
14 Not so long ago, I was a fresh new medical student with a strong interest in global issues and a background on social activism and human rights. I was – and still am – highly interested in politics, social equity and youth implication. Over the course of my first weeks at university, I met a few students who were involved in something called the IFMSA. My dream of becoming a doctor transformed into a dream of being not only a doctor but also a global health advocate. I soon became a local officer for IFMSA-Quebec standing committee on global health and next thing I know, I was on a plane heading to Peru for my first regional meeting. And in April 2012, I was elected President of my NMO. So far, it has been one amazing journey and I don’t regret one single thing. In only a year and a half, IFMSA taught me so much. Through various trainings, workshops, sessions, plenaries and meetings, I’ve been exposed to multiple social and global health issues that we face today. I was amazed and I met outstanding people that inspired me to become, what I believe to be, a positive leader. I’ve grown not only as a future doctor, but also as a person that truly cares for global health.
Let the World Be Our Clinic
I was blown away by some of the projects done on the local level around the globe. Nothing is more powerful than medical students tackling global health inequities. Nothing is more forceful than medical students advocating for their patients’ rights and safety. Nothing is more inspiring than seeing over 800 medical students sitting in one room and talking about public health, climate change and social determinants of health. Whether it’s about local, national or international issues, we have to make our voices heard. We carry on our shoulders the trust of our fellow citizens. As Virchow said, we, the health physicians, are the natural attorneys of the poor, and politics are nothing but medicine on a large scale. I agree health is not everything. But without health, everything means nothing. Medicine is to speak up for what we believe is right. Medicine is to get a smile from every little kid we meet. Medicine is to give hope to those who don’t see the light every day. Medicine is advocacy. I refuse to give up. I refuse to keep silent. I refuse to stay an observer. I refuse to close my eyes to violation of human rights. I am a very optimistic person. I always see the good side in people. I am full of hope. I believe we can close the gap in our generation. I believe our voices deserve to be heard all over the world. I believe we can make this world a better place. This might explain why I am so into IFMSA. The current worldwide movement around global health relies on medical students committed to health equity, like you, like us, like every single member of IFMSA. Our energy, passion, motivation and engagement are needed. We, the health professionals of tomorrow, need to stand up and speak for those who can’t. We must pursue the dream of global health equity and we must keep alive the hope for social change. We have in our hands the largest student network of the world. We have the skills and the tools to train our colleagues and to educate ourselves. We have the opportunity to make univers al healthcare a reality for all. We can create tomorrow’s global health leaders that will influence transnational inequalities that shape health of our planet. We have the power to write the future we want. All together, we will get there. By: Claudel P-Desrosiers, President of IFMSA-Québec Claudel.pdesrosiers@gmail.com
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Be a Part of Us! Pulse is IFMSA magazine for Asia-Pacific. Pulse is a way for medical students from very different countries to connect with each other and share their stories and opinions.
From Asia- ato Asi by AsiaJoin us and become Contributors — by writing any articles relating to theme, a health issue, an NMO updates, project updates, conference report, or anything else that matches our requirements.
Editors — by helping our editorial team to edit articles that have been submitted to us.
Proofreaders — by helping our proofreading team to proofread articles that has been submitted to us.
Respondents — by simply share your ideas, thoughts, opinions, projects, photos, or anything else in an informal way (less serious and lesser words than article) on our new segment called ‘What’s Up Asia-Pacific?!’.
Designer — by helping us to design the layouts for Pulse magazine. PULSE - Advocacy. Leadership. Passion.
Author Guidelines 1. Manuscripts are to be submitted via email to da.pub.ifmsa. asiapacific@gmail.com as an attached electronic document. 2. The email should include the full name of the author (as they would like it to appear in print), their university and their NMO/ Country. 3. The subject of the email should include the words “Pulse Article”, and the author’s name. A small photo of the author may also be submitted to accompany the article in print. 4. All articles must be written in English. 5. Articles should be no longer than 700 words and use standard type fonts (eg. Times New Roman, Calibiri). 6. Articles should have spelling and grammatical checking prior to submission, however as English is a second language for many in the region we have a team of proof-readers who can check your article and provide English and editing assistance prior to writing. 7. Photos and tables are encourages. These should be submitted separate to the article with a brief description. Photos taken from external sources must be referenced appropriately, and the author should have approval to use them. Photos should be sent as a separate attached file in .JPG form and in good resolution! 8. References to external publications are not necessary however if they are used then they must be references according to the Vancouver Referencing System. References must be cited
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Algeria (Le Souk) Argentina (IFMSA-Argentina) Armenia (AMSP) Australia (AMSA) Austria (AMSA) Azerbaijan (AzerMDS) Bahrain (IFMSA-BH) Bangladesh (BMSS) 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 (ACOME) Colombia (ASCEMCOL) Costa Rica (ACEM) Croatia (CroMSIC) Czech Republic (IFMSA CZ) Denmark (IMCC) Ecuador (IFMSA-Ecuador) 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-Iraq/Kurdistan) Kuwait (KuMSA) Kyrgyzstan (MSPA Kyrgyzstan) Latvia (LaMSA Latvia) Lebanon (LeMSIC) Libya (LMSA) Lithuania (LiMSA) Luxembourg (ALEM) 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) 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) Sierra Leone (MSA) Slovakia (SloMSA) Slovenia (SloMSIC) South Africa (SAMSA) Spain (IFMSA-Spain) Sudan (MedSIN-Sudan) Sweden (IFMSA-Sweden) Switzerland (SwiMSA) Taiwan (IFMSA-Taiwan) 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 (MedsinUK) United States of America (AMSA-USA)
www.ifmsa.org medical students worldwide
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