Eva Gus Nov 2010

eVAGUSThe official IFMSA newsletter

November 2010Contents

Editorial p2Message from the President p3Bioethics Column p4Introduction Team of Officials p5TOM 0 and TOM 1 p9World Youth Conference p10WPRO Meeting p11FINO Conference p12AMEE Conference p13Interview with LPH p14National GAs p18UN DPI Conference p17Interview with Dr T. Narayan p19SCOME p22SCOPE p23SCOPH p24SCORA p25SCORE p26The Last Word Column p27

The

International Year of YouthIssue

www.ifmsa.org medical students worldwide Page 2eVAGUS | November 2010

Editorial

It is a very fortunate coincidence that our term as IFMSA Officials 2010-2011 coincides with the International Year of Youth. Therefore, it was fitting that to kick off the IFMSA calendar year in which our Federation will turn 60, two of our newly-elected Officials attended the World Youth Conference in Mexico this August. It is for this symbolic reason that the World Youth Conference report was chosen to be the feature article of this eVAGUS, the first of many that you will receive in the coming year.

Needless to say that it is also a new year in the IFMSA Publications Division. I would like to be-gin my term by thanking Mr Alexander Werni, my predecessor, for his tireless and visionary work over the 2009-2010 term.

I am very grateful that several of the 2009-2010 MSI Editorial Board members have chosen to re-turn to us, forming the 2010-2011 Publications Team. They are joined by a number of new and very talented team members. I have no doubt that together, our team will work hard to deliver informative and entertaining publications.

Finally, I would like to encourage you to give feed-back to us regarding this publication. Selected letters to the editor will be published in the next issue of eVAGUS.

Happy reading!

Anny HuangPublications Support Division Director2010-2011

eVAGUS is an IFMSA publication© Portions of eVAGUS may be reproduced for non-political, and non-profit purposes, provided that the source is adequately and appropriately cited.Notice: Every care has been taken in the prep-aration of these articles. Nonetheless, errors cannot always be avoided. The IFMSA cannot accept any responsibility for any liability. The opinions expressed in eVAGUS are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IFMSA.

The missionof IFMSA is to offer future physicians a com-prehensive introduction to global health issues. Through our programs and opportunities, we develop culturally sensitive students of medicine, intent on influencing the transnational inequali-ties that shape the health of our planet.

Upcoming Meetings

General Assemblies

60th March Meeting of the IFMSAJakarta, Indonesia, March 5th-11th 2011

Pre-GAMarch 1st-4th 2011

60th August Meeting of the IFMSACopenhagen, Denmark, August 1st-6th 2011

Regional Meetings

African Regional MeetingAbuja, Nigeria, December 18th-23rd 2010

Americas Regional MeetingCochabamba, Bolivia, January 5th-9th 2011

Eastern Mediterranean Regional MeetingDubai, UAE, January 19th-24th 2011

European Regional MeetingBarcelona, Spain, April 7th-11th 2011

Asia-Pacific Regional MeetingHong Kong, June 25th - July 2nd 2011

Editor-in-ChiefAnny Huang, Australia

Text EditorsJohn Banin, GhanaHelena Chapman, Dominican RepublicJatinder Narang, USA

Photography EditorOluwaseun John Adeyemi, Nigeria

ProofreadersPhillip Chao, New ZealandBetty Huang, TaiwanNuman Majeed, PakistanJacob Mathew, Kuwait

Team interviewers and columnists acknowl-edged separately within the publication.

Cover Picture:Designed by Anny Huang, Australia. The de-sign is based around the logo for the Interna-tional Year of the Youth (p. 10)

Contact Information:General Secretariat:IFMSA c/o WMAB.P. 6301212 Ferney-VoltaireFrancePhone: +33 450 404 759Fax: +33 450 405 937Email: [email protected]

Homepage: www.ifmsa.orgFeedback to: [email protected]


Dear Friends,

Welcome to the premier issue of eVAGUS for the 2010/2011 year!

Established in 1951 as a means for international medical student cooperation and collaboration after the Second World War, the IFMSA has rap-idly expanded to become one of the major non-political, non-governmental organizations working in the fields of community health and capacity building for medical students. 60 years on, we continue to grow stronger and now represent over 100 member organizations. This year is a hall-mark year in our history, a history that is full of achievements for and by all of us. Our term of 2010-2011 also coincides with the International Year of Youth, from August 2010 to August 2011.

This makes the coming year all the more exciting and significant.

We, as IFMSA believe and work towards creat-ing culturally sensitive medical students who are able to appreciate health problems through-out the world, work relentlessly to alleviate the burdens of those problems and join forces with relevant partners to create healthier communi-ties, and thus a healthier world. This makes us a unique group of medical students, as we start to care and strive for the benefits of our communi-ties, very early on in our careers as health care practitioners.

Our official recognition by the UN as the voice of International medical students, and our official relationships with major UN agencies like WHO,

UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA and others, ensure that IFMSA is considered a major partner when it comes to issues relating to global health. One of our main goals for this year is to set up more sustainable methods of building on this recogni-tion. This way, we can better use our collective voice to advocate for policy change, in addition to our continued advocacy on health issues to our communities.

2011 will mark 60 years of activities spanning most, if not all the dimensions of public health, reproductive health and human rights as well as remarkable success in organizing student ex-changes. We look forward to continuing in this light. Through this year and beyond, we will con-tinue to create culturally sensitive medical stu-dents, who are intent on improving themselves

and on actively improving the health of the com-munities that they will serve as future physicians.

We hope to have another amazing year for IFMSA. Let’s work together for a healthier tomorrow.

Chijioke Kaduru,IFMSA-President 2010/2011Accra, Ghana

Message from the IFMSA President

60 years on, we continue to grow stronger and now represent over 100 member organiza-tions.


To be superhuman simply and

quickly: Medical

improvement of humans

COLUMN BY ANNA ŽLABOVÁ

Bioethics

Ever since 1797, when the vaccinia virus was first used for artificial immunization of health workers, vaccination became widespread. Some plastic surgery operations or pills (neuroleptics and Modafinil by pilots and soldiers to encourage insomnia, testosterone for sexual potentiation by healthy men) are examples of globally accepted tactics that enhances natural human qualities. Nowadays, gene therapy is very new and very popular, even though its use in medical practice is still controversial. This article discusses a sen-sational topic - gene therapy in the improvement of humans – from the side effects of past cura-tive gene therapies to the potential creation of genetic supermen.

Recently, many research projects (including clini-cal trials) focused on the transfection of genes into human cells with the goal to repair damaged genes or to improve possession of cells e.g. with-in anti-infectious or anticancer immunotherapy or therapy of degenerative diseases. These us-ages are generally acceptable. However, modern experimental gene therapy has come up with the technology to transfer genes that offer pro-tection against HIV or malaria or decreased risk of development of conditions such as obesity. It seems to be bringing great success for humans, but some voices say, “Stop! Here are the ethical borders! It is not about the treatment, but about genetic improvement of the health of people!”

For example: In one experimental project, scien-tists from the USA led by Professor Richard Han-son from Cleveland, Ohio genetically engineered mice over-expressing the cytosolic form of the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase PEPCK-C enzyme in their muscles. Phenotypically, these mice were more efficient at using energy com-pared with the control group of normal mice. They weren’t just faster, but almost tireless. Biochemi-cal blood analysis certified a strongly decreased level of lactatic acid and a higher fatty acid utili-zation by these mice. It is interesting that similar biochemical tendencies were evidenced within the blood analysis of Lance Armstrong, world-

renowned cyclist and repeated winner of the Tour de France. It has been discussed that Armstrong has genes giving him an advantage. Some ge-netic studies in world-class sportsmen provided more evidence of a higher incidence of concrete gene variants (IGF-1, ACTN3 R577X or ACE). It has been confirmed, that expression intensity plays an important role: the over expression of some genes (for example erythropoietin, VEGFR or PPAR-δ) or the lower expression of others (my-ostatin) has been associated with better results in sports. The expression of the gene products mentioned above may be influenced by drug use, also known as illegal doping.

One of the most well known propagators of gene therapy is Professor Lee M. Silver from Princeton University in New Jersey, USA. His book, “Remak-ing Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform the American Family (1998)” dis-cusses very courageously the theme of genetic germ-cell modification. He introduced in his book the term “reprogenetics” to be associated with the chimera of reproductive technologies and genetics. But will this create a segregation of mankind? Between genetically improved people and regular people who grew up without genetic modification? Is this our ultimate goal or the side effect of our medical efforts? Will we create a generation of supermen? What about racism and discrimination – which genes are really better?

This last question will be a topic of an article in the next eVagus!

Anna Zlabova is a medical student at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.

Literature:

Elite athletes: are the genes the champions? Lucía A, Morán M, Zihong H, Ruiz JR. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2010 Mar;5(1):98-102.

Gene doping: possibilities and practicalities.

Wells DJ. Med Sport Sci. 2009;54:166-75. Epub 2009 Aug 17. Review.

Gene doping: the hype and the reality. Wells DJ. Br J Pharmacol. 2008 Jun;154(3):623-31. Epub 2008 Apr 21. Review.

Experts predict gene doping is next temptation for athletes. Greg Bishop, Seattle Times, October 9, 2005.

... Will this create a segregation of mankind? ... Is this our ultimate goal or the side effect of our medical efforts?


Get to know yourTeam of Officials 2010/2011

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Name: Chijioke KaduruAlso known as: CJUniversity: University of Ghana Medical School, Korle-bu, Accra, GhanaHometown: Imo State, NigeriaFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: People look up to me and I have to always make it worth their while, so they can keep coming back :)Favourite travel destination: Beirut, LebanonSuperpower that I would most like to have:InvisibilityCoffee or tea? Coffee

It’s a new year in the life of IFMSA, and along with this comes a new Team of Officials! So who are these people who will be spam-ming your inboxes over the coming months? eVAGUS presents to you some of the things that you’ve wanted to know about your of-ficials but were too afraid to ask.

Name: Geneviève BoisAlso known as: Gen, GenipoohUniversity: Université de MontréalHometown: Montréal, Québec, CanadaFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: Everything! Especially, being in constant communica-tion with such great NMOs - they know how to work hard and play harder!How do I describe myself in one word? PassionateFavourite ice-cream flavour: Lemon sherbetIf I had an extra arm, I would use it for ... Eating snacks all the time while I’m on the computer

Name: Michael EichingerAlso known as: Michi, Muhuuuu (sounds like an Austrian cow from the top of the Alps, can that really be a coincidence?)University: Medical University of Graz, Karl Franzens University of GrazHometown: Graz, AustriaMy favourite word in a non-English language: Muhuuuuuu - the sound that is produced by an Austrian cow (by any other international cow as well, I suppose :)); since Team of Officials Meeting 1 most of the TO call me that; so please feel free to do so as well :)

Name: Heng-Hao ChangAlso known as: LeoUniversity: National Taiwan UniversityHometown: Nantou, TaiwanFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: I can get into the core work of IFMSA!Favourite ice-cream flavour: Swiss chocolateFavourite thing to do on a rainy day:Surf the internetSuperpower that I would most like to have:Time travel

Name: Caline MattarUniversity: American University of BeirutHometown: Beirut, LebanonFavourite thing about my hometown:Beach, parties and shoppingFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: NMO Presidents :DFavourite ice-cream flavour: CoconutIf I weren’t a doctor, I would be ... A ballet dancerSuperpower that I would most like to have:Mind reading

Name: Jovana PanicAlso known as: Jo, Giovanni, JovanitaUniversity: Sarajevo UniversityHometown: Tuzla, Bosnia and HerzegovinaFavourite thing about my hometown:The salty lake in its heart known as the Pannonian LakeFavourite spice: CinnamonSuper-power that I would most like to have:To clone myself when neededIn my opinion, the greatest achievement of man-kind is ... The invention of the dishwasher

Name: Charles Chineme NwobuAlso known as: Charlie, ChuckUniversity: University of Ghana Medical School, Korle-bu, Accra, GhanaHometown: Awka, Anambra State, NigeriaFavourite ice-cream flavour: VanillaIf I weren’t a medical student, I would be ...A performer - actor, singer, dancerCoffee or tea? Tea


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Name: Christopher PleyerAlso known as: Chris, ChrizzleUniversity: Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, AustriaHometown: Zell am See, AustriaFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: The people I work for and withIf I weren’t a medical student, I would be ...A teacherSuperpower that I would most like to have:To not have to sleep

Name: Halit AytarUniversity: Ankara UniversityHometown: Ankara, TurkeyFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: I’m recognised as the Sex-D!Favourite thing to do on a rainy day: SleepingCelebrity that I’m too embarrassed to admit I love:Backstreet Boys ... I was young, OK? Don’t judge me!In my opinion, the greatest achievement of hu-mankind is: Declaration of Human Rights

Name: Jovana NedeljkovicAlso known as: JoeUniversity: School of Medicine, University of BelgradeHometown: Belgrade, SerbiaFavourite thing about my hometown: The nightlifeFavourite ice-cream flavour: ChocolateFavourite travel destination: BrazilCoffee or tea? CocktailsMy favourite word in a non-English language:Volsebno - “magnificent” in Serbian

Name: Despina PolidouUniversity: Not at university anymore!Hometown: Kavala, GreeceFavourite thing about my hometown: There is a view of the sea from every single part of town!Favourite thing about my IFMSA TO position:EuRegMe :)If I weren’t a doctor, I would be ... A lawyerCoffee or tea? Orange juiceMy favourite word in a non-English language:φιλάκια - “little kisses” in Greek

Name: Pablo VegaUniversity: Universidad de ChileHometown: Santiago, ChileHow do I describe myself in one word?Easy-going-with-sense-of-humourFavourite ice-cream flavour: PistachioIf I weren’t a medical student, I would be ... A travel journalistMy favourite word in a non-English language:Cachay - it means something like “got it”, in native Chilean

Name: Ioana GoganauAlso known as: Goganitza, Iona, GogaknowUniversity: Carol Davila, BucharestHometown: Craiova, RomaniaHow do I describe myself in one word?Seriously-sleep-derived-multitasking-workaholic-with-head-in-the-clouds-and-feet-on-the-ground-who-does-not-ever-give-up-in-other-words-a-regular-medical-stu-dentIf I weren’t a medical student, I would be ...Applying to medical schoolFavourite travel destination: South America

Name: Anneliese WillemsAlso known as: Annie, Liesie, Liesie-Lou, Woo- Woo, Anne or AnnaUniversity: Monash UniversityHometown: Drouin, Victoria, AustraliaFavourite thing about my hometown: Lots of famous cheese factories around (YUM!!) If I weren’t a medical student, I would be ...A chocolate chefIn my opinion, the greatest achievement of man-kind is: The invention of music - can you imagine life without it?

Name: Ahmad YounesHometown: Beirut, Lebanon


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Name: Mirjana SpasojevicAlso known as: MirjUniversity: Medical Faculty, the University of BelgradeHometown: Belgrade, SerbiaFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: Travelling, and meeting new people inside and outside of IFMSAHow do I describe myself in one word? Hear-me-laughing-non-stop-from-a-block-awayIn my opinion, the greatest achievement of man-kind is ... The internet

Name: Ionut Marcel CobecUniversity: Victor Babes University of Medi- cine and Pharmacy, TimisoaraHometown: Lugoj, RomaniaAccording to iTunes, the song that I play the most is ... One Love, by Bob MarleyFavourite travel destination: The Caribbean IslandsSuperpower that I would most like to have:Cure people just by touching themMy favourite word in a non-English language:O Doamne! - “Oh my God!” in Romanian

Name: Diego IemmiAlso known as: Dieguito, Armando, Mr. LemmiUniversity: University of Milano-Bicocca, ItalyHometown: Bergamo, ItalyHow do I describe myself in one word? EclecticFavourite ice-cream flavour: StracciatellaFavourite thing to do on a rainy day: Being under the blanket, possibly not alone :PCelebrity that I’m too embarrassed to admit I love: Ricky MartinFavourite spice: Chilli pepper

Name: Alexander PapadopoulosAlso known as: Alexito PapacitoUniversity: National and Kapodistrian Uni- versity of AthensHometown: Munich, GermanyIf I weren’t a medical student, I would be ...An actorSuper-power that I would most like to have:Be able to warp wherever I want, whenever I wantIf I had an extra arm, I would use it for ...Massaging my back while doing the rest of my tasks

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Name: Raphael ButtigiegUniversity: University of MaltaHometown: Tarxien, MaltaSuperpower that I would most like to have:Time travelIn my opinion, the greatest achievement of mankind is:it’s a tie between 3 things ... Coffee, beer and choco-late. No society can function without them.If I had an extra arm, I would use it for ...Drinking beer while answering emails with both hands.

Name: Margot WeggemansUniversity: University of UtrechtHometown: Utrecht, The NetherlandsFavourite thing about my hometown: The canalsFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position:The diversity of the work and the people I work withFavourite thing to do on a rainy day:Watch Disney films in bed ;)Favourite travel destination: Places that I’ve never been beforeCoffee or tea: Coffee AND tea

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Name: Federica BalzariniAlso known as: BerezUniversity: Università degli Studi di Brescia, Medicina e ChirurgiaHometown: Brescia, ItalyFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position:The chance to meet medical students from all over the world, get to know people from Medical Associations who in their younger years were maybe involved in IFM-SA somehow, and connect them.How do I describe myself in one word? Funny-complicated!

Name: Beata SyzdulHometown: Kielce, Poland


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Name: Anny HuangNickname: AnnymalUniversity: University of MelbourneHometown: Melbourne, AustraliaFavourite thing to do on a rainy day:Grab a hot chocolate and sit down with a pile of the latest design magazines for some creative inspiration!If I weren’t a medical student, I would be:Earning a salary already ... as a wildlife biologist, a lin-guist, a designer or an Explorer-in-Residence for the Na-tional Geographic magazine ... the number of interests that I would like to pursue is endless.

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Name: Nick WattsAlso known as: Skippy the KangarooUniversity: University of Western AustraliaHometown: Perth, AustraliaFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: The opportunity to see all the amazing work that the IFMSA and the NMOs do. Each project is so dynamic and exciting, all achieving incredible things worldwide.Favourite thing to do on a rainy day:Go outside and splash about!If I were a vegetable, I would be ... DeliciousFavourite spice: Old spice (see the Youtube clip!)

Name: Unni GopinathanUniversity: University of OsloHometown: Oslo, NorwayFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: Opportunity to learn and get extensive insight to the function of the World Health OrganizationFavourite thing to do on a rainy day:Sit inside and watch a great game of footballCoffee or tea? Tea - due to the Indian heritageIf I had an extra arm, I would use it for ...I would reserve it for my iPhone

Name: Katia KhouryAlso known as: WallarooUniversity: American University of BeirutHometown: Marjeyoun, LebanonSuper-power that I would most like to have:Reading people’s minds!Favourite spice: SummaqIn my opinion, the greatest achievement of man-kind is: LanguageIf I had an extra arm, I would use it for:Driving with multi-tasking

Name: Pero MarkunovicHometown: Zagreb, Croatia

Name: Marija LjubicicAlso known as: KissicicUniversity: Not at university anymore!Hometown: Belgrade, SerbiaCelebrity that I’m too embarrassed to admit I love: Melhim Bou AlwanSuper-power that I would most like to have:Being able to read 1000 pages per minuteMy favourite word in a non-English language:Svasta-nesto - “everything-something” in SerbianIf I had an extra arm, I would use it for: My purse

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Andrea Labruto (Italy)Former OfficialYorgos Polychronidis (Greece)Former OfficialMelhim Bou Alwan (Lebanon)Member with Extensive ExperienceBirol Tibet (Turkey)Member with Extensive ExperienceChantal Fenech (Malta)Outgoing EB Member

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Name: Andrea LabrutoAlso known as: Half Labruto, The Gorgeous Sici - lianUniversity: Messina UniversityHometown: Messina, ItalyFavourite thing about my IFMSA TO position: Being a sleeping tigerSuperpower that I would most like to have:To absorb the powers of all othersMy favourite word in a non-English language:Amore - “love” in Italian


While some of you were sight-seeing around Canada after August Meeting 2010, more than 30 IFMSA Officials from the terms 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 gathered in a secret and almost internet-less room in downtown Montréal.

For the newly-elected Team of Officials, this was a chance for everyone to get to know each other before the term begins. For the incumbent Offi-cials, it was an opportunity for a last hurrah be-fore they go their separate ways. The new and the old also mingled for some top-priority handover, as well as for games, meals, partying and explor-ing the underground pedestrian walkway system of Montréal!

Apart from handover, discussion topics also cov-ered the evaluation of the previous term, IFMSA finances and IT training. This meant that the 2010-2011 Officials certainly walked away from TOM 0 with a much clearer understanding of their jobs in the year ahead of them, and with the reas-surring feeling that whenever things become too stressful, there will always be a supportive team to help out!

Many thanks must go to Geneviève Bois, our amazing RC-Americas and her team at IFMSA-Québec for taking care of us all at TOM 0!

- Anny HuangIFMSA Publications Support Division Director

TOM 1 took place in sunny Porto, Portugal in October, hosted by a terrific team from Anem-PorMSIC. The timing of this meeting was ideal for the new Team of Officials to team-build at the beginning of their term, and to tackle important issues early.

Issues discussed included strategic planning and individual priorities as Officials, Regional Meet-ings, March Meeting 2011 preparations, financial sustainability, 60th Anniversary celebrations, and the reporting system for Officials. The minutes of this meeting have been sent to all of the NMO Presidents.

The meeting was both fruitful and fun, with many important outcomes. Some of these have already been implemented since the meeting, while oth-ers will be put into action in the near future.

The exciting social program included boat cruis-es, special dinners, parties, and of course, tasting the port wine for which the city is famous!

Many thanks to Anem-PorMSIC for their organi-sation of a this highly productive and enjoyable meeting!

- Anny HuangIFMSA Publications Support Division Director

Team of Officials Meeting 0

Montréal, Québec, August 6th-8th

Team of Officials Meeting 1

Porto, Portugal, October 21-23, 2010

Above: Officials participating in a teambuilding game in TOM 0; Below: Officials, observers at TOM 1


Between August 23rd-27th, 2010, the Mexican government hosted the World Youth Conference in León, Guanajato, Mexico. This event brought together hundreds of delegates from all over the world as well as members of National Govern-ment Organizations (NGOs). The main goal of this meeting was to discuss the youth related issues regarding the Millennium Development Goals for 2015 and to reinforce the United Nations Year of Youth.

The conference contained three parts: the social forum, the legislators’ forum and the govern-ments’ forum. In the social forum, 213 youth delegates/NGO representatives from 153 coun-tries delivered the “Position of the NGO’s Global Meeting“, a document that was to be used in to the governments’ forum. At the governments’ forum, they produced the “Guanajuato Declara-tion” that addressed 13 issues (Public policies and investment; Poverty and hunger; Education; Health; Employment; Gender equality; Technol-ogy and innovation; Culture; Access to justice and safety; Participation; Sustainable develop-

ment; International migration; International co-operation). The conference itself included many panels, round tables, concerts, expositions, and rallies for more than two thousand people, while the Global Interactive Forum was visited by more than six thousand.

Eight students from seven IFMSA NMOs were honored to participate in this important event (Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Tunisia). During our stay we had the chance to meet local medical students from IFMSA-Mexico who welcomed us with open arms.

We worked hard to represent the point of view of the Federation and to incorporate it into the fi-nal copy of the document, “Position of the NGO’s Global Forum”. The main topic in which we spoke more about were the health related issues and we conveyed to the governments that health re-lated MDGs were our top priority.

Finally, our delegates participated as youth del-egates, advisors, and, among others, in the devel-opment of the petition in sections covering areas such as health, education, gender and participa-tion. Our ideas were warmly received and many were put into the final document delivered by the NGOs. Some main focal points we wanted to ad-dress were the universal access and health as a human right (stressing on reproductive health), recognition of non-formal education, and gender and violence issues, which were most of the top-ics the IFMSA worked really hard on to address at the local level. At the same time our delegates

delivered two successful training sessions on glo-bal health and health policies.

The event itself ended up with some undesirable things happening, especially when the govern-ments’ forum started. Unfortunately, the gov-ernments did not want to take the document we worked on over the past few days seriously. When this happened, many delegates were quite frustrated since we had hoped to have an impact

World Youth ConferenceLeón, Mexico, August 24th - 27th

on the final declaration of the conference but it did not end up happening. However, we are really proud with the fact that it was accomplished and as well as with the contributions we gave to the document. IFMSA members should still consider using this material as was voted by all the youth delegates as an advocacy tool.

- Pablo VegaSCOPE Director 2010-2011

Our ideas were warmly received and many were put into the final document delivered by the NGOs.


Left: Delivering the IFMSA Intervention on Health Systems Strengthening and Primary Health Care; Below: Lunch with Prof Baird and Prof Ferdinand

61st Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific

Putrajaya, Malaysia, 11th-15th October

In October, a group of 4 IFMSA representatives - Phillip Chao (NZMSA-New Zealand), Samuel Olam (CIMSA-Indonesia), Heng-Wei Chang (IFMSA-Tai-wan), Nitchakorn Tangsathapornpanich (IFMSA-Thailand) travelled to Putrajaya, Malaysia to par-ticipate at the 61st Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific.

For all of us, it was our first time at a WHO meet-ing and despite prior exams we were rearing to go! At the opening ceremony Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, Deputy Director-General of the WHO em-phasised, “the health of a nation depends not only on what happens within its borders, but what also happens in the neighbourhood”. Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, continued on the theme of collaboration when she addressed the plenary via video link, stating the need to ad-dress “the boarder determinants of health”.

After a festive welcoming dinner with local per-formances, 3 delegates where generously invited by The Minister of Health, Singapore, The Honour-able Mr Khaw Boon Wan, to dine with him the next evening. Samuel, Heng-Wei and Nitchee made such an impression on Mr Wan that he blogged (mohsingapore.blogspot.com) about “Youthful Idealism” and the IFMSA. Mr Wan wrote, “I en-couraged them to pursue their cause and their dream, to change the world, the medical curricu-lum and the health policies in their countries”.

The Plenary Sessions provided us with an invalu-able insight into how discussions, interventions and resolutions were made within the WHO framework. We made 3 interventions at the meet-ing - 2 oral and 1 written - the most out of all

NGOs in attendance!

Our first intervention was on the Regional Strat-egy on Health Systems Strengthening and Pri-mary Health Care. We endorsed the Strategy and raised 3 additional points: 1) Affirmative action for under-served populations to be put in place to ensure equity of access; 2) Inter-sectorial col-laboration on medical education; 3) Developing Primary Health Care in medical education in con-sultation with medical students. Our intervention on Women’s Health outlined some of the IFMSA’s projects and emphasised peer-led training. Our final statement encouraged member states to adopt the voluntary WHO Global Code of Prac-tice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. We used the IFMSA policy statement on the Globalisation of the Medical Workforce to present 2 additional points in our intervention.

Aside from the formal sessions, we were privi-leged to meet many officials, ministers and professors at the meeting. They shared with us their extensive experiences on a diverse range of topics from climate change and health, bare-foot doctors to pandemic planning and health promo-tion. It was very rewarding to hear they valued our contribution and our ethos of thinking globally and acting locally.

Kind thanks to The Government of Malaysia for hosting the meeting and the WHO for inviting our participation. Thanks also to the sponsors of in-dividual delegates who made our trips possible.

- Phillip Pinhao ChaoHead of Delegation

We made three interventions at the meeting ... the most out of all the NGOs in attend-ance!


From the 4th to the 7th of November, the Norwe-gian Medical Students’ Association hosted 120 medical students for the annual FINO-meeting. Most of them were from the Nordic countries; Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. This composition is known as FINO (Federation of Nordic Medical Students Organizations). We also had other students attending from IFMSA-Nether-lands, IFMSA-Kurdistan, Tim Rittman from the UK who held the TNT before FINO, and Jovana Panic, IFMSA’s Vice-President for External Affairs.

The theme of the meeting was “Poverty and dis-parities in health,” with an amazing range of ex-ternals.

It all began Thursday evening with the Chair of the WHO Global Workforce Alliance, Sigrun Møgedal, and the Policy Director for Global Health in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paul Fife. Their message was that there are enormous op-portunities for us (the students) to interact and have a consistent dialogue with policymakers. Dr. Fife’s message to us was “Attend meetings and assemblies, be brave and don’t be afraid of pos-ing questions or comments to the old bunch of people”.

On Friday the entire of assembly of 120 medi-cal students were spellbound non-stop for almost two and a half hours by Dr. Manuel Carballo from the International Centre for Migration and Health in Geneva. He spoke about the extent of migra-tion, the implications it has for the high-income countries and challenged common assumptions that one has about migration. Initially, he spoke of the amount of productivity that illegal migrants contribute to the society they live in which is a substantial amount of the total European gross domestic product. Finally, he discussed the topic of migration and diseases. “We actually don’t know where the migrants pick up diseases – it could be where they came from, it could be at one of the stops on the road, or it could even be while they are in the country where they are termed as illegal. They could even be bringing dis-eases back to their country of origin – we don’t know, and we have to keep this in mind when we deal with this vulnerable group of people,” ex-plained Dr. Carballo.

Another important subject raised by Harald Siem from the Norwegian Directorate for Health was how to coordinate the chaos that exists in the field of aid, developmental assistance to health, and global health initiatives. He spoke about the creation of a “Framework Convention on Global Health”. This treaty describes what the basic sur-vival needs to fulfill an individual’s right to good health include, and thus will increase the respon-sibility member states have for fulfilling this right. Thereby, this will increase donors’ responsibility for providing money for priorities that the differ-ent low- and middle-income countries may have and that global health initiatives will be regulated and coordinated in a much better way.

Atle Fretheim, the Norwegian former leader for Doctors Without Borders, talked about an in-teresting subject: “Health interventions target-ing the Millennium Development Goals: What Works?” He stated that it is known what actu-

Federation of Nordic Medical

Students’ Organizations

MeetingGulsrud Camp, Norway,

November 4th - 7th

... It is known what actually works ... The challenge is that it isn’t known how to best im-plement these interventions in a way that people actually use them.


ally works and what, for example, may save the lives of newborns and children. The challenge is that it isn’t known how to best implement these interventions in a way that people actually use them. Examples include the issues of insecticide-treated bed-nets, child vaccination or going to the doctor for oral rehydration salts as needed.

The last keynote,Inger Scheel, from the inde-pendent research organization SINTEF (Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning), spoke on “New Public Health” where equity is put in the center of health policy. So health services must be distributed in a way that it meets the needs of the vulnerable populations in a country, and thus sets to improve health of these populations and reduce health disparities. Health disparities are not things that only exist in low-income countries; even a high-income country like Norway has sys-tematic differences in health between different socio-economic groups.

The FINO Meeting of 2010 hopefully inspired the students who attended to take on the future responsibility of reducing health disparities. Re-ducing health disparities and social inequalities is about implementing what’s been described in the report “Closing the gap in a generation”, a submitted by the WHO Commission on the So-cial Determinants of Health in 2008. The mes-sage from this report was clear: “Reducing health inequities is, for the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, an ethical imperative. Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale. Achieving health equity within a generation is achievable, it is the right thing to do, and now is the right time to do it.”

- Unni GopinathanLiaison Officer to WHO 2010-2011

The AMEE Conference is the highlight of the med-ical education calendar and has built a tradition of an international reference event. Each year it gathers over 2000 professionals in medical and other health-related education, including teach-ers, educationists, researchers, administrators and students. It usually takes place in late August or the beginning of September, thus marking the beginning of a new academic year and providing all the participants with inspiration to the next AMEE Conference.

Through the exchange of information, the intense discussions, critical analysis of the current situa-tion and the networking, it aims to lead change and improvement in medical education world-wide. It covers a wide range of topics, some with a strong tradition like ESME (Essential Skills in Medical Education) courses and others that in-vestigate the most recent trends. Some very im-portant headlines from this year’s AMEE 2010 Conference were progressive curriculum, per-spectives in education of future doctors, profes-sionalism, e-learning, integrative curriculum and interprofessional learning.

The average participant is everything but aver-age! There are internationally reputed professors, deans, rectors, faculty development staff, people

in quality assurance or accreditation bodies and so on. Then there are also the students… There is a team of students called the “Student Task-force”, easily recognisable by their bright coloured T-shirts and their joyful attitudes, and yes, repre-senting the IFMSA. These students help support the running of the Conference, assist workshop organisers and support facilitators, whilst learn-ing an incredible amount of new and wonderful things. This is something for all of us through-out our medical education to aspire to be active, contribute and learn from. It has proven to be a true inspiration for students and teachers alike. Students can make essential contributions to medical education and all the participants would agree that the AMEE Conference would never be the same without the Student Taskforce.

There are also a growing number of students rep-resenting their universities who attend the AMEE Conference to go back, report and bring innova-tions. Students present papers and posters on medical education. Throughout the Conference

the phrases of medical students becoming the doctors of tomorrow, learning, being taught, eval-uated, selected, oriented, mentored, being active and even teaching, are ubiquitous. It is the most natural thing that the students are also present and well represented at the AMEE Conference.

This year, in Glasgow we have had further exiting contributions. We presented the IFMSA medical education policy statements; students organised workshops, facilitated symposiums and overall had a great and fruitful time.

The AMEE Conference is undoubtedly one of the most “educating” and delightful experiences - so don’t miss it! We look forward to see you in Vi-enna next year!

- Ioana GoganauSCOME Director 2010-2011

... It is known what actually works ... The challenge is that it isn’t known how to best im-plement these interventions in a way that people actually use them.

The Association for Medical Education

in Europe Conference

Glasgow, UK, 4th-8th September


Annual Coordina-tion Meeting of

The Alcohol Policy Youth Network

Lisbon, Portugal, October 15th-17th

There is no need saying that the IFMSA Official Team is composed of numerous fascinating positions. Liaison Officers (LO), who build and strengthen networks with other concerned bod-ies are no exception. One of their important tasks is taking a part in some conferences organized by interested organizations. In October, Alexan-der Papadopoulos (Alex), Liaison Officer for Pub-lic Health Issues 2010/2011 attended two in-teresting meetings: Annual Coordination Meeting of The Alcohol Policy Youth Network (APYN) and European Health Policy Forum (EUHPF). He gladly answered our interview to report how those meet-ings went and how he found them.

eVAGUS: What was the main theme of the APYN meeting?Alex: Well, the main purpose of the meet-ing was that it was the annual coordination meetings, something like our GAs. We gath-ered to talk about the plan of action of APYN for the next year, to talk about what went wrong the previous year and of course to elect the General Coordinator.

eVAGUS: Which discussion did you find most impressive or interesting?Alex: The most fascinating thing was not a specific discussion, but the general feeling

I got about what great potential there is in APYN. We can help the network, we as in the IFMSA, in becoming much stronger as we have the know-how on how to deal with specific things (e.g. communication of the member organizations, reporting etc) and we can be part of a great network that lob-bies for us in terms of alcohol.

eVAGUS: About working on alcohol poli-cy, what are some of the main issues in the current situation? And how do you think we, IFMSA, can collaborate with APYN in or-der to tackle these problems?Alex: You see, there are lots of things that need to be tackled, such as how to reduce marketing influence that young people get, or how to make young people understand that they can’t drink when they drive for ex-ample. It is not a matter of making people stop drinking, but it is a matter of reducing the harmful use of alcohol and reducing the harmful effects it has when people drink “ir-responsibly”. So you see there are lots of issues going on around alcohol and all those issues were raised during the 63rd World Health Assembly in Geneva (May 2010). We were collaborating strongly with GAPA (Glo-bal Alcohol Policy Alliance) back then to cre-ate a document, a policy statement on what needs to be tackled and in which way. So by my books, what needs to be done now is that the IFMSA collaborates with APYN, GAPA and Eurocare (The European Alco-hol Policy Alliance) so that we form policy documents to advocate for what has been adopted by the 63rd WHA but also with a view of creating a project so as to educate young people on how to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

European Health Policy Forum

Brussels, Belgium, October 21st

Another meeting Alex attended was the European Health Policy Forum (EUHPF), which 52 member organizations gathered so as to assess outcomes by the European Commission in terms of the Health Strategy and Program and talk about the work plan next year. This time he was the only youth delegate to the conference.

eVAGUS: Let me ask you about the EUHPF. Are there any opportunities to state the poli-cies of the IFMSA or to give an IFMSA pres-entation there?Alex: Yes, indeed. There were two opportu-nities to state IFMSA’s opinion. Firstly, there is a discussion going on about how the EU can work towards one single united Europe-an Health Workforce, and we in IFMSA have adopted a policy statement on the Globali-zation of the Medical Workforce, so when the opportunity came up, I read our state-ment (special thanks go to Leo, our Secre-tary General who sent me the policy state-ment). The second opportunity that came up was when the Director of the ECDC, the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control talked about Antibiotic Resistance and about the Antibiotic Awareness Day. I had informed the NMOs that I would attend this meeting and Cecilia Kallberg (Sweden) told me to inform here about this topic if anything is being discussed. So I took the advantage and informed Mr. Sprenger, the director of ECDC, that the IFMSA is very in-

terested and that we would love to work with the ECDC in this field. He was fascinated to hear that and he gave me his card and sent me an email right after the meeting. All we have to do is to clarify how we can collabo-rate now!

eVAGUS: Sounds great. We hope the col-laboration will succeed! Well, in discussion what kinds of issues did you mainly deal with? What are they going to focus on next year?Alex: We generally talked about assess-ment of what has already been done with a direction on discussing how to better pro-mote research and innovation as a means to address health and demographic changes (ageing) and the impact of other EU policies on health including the Common. Of course we also talked about the financial crisis and how this has an impact on how well the EU Health Strategy is being implemented and there was a very big interest in the Innova-tion Partnership of the EU called the AHAIP, namely the Active and Health Ageing Innova-tion Partnership, which means that we have to take a look at the people as a whole and make them be healthy throughout their lives from the very first moment of their exist-ence.

eVAGUS: Thanks for that. That’s really in-teresting.Alex: Yes, indeed. And SCOPHians could work on Active and Healthy Ageing a lot.

eVAGUS: Could you give me some exam-ples?Alex: Sure. Well as said before Active and

It is not a matter of making people stop drinking, but it is a matter of reducing the the harmful use of alcohol ...


Healthy Ageing is not only about making eld-erly people have a better life, but it is about making people work on their healthy life-style from day 1, when they are born. With all those projects we have in SCOPH about Child Health, Substance abuse, infectious diseases etc. We surely work really hard to-wards that Active and Healthy Ageing vision.

eVAGUS: I see, so the SCOPHians already started to engage in making healthy society comprehensively.Alex: Exactly. What’s left is also start work-ing on making elderly people’s lives better, but this is a whole new discussion.

eVAGUS: Do you have any other com-ments on those two conferences?

Alex: Well, among youth organizations and even NGOs generally I confirmed that we are very professional and we know how to think systematically so as to deal with society’s health problems. I’m very happy to belong to the International FAMILY of Medical Stu-dents’ Associations.

eVAGUS: Impressive. Lastly could you tell

us your vision as LO SCOPH for a year ahead?Alex: My vision for the IFMSA is that we work towards becoming even stronger locally and nationally. We have great potential, our NMOs have qualified and ambitious leaders and officers and I wish that this potential doesn’t get lost, but actually blooms locally and nationally. It is about time that we take all the knowledge that we have internation-ally to our local committees and help in this way for our local communities to create good surroundings for our community members.

eVAGUS: That’s quite fascinating. I really hope it goes well.

- Interview by Yuri Hamashima (Japan)eVAGUS Team Interviewer

... There is a discussion on how the EU can work towards one single united European Health Workforce ...

It is about time that we take all the knowledge that we have in-ternationally to our local com-mittees and help in this way for our local communicites to create good surroundings for our com-munity members.


Dear IFMSA friends all over the world,

I’m Taiki Nabekura, President of IFMSA-Japan, and in this article I would like to introduce our 8th National General Assembly (NGA).

We held our 8th NGA in Tokyo from October 9 – 11, 2010 and had approximately 350 medi-cal and co-medical students attending this event from all over Japan. The theme for this year’s NGA was “Infinity”. We had standing committee sessions (all standing committees in Japan exist under IFMSA structure), project fair, plenary and training sessions, a theme event, parties, general lectures, and specialist lectures which were on coaching skills, acupuncture, disaster medical care, “Clown Care”, international health, commu-nication skills etc.

I attended the 8th NGA as NPO of my NMO and organized the SCOPH session. On the first day of this session, we had three kinds of workshops related to our national and transnational projects which were International Health, Rural Health and the Teddy Bear Hospital. Many newcom-ers seemed to enjoy our workshops and some of them said that they would like to participate in the SCOPH-run activities in Japan. We brain-stormed what we can do about organizing a healthy lifestyle campaign in the second SCOPH session. Many ideas were received and we are now planning to start a Healthy Lifestyle project

in Japan.

There are 80 medical schools in Japan and we have local committees in 51 medical schools. Unfortunately, we have a low profile in the society and amongst medical students in Japan, there-fore during the convention (similar to the Presi-dents’ session in the General Assembly of the IFMSA) we discussed what the merits of being a local committee of IFMSA-Japan are and in what way we can support them. A task force for this has been started and we are trying to re-structure the local committees to fit the structure of IFM-SA. I strongly believe that this will strengthen the power and influence of IFMSA-Japan.

Finally, I would like to announce our special present to all of you. As you may know, we are

applying to host the 61st IFMSA General Assem-bly March Meeting in 2012. Our Organizing Com-mittee is working very hard to welcome you to Japan. We have already decided the theme and the venue and are now contacting Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO). They strongly back our candidature and I’m sure this project will be a success.

If you need more information about our 8th NGA, please feel free to contact me.

See you all in Jakarta at the March Meeting 2011!

- Taiki NabekuraPresident, IFMSA-Japan

IFMSA - Japan 8th National General

AssemblyTokyo, Japan, October 9th-11th

IFMSA - Spain 51stNational General

AssemblyCordoba, Spain,

September 18th-23rd

The 51st National Meeting of IFMSA-Spain was held in Cordoba (right in the heart of Andalusia, in Southern Spain) between the 18th and the 23rd of October 2010.

Many newcomers seemed to enjoy our workshops and said that they would like to partici-pate in the SCOPH-run activities in Japan.


Every member of our Federation had the chance to take part in one of our 7 working groups which, for the first time in our meetings, included a new-comer group known as “Farmacriticxs”. In the peak activity of this group, our brand new “Pharm-free Policy Statement” was created through de-bate and consensus. This new Policy Statement forbids IFMSA-Spain from obtaining any of its fundraising from pharmaceutical companies. We also adopted a new Access to Essential Medi-cines Policy Statement which was adapted from the Policy Statement that the IFMSA passed dur-ing the last GA in Montreal. We also enjoyed the company of our partners and the hours spent in the plenary room, listening to our treasurer give us all the details of our brand new bank account in ethical banking (FIARE).

In addition, we were fortunate enough to have guests (including the current president of the In-ternational Association of Health Policy), whose experiences enabled us see the importance of a national public health system and the biomedical research in our studies.

The nerves in the election of our new National Board gave rise to extensive discussions; how-ever, thanks to the efforts of the previous board, it became an enjoyable and educational debate for all of us. Despite this, more than once, we had to stay late into the night to solve unexpected problems in our desire to seek consensus. None-theless, thanks to the amazingly organized social plan, the attendees were able to leave Cordoba in great spirits. We left the meeting proud of the transparency that governs our Federation and that all Local Committees were able to demon-strate. This means that all of us have equal rights and opportunities. In fact, the best example of this transparency is that during the last year, all mailing servers of our Federation were open for everyone, including the national board ones.

To sum up, after several months of hard work in organizing the meeting (from each member of the OC, the national board and the local commit-tees), we have nothing left except for the group that has been formed for this term that now be-gins, and for the worthwhile conclusions that we have drawn. We are looking forward to working together in the year ahead!

- Enrique MolinaPresident, IFMSA-Spain

MSAKE National General Assembly/

4th International Medical Students’

ConferenceNairobi, Kenya, October 6th-8th

The International Medical Students’ Conference is an annual event organized by the Medical Schools’ Association of Kenya (MSAKE). The As-sociation of Medical Students’ of the University of Nairobi hosted this year’s event whose theme was ‘Paediatric and Child Health: Safeguarding the Future’.

The Conference took place at the Chiromo Cam-pus, University of Nairobi from the 6th – 8thOctober 2010. 135 delegates drawn from local and regional Universities were in attendance.

Apart from engaging in the scientific programme, delegates also enjoyed vibrant extra-mural activi-ties, and the Conference also doubled as the Na-tional General Assembly for MSAKE.

The climax was a glamorous dinner at the Hilton Hotel. This also served as the Closing Ceremony and Awards Gala. The Chief Guest at the event was Dr. Pauline Samia, Organizing Secretary of the Kenya Paediatrics Association. Other guests who graced the occasion were Dr. and Mrs. Ng-wiri (Gertrudes’ Children Hospital) and Dr. Sally Gitari (USAID). The individuals feted were: Mr. Faraj Alkizim (Best Oral Presentation – ‘Child-hood Diarrhoea: Failed Conventional Measures, What Next?’), Mr. Douglas Mariita (Young Inno-vator Award – ‘A Review of Paediatric Morbidity Related to Female Genital Mutilation’) and Mr. Simeon Sinkeet (Best Overall Presenter – 2 pres-entations).

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES:

PROF. RUTH KAREITHI-NDUATI: MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITIONThe Professor began by highlighting the low gen-eral population of Sub-Saharan Africa against its unacceptably high mortality rates – especially the, maternal and child ratios. Most of these were preventable, for example through exclusive breast feeding for 6 months, ITNs and adequate feeding, etc.

Poor nutrition is a core risk factor for stunting, inadequate cognitive stimulation and iron defi-ciency anaemia.

DR. T. G. NGWIRI: GAINS IN THE FIELD OF NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASE IN KENYAHighlights:• The increase in cases of paediatric Diabetes

Type 1 is largely attributable to an increase in diagnosis.

• Vitamin D supplementation in Kenya at present would not be possible because this would require a ministerial approval. This has not yet been done because the ministry does not have facts and figures. No one has yet been able to measure levels of 25-hy-droxycholecalciferol in the general popula-tion.

• Vitamin D supplementation would cost a family at least KES. 1,750 a month and this in some cases is equivalent of the family’s earnings.

• Paediatric survivors of cancer suffered endo-crinopathies later in life characterized by de-fects in thyroid hormone and other hormones due to chemotherapeutic agents given that destroy whole tissues. Nano-medicine would be a step forward because it destroys only specific cells leaving the tissue intact.

CONCLUSION:

All in all, the 4th International Medical Students’ Conference was a success. New friendships were formed and ‘swallowship’ was enjoyed. We are thankful to all our sponsors, partners and del-egates who made the event come to fruition. Our gratitude also goes to keynote speakers. A personal thank you goes to the ladies and gentle-men of the Conference Committee who worked tirelessly before and during the Conference to make it possible.

- Njoga NjihiaChairman, Conference Committee

We left the meeting proud of the transparency that governs our Federation and that all Local Committees were able to demonstrate.


United Nations Department of

Public Information Conference

Melbourne, Australia, August 30th - September 2nd

The morning of August 30th 2010 saw the occu-pation of the Conference and Convention Centre in Melbourne, Australia, by the blue-uniformed United Nations security staff. This was, of course, for the 63rd United Nations Department of Pub-lic Information/Non-Governmental Organizations Conference (UNDPI).

The UNDPI conference is an annual opportunity for the UN to engage in dialogue with NGOs from around the world. Being an international NGO, IFMSA was invited to be a part of the action. Furthermore, the theme of the conference this year was “Advance Global Health – Achieve the MDGs”, which was all the more reason for our Federation to be involved.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was finally an event of global significance in our part of the

world, medical students from AMSA (Australia) and NZMSA infiltrated every corner of the con-ference. The IFMSA delegation was made up of students from both countries, lead by Nick Watts (current Projects Support Division Director). In ad-dition, there was an AMSA (Australia) delegation, some medical students attending as part of other NGOs, students presenting at workshops and stu-dents working in the conference media room.

The program of the conference consisted of ple-naries, round-table discussions, small group work-shops and time to mingle in the exhibits area. At the plenaries, the attendees were addressed by speakers such as Mr Kiyo Akasaka, the UN Un-der-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, and Mr Michel Sidibé, the Ex-ecutive Director of UN AIDS. Round-table discus-sions focused on topics such as “Strengthening

an Integrated and Systems Approach to Achiev-ing the Health MDGs” and “The Role of the NGOs and Civil Society in Helping Achieve the MDGs”.

However, it was at the workshops that the IFMSA really displayed its leadership. At a workshop ti-tled “Enhancing Access to Medicines – A Crucial Step in Achieving MDGs”, our Nick Watts present-ed the views of the IFMSA on access to essential medicines. For many years, a number of NMOs have been involved in this issue in the capaci-ties of advocacy, policy-making and awareness-raising, and it is a credit to their hard work that we were able to present what we have achieved to the other NGOs at the conference.

There were several important conference out-comes. Firstly, the 1,600 participants who were brought together by the conference were given a unique opportunity to discuss interdisciplinary collaboration in the area of global health. Sec-ondly, Rev. Tim Costello, the Chief Executive Of-ficer of World Vision Australia, presented a plea for all who were present to pressure governments to issue a moratorium on the foreign debt of Pa-kistan, in the wake of the flooding.

Most importantly, however, an outcome declara-tion was produced. This conference declaration brought together the views of most of the NGOs present on the determinants of health and the steps that are needed to advance global health and the MDGs. Although initially there were some minor disagreements over the content of the dec-laration, it was passed by an overwhelming major-ity of those present after Dr Rob Moodie pointed out that “we must not let perfect get in the way of good”.

The 64th UN DPI conference will be held in Bonn, Germany next year. We hope to see you in the IFMSA delegation there!

- Anny HuangPublications Director 2010-2011


“We think of ourselves as marathon or long dis-tance runners,” said Dr. Thelma Narayan, public health professional and health activist, who coor-dinates the professional association, the Society for Community Health Awareness, Research and Action (SOCHARA) in India.

Dr Narayan graduated from St. John’s Medical College Bangalore and has devoted her work, and as we can say her life, to community health work in the voluntary sector. With her husband Dr. Ravi Narayan, she works in the Centre for Public Health and Equity, with the main focus on rights and equity in health and healthcare. She current-ly works with various national health initiatives including National Rural Health Mission, National Health System Resource Centre and also set the foundation for public health and primary health-care oriented state health policies in Karnataka and Orissa state. She is involved in the training of community health workers and medical students, and also provides healthcare for women and chil-dren’s health in the rural field.

eVAGUS: What are the main tasks of your work? How does your regular day look like?

Dr. Narayan: My workday and workweek is packed with a number of different tasks all of

A Marathon in Community Health:

An Interview with Dr Thelma Narayan


which are very interesting.

Part of my work involves program planning, imple-mentation, monitoring and review. We have two major teaching-learning programs currently under SOCHARA. So my job is to work with our teams and also to teach on the programs. The overall goal is to create a pool of committed, optimistic, enthusiastic health professionals who will work for community with an equity perspective.

My daily work involves overseeing the administra-tive and financial departments of our organisa-tional work. As part of our work, we engage actively with the public health system and this involves being on various national committees and being part of review teams.

I am also engaged in some research work but not as much as I would like. I am involved with an inter-country study titled “Towards Health for ALL - learning from comprehensive primary health care”.

In summary, my working time which extends be-yond working hours is full of diverse, multi-tasking initiatives and activities which I would say are ful-filling and satisfying.

eVAGUS: What kind of doctor did you want to be during your studies? Did you see yourself doing what you are doing now?

Dr. Narayan: When I started my medical stud-ies way back in 1971 I just wanted to be a doc-tor - treating patients. During the course of my studies I became interested in child health and psychiatry - these interests continue through my current work.

eVAGUS: When did you get in touch with voluntary work and social service groups?

Dr. Narayan: I got involved with a ‘social serv-ice’ group in our college and we ran a free daily evening clinic for persons from the poorer sec-tions. We also worked with the construction work-ers who were constructing the new hospital for our medical college. They lived in makeshift ac-commodation and we arranged evening classes for the children etc. We also visited nearby vil-lages to understand their living conditions better and I was always amazed by the hospitality that we received.

During our internship year I had gone with a medical volunteer team to a cyclone affected area in the coastal region where we set up and ran clinics. This experience completely changed the course of my life and I opted for Community Health. Even within the field of community health, our work unfolded over the years and I kept doing different things. During my student days I certain-ly did not see myself doing what I am doing now; however, I was open to respond to situations and to be proactive as a professional.

eVAGUS: What are the problems of pri-mary health care?

Dr.Narayan: We have made progress in India in some respects and have a lot of confidence to move ahead positively. However, we face major problems that I broadly see as falling into two domains. First and most importantly we do not address the underlying health determinants ade-quately. More than 40-60% of children below five years are undernourished and about 60-70% of pregnant women are anaemic. Low birth weight rates continue to be high. While access to safe drinking water and improving access to sanitation facilities is still very low. Therefore in day-to-day

practice, there are a lot of hunger and nutrition related problems and water and sanitation relat-ed diseases that are encountered. This situation of hunger/undernutrition is related to low purchasing power, agrarian crisis, rural dis-tress, the global political economy of agriculture and also to behavioural and social practices. However there is a groundswell of social move-ments. The People’s Health Movement (PHM) that works towards Health for All is one of them and there is a process of influencing public pol-icy. We in SOCHARA have been very involved in the global, national and local people’s health movement. There is active engagement with the Right to Food Campaign and other campaigns. The second important problem that we face in primary health care is a very privatised health care system. Only 20% of outpatient and 30-40% of inpatient care takes place in the public health system. Out of pocket expenditure for healthcare is very high with little public insurance for health. We have a tax supported health system but the per capita health budget is way below global norms. Therefore we have the contradiction of the latest hospitals and healthcare being availa-ble for those who can pay and for medical tourists from several countries including the UK and USA and a large majority who cannot access health care as a fundamental human right. Hence we as a public health and community health group keep pressing for policy change.

eVAGUS: How do you harmonise work with the family?

Dr. Narayan: We have a wonderful family sup-port for our work. Ravi and I are both passionately involved with our work. We therefore support each other in the housework, caring for our two children

when they were young and for our parents as they grew old, and also taking over each other’s re-sponsibilities when one of us travels. Our parents and extended family have also been very support-ive. Without this support, we would not have been able to do what we have done. Sometimes work demands get too much. Thanks to the learning program, we have younger colleagues who have taken on the work and pushed it further. Overall we may be termed workaholics but we enjoy our addiction. Our elder son has also taken medicine as a career. He worked in a hospital working with an indigenous community in south India for two years, with us for six months and with the Ban-yan (working with homeless mentally ill women in Chennai) for six months before proceeding to a PhD program in medical anthropology.

eVAGUS: Do you have any cooperation with government and support from them?

Dr. Narayan: We in SOCHARA along with some others in the People’s Health Movement India have a strategy termed the politics of engage-ment, wherein we are proactive in engaging with the government. Having a democratic govern-ment created through the national freedom strug-

Many doctors don’t fully under-stand our work, but those who are like-minded provide the communi-ties and the cause, the necessary support and leadership that are required. We need to work more closely with the medical student community. All of our young in-terns and fellows find this ‘contex-tual’ learning an invaluable addi-tion to their ‘textual’ learning.


gle, we feel that as active citizens, we need to use the democratic space using our professional skills in community health and public health. The government has been open to this process of engagement with civil society and spaces have been created with specific financial and administrative mechanisms for community and civil society participation. While some of our work with government was not paid for by them, since the past few years it is getting better. It is im-portant for us to keep an independent space for SOCHARA however so that issues of health and equity can be raised freely. There are still huge challenges in moving towards Health for All.

eVagus: Many of your projects have a long term vision, and the success depends a lot on breaking reality which is set for many years. How do other doctors accept ac-tivities of SOCHARA? And what about the masses you are trying to reach?

Dr. Narayan: Yes we do have a long-term vi-sion. To achieve Health for All and working with ‘reality’ or socially embedded factors takes time. In this we link with the women’s movement, the environment movement and with social move-

Dr. Narayan: Yes Ravi and I have had links with the IFMSA over the past decade. We have met with the group from Sweden, Nepal and the UK. Ravi has met/interacted with members from different countries particularly through the Young Voices initiative of the Global Forum for Health Research and in various meetings. There have been linkages between members of the glo-bal PHM and IFMSA. These linkages should be strengthened. We will be meeting a few people at the forthcoming First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research at Montreux from 15th -19th November 2010. Another important global opportunity would be the Third Global People’s Health Assembly, which will be held in 2012 in AFRICA. Please see the website www.phmove-ment.org for further details. However it is impor-tant for local and national level linkages and we would be happy to be in touch.

- Interview by Tatiana Sláviková (Slovakia)eVAGUS Team Interviewer

During our internship year I had gone with a medical volunteer team to a cyclone affected area in the coastal region where we set up and ran clinics. This expe-rience completely changed the course of my life and I opted for Community Health.

ments. We think of ourselves as marathon or long distance runners. Many doctors don’t fully under-stand our work, but those who are like-minded provide the communities and the cause, the nec-essary support and leadership that are required. We need to work more closely with the medical student community. All of our young interns and fellows find this ‘contextual’ learning an invalu-able addition to their ‘textual’ learning.

eVAGUS: Does SOCHARA cooperate with the IFMSA already? If not, how do you think medical students could help?


scom

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Standing Committee on Medical EducationDirector: Ioana Goganau (Romania)Liaison Officer: Margot Weggemans (The Netherlands)

You chose to become a doctor and with a bit of struggle you’re in medical school. You might believe you’re on a stairway straight to heaven; however it feels more like a rollercoaster. Once you’re in, you have to hang on, go to classes, do your homework, learn tons of books, pass your exams, do your rotations, get an education and in the end become a doctor. Through this all you have to believe the direction is good and every loop in the system is absolutely necessary and plays a role in getting to your goal.

Getting a diploma is easy, however, getting a good medical education not that much. Health-care is changing at an unprecedented rate and on multiple fronts. Technology has revolutionized diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Medical science has increased our understanding and created an explosion of new information. Patients are now increasingly questioning and place less trust in their doctors. But medical schools are ei-ther only slowly introducing changes in their cur-riculum or not at all. Teachers at many medical faculties are not educated to teach; doctors are often busy, do not give too much importance to teaching and mostly lack the knowledge of how to teach their skills to their students.

Medical education has rules, there are rules about admission, curriculum, courses, electives, assessment, attendance, quality etc. There is no universal recipe, but we all know the rules in our faculties. Have you ever wondered who makes them, if they are correct or not, if they can be improved and how? Maybe it’s all part of the game and “that what does not kill you, makes you stronger”, but we are the players and some-body else shouldn’t be making the rules without us knowing. Medical education is not a path to-wards becoming a doctor that we have to endure, it can also be enjoyable, fun, motivating and ef-fective and we can all do something towards that.

The Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME) exists to gather students from all over the world that are interested in playing an ac-tive part in their education, improving it, adapt-ing it more to their present needs and also to their future requirements as doctors. It does not represent a mere talking point, but a central co-ordination unit which guides medical students throughout the world towards a better medical education. SCOME is a discussion forum, that analyses the current situation in medical educa-tion, sets up strategies for action and counsels

students on how to put that strategy into action in their own countries. Through SCOME, students exchange experiences and information that en-hances their role as active participants in the reform process.

The activities in SCOME worldwide show so many ways in which students work towards better med-ical education and lead change. These include gathering students’ opinions and facilitating com-munication with faculty, organizing courses that add to the formal curriculum, participating in cur-riculum development and promoting vital feed-back essential for the development of medical education. Further examples include advocating for evidence-based measures to be implemented like better teaching methods or fair and efficient assessment and creating policy statements that crystallize the students’ voice. SCOME aids the students in assuming responsibility for student needs that sometimes are not covered by the medical school like career guidance or self di-rected learning, representing students’ opinions towards governments, accreditation bodies, qual-ity assurance bodies, national and international institutions and organizations and so on.

Being a medical student is great, not because it’s easy (because it’s not), but it’s challenging and interesting and we must believe it’s worth-while since we’re all doing it. While we’re getting a medical education, we can all contribute and improve the outcomes, as well as the pathway to the outcomes, making it all more enjoyable and efficient. There is no place for modesty when I say that SCOMEdians throughout the world are energetic, driven and resourceful. But all medi-cal students are. We’re all different and have dif-ferent interests, but in the end we all deserve the best medical education and we’re working to make that happen.

- Ioana GoganauSCOME Director 2010-2011

SCOME aids the students in assuming responsibility for student needs that sometimes are not covered by the medical school like career guidance or self-directed learning ...


scope

Standing Committee on Professional ExchangeDirector: Pablo Vega R. (Chile)Liaison Officer: Federica Balzarini (Italy)

It seems that nowadays our world is shrinking. It is not unusual to watch current events going on the other side of the planet as they are happen-ing. This globalization has affected the practice of medicine and the way it is taught.

As a future physician, global experience and sensitivity to changes throughout the world will help create a better understanding of the state of health and healthcare in countries besides our own. This allows future doctors to become vectors for change within society. Experiences of practicing medicine in a foreign country broad-ens a physician’s conceptions of medical prac-tice; since it demonstrates how common health issues are managed across different cultures and healthcare systems.

IFMSA has been the major exchange facilitator among medical students since 1951. Each year, over 8000 medical students from 81 countries have had the opportunity to complete a clinical clerkship abroad. What makes this program so unique? Every aspect of these exchanges are run by students; altogether comprising of more than 700 local exchange chapters or commit-tees. Medical students within the Federation play nearly all the key roles in the organization of ex-changes. From local representation in each uni-versity to the national officers representing each national member organization (NMO) at general assemblies, and the international team over-

seeing exchanges. Together, each of these sec-tors play a vital role in the inner workings of the world’s largest student-run exchange program.

In SCOPE, we are aware that medical education is not the same in every country. For that reason, we take great care in developing and maintain-ing the academic quality of the clerkships. In answers to concerns over this matter, we have developed and implemented a logbook, in which we standardized clerkship guidelines, including checklists obtained from recognized international medical associations. Because of these efforts, many students are able to receive credit in their home countries for the clerkships completed through SCOPE.

Although SCOPE and the IFMSA were established many years ago, our organization and its pro-grams remain unknown to many students and universities. For this reason, we try to promote SCOPE in a variety of ways – targeting students, medical faculties, and external organizations. Twice a year at our General Assemblies we print an issue of the Standing Committee’s magazine, periSCOPE. In this publication we include testi-monials of medical students who have gone on exchange, as well as articles relevant to the ex-change program. We also upload the magazine to www.ifmsa.org so that each NMO can share the publication with their members and spread the word about this great opportunity.

Another primary resource for potential ex-changees is our WikiPAGES (http//:wiki.ifmsa.org/scope). Here, students planning to go on exchange can explore the world of SCOPE ex-changes and find information on the many differ-ent exchange chapters we offer. We try to update these pages as much and as often as possible.

As mentioned previously, the key players in our program are the Local and National Exchange Officers. Without them, it wouldn’t be possible to carry on this immense project. We want each member of the Organization to give their all. In order to make this possible, we do our best to train our officers effectively, providing them with tools to fulfill their roles. These resources include dealing with culture shock, time management, leadership and many other skills relevant to the functioning of the Committee, which will also prove useful as a future physician.

SCOPE is a cultural and educational experience like no other. It broadens the scope of the medi-cal student education beyond the typical medi-cal curriculum. By providing SCOPE exchanges, we have the power to change the mentalities of exchangees, building culturally competent future physicians. Make a change and go on exchange!

- Pablo Vega R.SCOPE Director 2010-2011

SCOPE is a cultural and educational experience like no other. It broadens the scope of the medical student education beyond the typical medical curriculum.


scoph

Standing Committee on Public HealthDirector: Christopher Pleyer (Austria)Liaison Officer: Alexander Papadopoulos (Greece)

For more than six decades, the Standing Commit-tee on Public Health has brought together medi-cal students from all over the world who want to positively contribute to their society. During the last 12 months, SCOPH has truly experienced a highly invigorating and innovative year. All these would surely not have been possible, had it not been for every single SCOPHian who so devotingly and so enthusiastically dedicated their time to make a difference.

For the upcoming year we will try to keep up the high level our SCOPH network is currently at and expand the possibilities of our Standing Commit-tee even further. The focus will rest on four key areas: 1. Assisting SCOPHians worldwide in their work,2. Continuity & Sustainability,3. High Quality, Educational and Interactive

General Assembly SCOPH Sessions.

In order to achieve these goals, SCOPH is com-posed of an extremely motivated team – local SCOPHians working on projects within the local committees and those assisting and coordinating nationally and internationally. Be it on the local, national, regional, or international level, we all form ONE TEAM!

On the international level you will be able to fully count on the assistance of the SCOPH Dream Team. The SCOPH Dream Team is there to advise you in your everyday work, guide you through any problems you may encounter and also to provide you with the necessary tools to create a more ef-fective way of working.

Through our activities, we strive towards our com-

mon vision of a healthy society and further de-velop our potential to become skillful health pro-fessionals contributing in a meaningful way to the societies we live in. YOU are one of these people who build SCOPH and make all this possible!

SCOPHians worldwide can look forward to an-other wonderful year within our beloved Stand-ing Committee... Because together we will keep SCOPH rocking!!!

- Christopher PleyerSCOPH Director 2010-2011

Through our activities, we strive towards our common vision of a healthy society and further develop our potential to become skilful health professionals ...


scora

Standing Committee on Reproductive Healthincluding AIDSDirector: Halit Aytar (Turkey)Liaison Officer: Ionut Cobec (Romania)

Dear SCORAngels,

SCORA, the Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including AIDS, is one of the six standing committees within the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA). Through SCORA, medical students across the globe work locally, nationally and worldwide to raise aware-ness, to educate and to advocate on sexual and reproductive health and related issues for young people, women, men and children; we represent those affected by and working on sexual and re-productive health.

The members of this committee have different projects which focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender and gender equality, HIV and AIDS and other STIs (sexually transmit-ted infections), stigma and discrimination and the greater involvement of people living with HIV/ AIDS, with a focus on very diverse groups with special needs, especially on the youth. With the projects we carry out by working together and with the support and cooperation of everyone, we can make this joint effort not only local but also global.

This year we have several chances to show our dedication and motivation related to our work. The first one is on the way, which is World AIDS Day. On December 1st, medical students all over the world will try to raise awareness through nu-merous activities, such as marches, flash mobs, lectures, peer education trainings, exhibitions, distribution of condoms and pamphlets, parties and concerts and so forth.

The second opportunity is the International Year of Youth (IYY) for which the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming the IYY: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. Ac-cordingly, we as the IFMSA, together with other Youth NGOs, have developed a joint youth state-ment in response to the concerns of the young people we represent for whom more needs to be

done so as to ensure that young people’s Sexual and Reproductive rights are realized. Therefore, we will strive for local involvement in this initia-tive, through our campaigns and other projects addressed to the youth.

SCORA has many focus areas. First of all, the most important focus area is human rights of young people with a special focus on sexual and reproductive health. We advocate for the equal rights of all youth regardless of HIV status, eth-nicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, re-ligion and other minorities including intravenous drug users (IDUs) to health resources and human rights. We try to ensure that isolated groups have access to adequate and sensitive HIV prevention, treatment and care services. As well as this, we advocate for full access to sexual and reproduc-tive health services and facilities that are youth-friendly and without stigma and/or discrimina-tion.

Our second focus area is stigma and discrimina-tion. We try to raise the awareness of HIV and

AIDS whilst addressing the HIV and AIDS-related stigma, particularly in health settings and in all societies. And finally, we promote gender equal-ity through projects that aim to decrease gender based violence and create awareness amongst young women of various issues regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights, while promot-ing autonomy and women’s empowerment.

I would like to remind that you are the main steer-ing committee and the main actors in SCORA, and SCORA is getting stronger and bigger each year with all your efforts, activities, projects that you have done at a local level. Aside from the main actors, we - me as SCORA D, Ionut as LO for SCORA, and our International Team - will be here to contribute and assist you whenever you need.

Finally, what I believe is that you and your efforts will help to achieve our goals in order to make this world a better place.

- Halit AytarSCORA Director 2010-2011

... We advocate for full access to sexual and reproductive health services and facilities that are youth-friendly and with out stigma and/or discrimination.”


score

Standing Committee on Research ExchangeDirector: Jovana Nedeljkovic (Serbia)Liaison Officer: Federica Balzarini (Italy)

The Standing Committee on Research Ex-change (SCORE) was founded in 1991, during the 40th Anniversary of the IFMSA. The primary mission of SCORE is to provide intensive and focused research projects, which allow medical students to expand their knowledge of specific scientific areas of their choice, while encouraging the formu-lation of professional and social networks abroad.

In 2010, SCORE had over 60 active partici-pating NMOs, offering over 1,900 research projects, and has provided over 1,800 op-portunities for students to participate in re-search exchange.

After being confronted with the students’ lack of motivation, knowledge and aware-ness, SCORE Pre Exchange Training (PET) was created to play a big role in filling this gap.

The aim of this training program is to raise the level of scientific knowledge, technical skills and most of all, motivation of stu-dents through many lectures and training workshops on the philosophy of science, research ethics, hypothesis, formative skills, research planing, basic biostatistics and in-tercultural learning.

The first SCORE PET was organized in Turkey in May 2008 by Mert Karakaya, the IFMSA SCORE Director for the term 2008/2009.

Now, the SCORE PET has been adopted in more than ten NMOs. One of the goals is to expand SCORE PET further, to become a SCORE tradition in every NMO.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you are in-terested in organizing this remarkable event and I will provide you with all the necessary information.

ExploRE the world! - Jovana NedeljkovicSCORE Director 2010-2011

The primary mission of SCORE is to provide intensive and focused research projects, which allow medical students to expand their knowledge of scientific areas of their choice ...

Wait ... Did you forget something?

eVAGUS would like to apologise to all of the SCORPions in the world for not being able to feature a SCORP page in this issue of the publication, despite our best efforts.

We would like to assure you that we will try our best, once again, to feature SCORP con-tent in the next eVAGUS. In fact, we will put every effort into making up for this issue by allowing SCORP to have a double column in two months’ time.


Alright, so I have a confession to make. When I was first appointed to write a column for the eVAGUS, I struggled to decide upon a topic for my debut article. I needed some-thing snappy, something relevant, insightful – something to inspire that magical moment of catharsis in true fashion of Grey’s Anat-omy. Instead, this is what I have to offer...

Over three days in September 2010, 140 world leaders gathered in New York for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) summit. The aim of this summit was to re-flect upon accomplishments over the past decade, as well as reaffirm strategies to keep our goals on track for the 2015 dead-line. For those unfamiliar with the term, the MDGs are a series of 8 objectives encom-passing domains such as health, education, gender equality and environmental sustain-ability; a global initiative with the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2015. I must admit it’s all starting to sound suspiciously like an election campaign (or Miss Teen USA pageant, whichever floats your boat…). But on a more serious note, all the hype begs the simple question: Have the MDGs worked so far?

When first devised in 2000, some greeted these “goals” with undisguised scepticism, labelling the affair as a large-scale political stunt. Thankfully, a decade later and we now have evidence to demonstrate progress in at least some domains! Let’s take a closer look at MDG 4 & 5, child health and mater-nal health respectively. According to WHO statistics, child mortality has fallen 30% from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.8 million by 2008. This follows a 74% global decline in

child deaths from measles, as well as a rise overall in measles immunisation. Whilst we can sit down and analyse the fine print of these figures, we can conclude at least that they’re heading in the right direction!

Yet take a look at the maternal end of the spectrum and you begin to wonder if we’ve really achieved anything at all! Although ma-ternal mortality has declined 34% between 1990 and 2008, the reality is that the ab-solute figure still stands at an estimated 358,000 deaths in 2008. Furthermore, 99% of these still occur in developing countries of which Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia represent 87%. Indeed, a common criticism of the current progression of events is the uneven rate of development between vari-ous countries, with Africa looking set to fall far short of the millennium targets by the 2015 deadline.

Needless to say, tackling extreme poverty on an international scale demands an approach beyond the scope of the MDGs. Political sta-bility, corrupt-free governance and a robust health system featuring community-based services are but several key components. Sadly, funding the infrastructure of an acces-sible health system isn’t as glamorous as injecting a large sum of cash into HIV treat-ment, whereas often the simple changes are the most likely to yield the greatest results. Within maternal health alone, ensuring that all births are attended by a skilled health worker, implementing post-natal home visits as well as ensuring adequate transportation to and from hospitals would prevent the ma-jority of unnecessary deaths in the perinatal period.

Nevertheless, with such an ambitious agen-da ahead of us, my opinion is that we can all benefit from some bigger picture goals to hang our hats on, which is exactly what the MDGs provide. Indeed, from the recent 2010 summit came the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, the latest initiative that touches upon wider aspects of maternal health such as family planning, vaccinations and breastfeeding. Important-ly, efforts will also be directed now to ensure that women give birth in the presence of skilled health workers.

Running the risk of sounding like a youth-camp bonding instructor, extreme poverty and global health issues are no longer someone else’s problems – they’re a matter for our generation and we’re all in this to-gether! As WHO Director Dr. Margaret Chan said, “It is time to deliver results and to hold ourselves accountable”. It is a possibility that our targets will not be wholly achieved by 2015, and that is a shame. But to the staunch critics, my parting question is this: Does the failure to tick all the boxes dimin-ish the great efforts achieved so far, and that which will continue to be accomplished even beyond 2015?

The answer to that, I dare argue, is a re-sounding no.

Kevin Tan is a 5th year medical student at the University of Melbourne, Australia, cur-rently on exchange at the University of Oslo, Norway.

Millennium Development

Goals: Realistic or just another stupid

love song?

COLUMN BY KEVIN TAN

Yet take a look at the maternal end of the spectrum and you begin to wonder if we’ve really achieved anything at all!

The Last Word

Documents

Eva Gus Nov 2010