Annual Report 2000-2001

IFMSA Mission Statement “Our mission is to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues. Through our programming and opportunities, we develop culturally sensitive students of medicine, intent on influencing the transnational inequalities that shape the health of our planet.” IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Abbreviations’ List For some reason, all international organisations love abbreviations. We have gathered here the most relevant ones to help you survive IFMSA jargon... “I have an abbreviation, therefore I exist!” – Fredrik Allard, SweMSIC President 94/95/96 ABBREVIATION EXPLANATION AF Application Form AIESEC Assoc. Int. des Et. des Sciences Econ. et Commerciales AMDA Association of Medical Doctors in Asia AMEE Association for Medical Education in Europe AMSA Association of Medical Students in Asia AMSE Association of Medical Schools in Europe CA Card of Acceptance CC Card of Confirmation CCC Constitution Credentials Committee CIOMS Council for International Organizations CP Standing Committee of European Doctors e-Ex Electronic Exchange e-TDC Electronic Technical Data Card EB Executive Board EBM Executive Board Meeting ECOSOC UN Economic and Social Council EMSA European Medical Students’ Association EOM Exchange Officers’ Meeting EPSA European Pharmacy Students Association FAMSA Federation of African Med students’ Association FC Financial Committee GA General Assembly GS General Secretariat HLM Honorary Life Member IADS International Association of Dentist Students IAESTE International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical exp. IMISO Intersectorial Meeting of Int. Student Organisations IPPNW International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War IPSF International Pharmacy Student Federation IVSA International Veterinary Student Association LORE Local Officer on Research Exchange LEO Local Exchange Officer LO Liaison Officer LORA Local Officer of Reproductive Health & AIDS LOME Local Officer for Medical Education LORP Local Officer for Refugees and Peace LPO Local Public Health Officer LTP Leadership Training Programme MSF Medecins sans Frontieres MSI The Medical Student International NORE National Officer on Research Exchange NEO National Exchange Officer NETWORK Network of Comm. Or. Ed. Inst. for Health Sciences NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NMO National Member Organisation NORA National Officer on Reproductive Health & AIDS NOME National Officer on Medical Education NORP National Officer on Refugees and Peace NPO National Public Health Officer OC Organising Committee PAHO Pan-American Health Organisation PBL Problem Based Learning PC Project Coordinator Copyright Information PWG Permanent Working Group of European Hospital Doctors © IFMSA 1951 – 2001 SC Standing Committee SCORA SC on Reproductive Health and AIDS Portions of this report may be SCORE SC on Research Exchange reproduced only if authorized for non SCOME SC on Medical Education political, and non profit purposes. The SCOPE SC on Professional Exchange source must be mentioned. SCOPH SC on Public Health SCORP SC on Refugees and Peace SG Secretary General International Federation of Medical SO Standing Orders Students’ Associations STDs Sexually Transmitted Diseases TAF Travel Assistance Fund TDC Technical Data Card IFMSA General Secretariat UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS IFMSA UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNDP United Nations Development Programme WMA UNFPA United Nations Population Fund BP 63 UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund 01212 Ferney-Voltaire CEDEX VCP Village Concept Project France VPI or VP-I Vice-President for Internal Affairs VPE or VP-E Vice-President for External Affairs Fax: +33-450-405937 WFME World Federation of Medical Education Email: [email protected] WFPHA World Federation of Public Health Associations Homepage: http://www.ifmsa.org WHO World Health Organisation WHO-Europe WHO Regional Office for Europe WMA World Medical Association Printed in Malta by P.E.G. Ltd WoCo Working Committee

2 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

Preface

THE IMPOSSIBLE WE DO TOMORROW

Dear readers around the world,

IFMSA is proud to present her success story during 2000 and 2001!

Professor Erik Holst, the first president of IFMSA, during his speech on the Anniversary Day reminded us that “the impossible we do tomorrow” used to be one of the working mottos during his years in IFMSA. This year, IFMSA did the impossible. Training 700 medical students from 88 countries through nine thematic workshops, twelve round table discussions, and three forum discussions on topics of health and its determinants during the 50th anniversary General Assembly in Denmark was impossible to many of us before.

Undoubtedly, this year has been the most challenging year in the history of IFMSA and my dynamic 31 fellow officers not only met the challenges with high professionalism and passion, but also successfully overcame them.

On the one hand, my team had the mandate of successfully organising the most eventful 50th Anniversary of IFMSA, and on the other it had to execute the regular plan of action during the year. On top of that, this team had to manage its regular daily office.

This report starts with the concrete work of the executive board: President, Vice-President on External Affairs, Secretary General, and Treasurer. It then gives an overview of the bigger and better projects in each of six standing committees of IFMSA: Medical Education, Professional Exchange, Research Exchange, Reproductive Health including AIDS, Public Health, and Refugees and Peace.

You will also come to know our advancements in the Internet Technologies system, Training and Resources Development, and new publications.

You will also be able to read about the activities of some of our National Member Organizations.

I would like to thank the coordinators of this report: our Secretary General, Marta Ocampo, and Marius Grima, Vice-President of the Malta Medical Students’ Association, who have worked hard over the Internet. The result of this work can be judged from the quality of this annual report.

Happy reading!

Sanjeeb Sapkota IFMSA President 2000-2001 [email protected]

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AFTER 50 YEARS…

Nowadays IFMSA is a very well-established international federation with broad representation and close relations with medical students’ associations all over the world. It is recognized as an important non-governmental organization and collaborative partner by WHO, UNESCO, other UN agencies and several INGOs, such as the Global Health Forum. We are on the way to making closer links with several other international student organizations and INGOs.

Our exchange programme is well-established, and has good prospects for improvement both in terms of quantity of places and quality, now that we have introduced more alternative clerkships, research exchanges, summer-schools, electives.

We are recognized as a consultative body in questions relating to medical education and the medical consequences of nuclear war, and our local and national activities in both these areas have often been catalysts for other student and professional groups.

New fields are presently developing, including Primary Health Care and Human Rights, with many valuable projects. The IFMSA Village Concept can be considered a milestone in third world aid philosophy. Following IFMSA’s experience in Ghana, many such projects were realized (Sudan, Sudan II, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, La Joya, Tanzania, Panama…) and we hope many more will come up in the near future.

A lot of work has been done in our 50 years of existence. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary with a big event that would show the IFMSA potential to the outside world. We sincerely hope that in 50 years from now, somebody will add more lines to this small but intense history that all of us, for small our contribution might seem to be, have helped to build.

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CONTENTS

The Impossible we do Tomorrow 3 Public Health in the IFMSA 52 After 50 years … 4 Ethics of Old Age 52 The Most Eventful Year in IFMSA History Poverty and Disease – Breaking the Cycle 53 Annual Report of the President 8 International Association of Gerontology, IAG 54 All of Us in the Same Boat International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC-UK) 54 A Year of Success for the Whole of IFMSA 9 The Story of One Year 55 IFMSA Finances 2000-2001 10 Projects par Excellence – IFMSA’s Face to VPE – Annual Report 11 the World 56 IFMSA Plan of Action for 2001-2002 12 ASPIS – Awareness Strategies for Pollution The 50th anniversary of IFMSA 16 from Industries 57 Poverty, Global Health and Sustainable Calcutta Village Project: When the People Development 17 becomes Author of its Own Development 58 IFMSA – 50 years Beyond its Start 19 Tanzania – Godfrey’s Children 58 Speech during the Anniversary Gala Dinner Rwanda Village Concept Project (VCP) 59 of IFMSA 21 Organ Donation Awareness Initiative – Raising The Spine of IFMSA: A Whole Year a Public Awareness on Organ Donation and Hard Labour! 24 Donor Card Topic 60 Sub Regional Training, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland 25 EQUIP – A Project of Co-operation between 3rd SRT of Central European Countries Medical IFMSA-Sweden and YuMSIC 60 Students’ Associations (CECOMSA), Eger, Nurturing Music in Prenatal and Perinatal Hungary 26 Medicine and Child Development 61 Strengthening the Relations with the Medical Safe Sex Starts with Us! 66 Profession in Europe 27 United Nations General Assembly Special Moving Ahead 28 Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS 67 Future of Exchange 29 Health Education Intervention in Secondary Working Abroad 30 Schools 68 Back on the Track! 31 International Condom Exhibition 68 TeGeME Project 32 Collaboration with UNICEF 71 Curriculum Database Project 33 IFMSA Recommendations on HIV/AIDS in Influence of Studying on Students’ Health 34 Medical Education Curricula 72 Medical Students Learn Sign Language 34 Training the Medical Leaders of the Future 76 Pro-active partnership with UNESCO Making the IFMSA Homepage 77 Working together towards concrete outcomes 36 A Step Ahead – IFMSA Online Databases and World Conference on Higher Education NGO Electronic Exchange 78 Follow up UNESCO 37 The Seniors’ Club of the IFMSA: A New Initiative 79 The Human Genome Project Workshop: IFMSA Seniors Club Annual Report – 2000-2001 80 A journey into modern genetics 38 The IFMSA Newsletter – Reporting to the World 81 International Collaboration for the Future of Standing Committee on Refugees and Peace: Medical Education – IFMSA in the World Active all over the Globe Fighting for Human Federation for Medical Education 39 Rights for All, against Violence and for March Meeting 2001 42 Forgotten refugees 84 … People can Change 44 Refugee Health – Addressing the Challenges 85 World Health Assembly 2001 45 The Collaboration between IFMSA and IPPNW IFMSA’s Collaboration with other Students’ Working towards a Focus on Local Networking 86 Organisations 46 The Peace Test 87 The Global Health Council IFMSA’s new partner 46 The Palestinian Refugee Project in Lebanon 88 Cooperating with the United Nations in Africa 47 Declaration 91 International Training Congress for Medical Explanation on IFMSA Financial Students 48 Report 2000-2001 94

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Executive Board

The most eventful year in IFMSA history: Annual report of the president 8 All of us in the same boat: A year of success for the whole of IFMSA 9 IFMSA finances 2000-2001 10 VPE – annual report 11 IFMSA Plan of Action for 2001-2002 12 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers THE MOST EVENTFUL YEAR IN IFMSA HISTORY ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

30 new national associations are wait- and UNAIDS have provided funds for ing in line to join IFMSA. new projects and workshop. UNHCR and UNHCHR which deals with human General secretariat has been rein- rights and refugees issues respectively forced than never before this year. I are remarkably closer to IFMSA and worked in our secretariat for six months have paved way for effective long-term and facilitated the funds to bring an- partnership. other EB member. The coming of the second EB member in the secretariat It is also worth mentioning that WHO has been a revolution. has recognised us one of their active partner. Fundraising has been equally successful this year. I facilitated UNFPA, Being in Geneva has given me added UNESCO, UNAIDS, WMA to provide opportunities to have high level policy us respectively 15,000 USD 20,000 dialogue with the head of inter agen- USD, 5000 USD and 5000 USD. The cies and INGOs. At several occasions, I Fundraising Task Force, which has met my counterpart in WHO, chair- been recently established, is showing its man and presidents of several INGO in promising role for the sustainable fu- Geneva and the directors of UNFPA, ture of IFMSA economics. UNICEF etc. This has helped me understand their perspective of IFMSA. Publication both in paper and electronic saw its peak this year. E-newslet- My travel to China, Singapore South Driving the federation successfully into ters, IFMSA thematic magazine, NMO African, and several countries of Eu- the 21st century and beyond and serv- manuals, besides regular newsletters rope this year have helped strength- ing her from her headquarters, Geneva, (Vagus) and annual report have de- ened both internal and external rela- during the entirety of my presidency lighted the family of IFMSA. tions. The representations of my fellow have given me great sense of satisfac- executive Board members in Australia tion. External Relations: and Peru have added new dimension in IFMSA now has an established position our relations with our regional partners It also satisfies me that I have been able within the United Nations System. in Asia and Latin America. to assist in adding milestone in every major areas of work such as strength- With regular follow up I have strength- The general assembly has adopted the ening NMO-IFMSA relationship, ca- ened IFMSA’s status in United Nations plan of action which my team has pacity building, reinforcing external ECOSOC. This has now opened door drafted and the NMOs have modified. relations, policy development and in- to proceed towards official relationship This plan of action has all the major on- formation dissemination. with UNICEF. Another gain has been going activities and the work area which the accreditation granted to IFMSA to is warranted for the future and which After 50 years of uninterrupted service attend the UN Special Session on HIV is do-able. This is for the first time in to humanity, the world needs IFMSA AIDS and Children. Our delegation the history that the constituencies have more than ever before today. made outstanding representation in given the mandate to the new team to New York during the special session. execute certain task by the end of next NMO-IFMSA relationships: fiscal year. I believe that this practice will The poll this year suggests that the During my tenure, IFMSA not only be- be continued. NMOs (our constituencies) are con- came the members of the following alli- tended with the work of IFMSA and her ances/ fora but also quickly established The world needs IFMSA more than officials. The satisfaction survey and herself as their active partner: ever before. We have the vision of fos- NMO- reporting-to-EB which I co- tering universal peace and health in the ordinated have now established in the Global Forum for Health Research, planet and we will keep on struggling by laws. I am positive that this will pro- Global Health council, NGO Forum for till we materialise our vision. mote the culture of regularly visiting Health, Alliance to End All Forms of the constituencies that IFMSA serves. Corporal Punishment to Children and Long Live IFMSA. Frame Work Convention Alliance. Capacity Building: Sanjeeb Sapkota, 100 members in IFMSA family was There has been remarkable achieve- Nepal my vision at the starts of the year. The ment in the relations with the inter IFMSA President 2000-2001 Newcomers Task Force has worked very agencies. IFMSA SCOPH Director 1998-2000 hard to bring 18 new National Associa- [email protected] tions in the IFMSA family and another As mentioned above both UNESCO

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IFMSA Officers ALL OF US IN THE SAME BOAT A YEAR OF SUCCESS FOR THE WHOLE OF IFMSA

This has been an exceptional year, not Finally … the handover to the only for IFMSA but also for me person- new Secgen. ally… a year full of challenges that we, as a big team, tried to accomplish, challenges and achievements difficult to summarise in a one page article of the annual report.

A lot of IFMSA resources and people form all over the world worked hard with the preparations for the 50th An- cal Students’ Association, and niversary of IFMSA that included: fo- with the dissolution of the old rums, round table discussions, seniors IMISO (Intersectorial Meeting of meeting, and the Anniversary Book. International Students’ Organisa- Our 50th August Meeting was trans- tions), to create the Informal Fo- formed by an enormous team effort in rum of International Students’ the most successful International Organisations (IFISO), an unof- Training Congress for Medical Stu- ficial and unregistered forum to dents (ITCMS), with trainings and discuss possibilities of collabora- workshops covering most of the fields tion among those students’ or- of IFMSA work. ganisations interested.

Apart from this, there was the normal them, we are a whole; international, I have to thank all the people that work of a year, the March Meeting in national and local, all of us in the same helped me and supported me during Malta (for me the best meeting ever), boat, trying to improve the global this hard but exciting year. My fellow new IFMSA projects and improvements health. EB members, and the officers team, for in the ongoing ones … and the busy their help and friendship, the GA50 daily work of an international office: e- And with this purpose, a great effort was team (IOC and LOC) for their incred- mails, support to our National Member done from the international team to ible work not only in both the ITCMS Organisations (NMOs) and recruitment create the first NMOs Survival CD and the Anniversary Day, but also carv- of new ones, development of new tech- ROM, where we compiled lots of inter- ing inside our hearts a new view of nical facilities, fundraising, marketing, esting information about IFMSA’s “what IFMSA is able to do”, and the external contacts, publications, meet- present and past, a legacy for the future, teams who run the plenaries in Malta ings… All of this has made this year an including in it as well the Manual on and Denmark, without whom we would unforgettable year for IFMSA, and for Chairing IFMSA Meetings, created have never been able to have a success- all of us who devoted our time and en- this year by the team who run the ful meeting. And my special thanks to ergy in this task. plenaries in Malta, under the coordina- Antonis, George, Jacco, Joel, Josette tion of Ellinor Jenssen from NorMSIC, and Marius for always being there to Getting IFMSA closer to the NMOs Norway. help me when needed. has been one of the main worries of this year’s Executive Board and in the posi- With the aim to facilitate as well the It is hard to say bye to such a wonderful tion of the Secretary General, I tried to communication among our NMOs, an year, but we must leave the path open do my best to make this possible. Day idea was raised by Antonis Kaintatzis, to new promises for this federation, and after day in front of my computer, ready from HelMSIC, Greece, and I worked I am sure my successor, Gianfranco to reply to the NMOs’ concerns and with him to design the IFMSA Spiteri, from MMSA-Malta, will do a questions in the form of e-mails, I feel I Databases and put them in the internet wonderful job. Wishing you the best for developed a special sense of proximity (www.ifmsa.net/public), a wonderful the years to come … I think it is time with most of the NMO presidents. It has tool that gave birth as well to the first for me to move on … to the Seniors been great to work with all of you. Electronic Exchange System to be Club? used by our National and Local Offic- From this position I also tried to encour- ers in SCOPE and SCORE, a tool that Best wishes. age the NMOs to inform the local offic- will provide as well, great opportunities ers of each and every event happening of marketing and fundraising to our Marta Ocampo Fontangordo, if IFMSA. The injection of energy that federation in the near future. Spain we gain in the international events, IFMSA Secretary General 2000-2001 must be transmitted to the local offices, We worked as well in reinforcing our IFMSA SCORE Co-director 1999-2000 so that they are aware of the magnitude links with other students organisations. [email protected] of what they are really doing for our This came up with a new collaboration federation. We are nothing without agreement with the European Medi- www.ifmsa.org 9 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA Officers IFMSA FINANCES 2000-2001

It has been a very busy year for vidual systems, which often lacked work against the clock, but I believe IFMSA. First of all we have been in continuity between the different that IFMSA got the event of the cen- an exciting anniversary year, which treasurers. For this purpose various tury during the days of the celebra- has taken up a substantial amount bookkeeping software solutions tion of its 50th anniversary. of time for me as the treasurer. Fur- were investigated. I found a suitable thermore a lot of work has been but programme –DacEasy-, which is Furthermore a lot of work has been into establishment of better financial purchased to IFMSA for the future put into fundraising within the Eu- management of the organisations use of bookkeeping in IFMSA. This ropean Union. We worked hard to finances. will hopefully help to better manage- complete the grant for the European ment of the books and to avoid po- Union, which gives contribution for Financial management tential errors in the handover proc- organisation administration. Fur- During the past years we have not ess of the treasurer. I have used the thermore, investigations have been been very satisfied with the use of system this year for the bookkeeping. done to explore possibilities of re- Postbank in the Netherlands. It was ceiving funds for IFMSA from the often very slow and communication Representation European Youth Council. Applica- with the bank was not easy. This year As a part of the EB I have taken part tion for this will be submitted in au- I did investigations on finding a new in the big job it is to represent tumn. We have continuously worked bank for the future use of the organi- IFMSA externally. I have paid par- on a documentation issue related to sation. I met with several banks in ticular attention to other student some unspent balances towards the Netherlands, as we should keep organisations as European Medical UNESCO. This issue was finally the bank in the Netherlands as long Students Association (EMSA), Asian solved in the end of June witch re- as we are registered there. The re- Medical Students Association sulted in the grant for Training and sult of the investigations turned into (AMSA) and the European Student Development of our National Mem- that we will use ABN AMRO as our Conference (ESC). I attended meet- ber Organisations. future bank connection. ABN ings hosted by all 3 organisations We have been struggling hard this AMRO offers several advantages in- and it has definitely contributed to year to get funds for all necessary cluding international money trans- a better relationship with all part- projects. We managed almost to fer via Internet, document mailing ners. We managed to finalise agree- fund the anniversary book of in English, easy communication with ments with both EMSA and ESC and IFMSA. This is an important the bank even outside the Nether- initiatives for an improved AMSA achievement, as we needed to give lands. agreement was taken during my the book to our members and exter- participation at the 22nd Asian Medi- nals during the 50th anniversary in The next step of improvement of fi- cal Students Conference (AMSC) in Aalborg, Denmark. nancial management for IFMSA was July 2001 in Melbourne. Hopefully to engage an auditing company the new agreement can be signed To conclude this report I will thank again. We broke up the relationship during the next year. all IFMSA member organisations for with KPMG last year and the finan- the fantastic work done during the cial year 1999-2000 was not com- Furthermore I had the privilege of year 2000-2001. A lot of you have piled in an auditor assisted financial representing IFMSA during meet- been involved in our 50th anniver- report. This increases the risk of er- ings with the World Health Organi- sary, which has demanded a lot of rors in the financial report, which is sation (WHO), World medical Asso- resources this year. I really admire unacceptable. I did some investiga- ciation (WMA) and the Permanent the work you have done! Moreover tions among several international Working Group of European Young we have kept the high activity level known auditing companies and de- Doctors (PWG). At all meetings I got among our standing committees cided to start collaboration with valuable contacts for the benefit of even if the 50th anniversary drained Ernst & Young. They offer a large IFMSA. our resources. I hereby wish the best international network of auditors so 50th anniversary to all IFMSA mem- we will be able to find an auditor in Fundraising ber organisations, which forms our the local area of treasurer for the Most of the fundraising work done fantastic and inspiring organisation future. this year has been in the name of the IFMSA. 50th anniversary of IFMSA. During The last major improvement of our my various meetings with external Jesper Schmidt, financial management was done on organisations have met many peo- Denmark the bookkeeping part. In the past ple who help finding contributions IFMSA Treasurer 2000-2001 years the treasurers have used indi- for the anniversary. It has been a [email protected]

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IFMSA Officers VPE – ANNUAL REPORT

“This is a year of hope… • Full-time Executive Board E-news, a marketing plan, new printed • IFMSA Projects posters and leaflets, postcard project People’s Health is the Subject • IFMSA Central Budget (GA50) team and the future planning for of Intense Public Debate … we • IFMSA Marketing materials an IFMSA promotional video were a few are working together with (T-shirts, pens, badges…) of the many projects that this team un- renewed energy. A renewed • Vagus dertook. will to act. A determination to • Travel Assistance Fund All in all it has been an exciting year. walk down I have really been impressed by the level Thank you to Jason, Juan Manuel, unexplored paths to get of dedication and professionalism of this Panos, Yusuf, Joel, Jana, Ann, Jacco, results …” team, and believe that we have only just Morten, Antonis, George, Markus, Bent, begun…. my fellow EB members and all the countless others who helped us get the Gro Harlem Brutland (Director General Long Term Plan for IFMSA work of External Relations done this of the World Health Organisation) de- IFMSA has been forming a mission year. I was honoured to work by your livered these words at the World Health document and strategic plan this year. side. assembly this year. In many ways they It has been so exciting to see the mem- reflect the year of 2000/2001 within bers of IFMSA define who they are, what IFMSA. We too have been moving for- they stand for and where IFMSA is go- “Young people are capable, ward … The ITCMS … two EB mem- ing in the next decade. Driven by a com- when aroused, of bringing bers in Geneva … Fundraising Task mon vision, IFMSA will continue to down the towers of oppression Force … New NMOs … ECOSOC and strengthen its relations and work and is Global Health Council membership … able to adapt and plan for a dynamic and raising up the banners of forming of a mission statement and stra- future. freedom.” tegic plan for IFMSA … new marketing Nelson Mandela strategies … and so much more. Marketing The new marketing team was formed in As the Vice President of External affairs Groningen in The Netherlands, which I have had the privilege of being on the united the GA50 team and the IFMSA Jenni Moore, forefront of many of these new develop- team. Although each team had different South Africa ments. responsibilities there was a spirit of co- IFMSA Vice-president External Affairs operation and unity working for the 2000-2001 Full time EB same goal. [email protected] I moved to Geneva after the March Meeting to become the first full time EB member at the IFMSA office in Ferney- Voltaire. This was made possible by a generous fellowship grant by the WMA who has become like a father to IFMSA and supported us in every way.

This not only gave us someone to do the office administration work, but also allowed Sanjeeb and myself to start building up a contact network in Geneva including WHO, WMA, UN, NGOs and National Missions. My vision was to form the network of contacts to support the work of our NMOs and regional partners as well as the international work of IFMSA.

Fundraising Task Force This Task Force, now headed up by Jana Myndiukova, was formed by the EB under the mandate of the NMOs. It has been a very active group in the last few Marieke van den Ham, The Netherlands (SCORP Director) and Jenni Moore, months and has been concentrating on South Africa (VPE). a variety of topics including: www.ifmsa.org 11 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA PLAN OF ACTION FOR 2001-2002

Proposed by EB Officers of 2000-01 and The Drafting Committee1 Adopted by the IFMSA General Assembly at the IFMSA 50th August Meeting 4-12th August, 2001, Aalborg, Denmark

Rationale human resources at the interna- tween the EB and NMO is cru- It is of vital importance for the in- tional level. The job description cial and should be performed coming IFMSA officers 2001-02 to of this team should be outlined, every two months before each EB have a layout of the responsibili- and it is important to find out the meeting. Special attention should ties to continue and build upon effect it would have on the man- be given to improving communi- the work of their predecessors. It power of the NMOs. Details can cation with NMOs from develop- is also important for the NMOs to be found in the discussion paper “The ing regions. understand and plan the direction creation of an IFMSA International in which IFMSA is heading. For team”. b) Regionalisation these reasons this proposal was The AMSA in Asia, FAMSA in created. 4. Strengthening the Fund Raising Africa and EMSA in Europe Task Force (FTF): should be regularly contacted Plan of action We recommend that the FTF be in strengthening bilateral rela- A. Internal capacity building continued on national and inter- tionships. Creating and B. External relationships national levels. strengthening a regional struc- C. Priorities for 2001-2002 ture in Latin America must be 5. IFMSA e-exchange and online seriously pursued. The infra- A. Internal capacity building databases: structure of the Federation will Having already built a strong increase its efficiency by pursu- 1. Reinforcing the Newcomers Task electronic database, it is now im- ing and encouraging regional Force: portant to maintain and continu- co-operation between the Many new members are enter- ally improve it. Therefore we NMOs. ing IFMSA and encouraging need a long-term maintenance them to become active and suc- contract with the present service 8. Seniors club cessful should be one of the pri- provider. Actualisation of the full poten- orities of the EB as well as the tial of the Seniors Club will NMOs. 6. The Publications: greatly aid the development of a) MSI on exchange: the Federation. The club must 2. Strengthening the General It is necessary for the next team therefore be encouraged and Secretariat: to complete the MSI within the maintained. Having a full time member of first quarter of their term, as well the EB work in the General Sec- as improving the co-operation 9. Marketing and promotional retariat of IFMSA greatly in- with NEOs and LEOs to gain materials creases the efficiency of the Fed- valuable feedback. Provision of promotional mate- eration. Therefore the EB must rial at nominal costs to the NMOs seek to ensure the funds for this b) NMO’s CD-ROM / Officers regularly and adequately will position. manual: help the NMOs to pursue their This CD-ROM should be im- own and the Federation’s mar- 3. Investigating the creation of an proved by adding training docu- keting objectives. “IFMSA International Team”: ments and by being distributed The IFMSA international team continuously. B. External relationships should contribute to improving c) The electronic news (IFMSA e- the recruitment and selection of News) must be continued and cir- The EB of 2001-02 should give high culated to other horizontal or- priority to complete the on-going ganisations as well as external collaborations with the listed inter- 1 Drafting Committee members: partners. agencies. Additionally experience Mohammed Alsuwaidan – Kuwait should be considered when ap- Editors: 7. Improving NMO-IFMSA pointing liaison officers: Mojca Hajdinjak – Slovenia Chris Hopkins – United Kingdom relationship: Renan Arauz C – Panama a) Improving Communication 1. Global Forum for Health re- Tom Oxley - Australia Two-way communication be- search.

12 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

2. Global Health Council C. Priorities for 2001-2002 Ageing, April 2002, co-opera- 3. NGO forum for health tion with the International Stu- 4. FCTC (Frame Work Convention 1. HIV/ AIDS: dent’s Network on Ageing on Tobacco Control) Medical students need to be active Health (ISNAH) must be con- 5. UNAIDS: The condom project role players and leaders in the tinued. must be continued. fight against this pandemic. This c) Physical activity: IFMSA 6. UNICEF topic is severely lacking within cur- should interact with other 7. UNHCR rent medical curricula worldwide. like-minded youth organisa- 8. UNESCO: HIV / AIDS Work- IFMSA has adopted a recommen- tions to promote the impor- shop in Indonesia. dation for curriculum change with tance of physical activity and 9. UNFPA: Outcomes of Dakar the aim that NMOs will promote nutrition in health promo- Youth Forum and MSI on Age- this document in their home coun- tion, and take part actively in ing and Health. tries. Please view the document enti- the preparation of the World 10.WHO. tled “IFMSA Recommendations on Health Day 2002. 11.WFME (World Federation for HIV/AIDS in Medical Education Medical Education): The WFME Curricula” 4. Maternal, Child and Adoles- will hold the Third World Con- cent Health: ference on Medical Education in 2. Human Rights, Violence and In- Emphasis should be placed on: September 2002. jury prevention: a. The IFMSA-WHO project on 12.AMEE (Association for Medical Prioritisation of these issues for IMCI in Indonesia. Education in Europe): Develop- SCORP, utilising the new infrastruc- b. The Pre-GA workshop on Child ing a good liaison with this asso- ture put into place, is essential. Rights to Child Health, Yugosla- ciation is important. via 2002. 13.Relations with Regional Part- 3. Health Promotion: c. Providing support to the ners: a) Tobacco control: The IFMSA – IFMSA-MCH project. a) Having official relations with WHO campaign has now en- FAMSA. tered its second phase, in 5. Pursuit of aims expressed in the b) Helping build a regional partner which NMOs are requested to policy statements of the round in Latin America. lobby with their deans to make table discussions and workshops c) Sustaining and improving the their schools smoke free. Spe- drafted during the ITCMS. recently renewed relationship cial attention must be given to Please refer to the outcome paper of with EMSA and AMSA. the SCOPH Anti-tobacco cam- Round Table Discussion and Work- 14.WMA: Collaboration involv- paign. shop of 50th August meeting ing one EB member in the b) Active Ageing: To determine General Secretariat must be IFMSA’s stand regarding the continued. second World Assembly on

Gianfranco Spiteri, Malta (Secretary General-elect) and Marta Ocampo, Spain (Secretary General).

www.ifmsa.org 13

IFMSA 50th Anniversary

The 50th Anniversary of IFMSA 16 Poverty, Global Health and Sustainable Development 17 IFMSA – 50 years Beyond its Start 19 Speech during the Anniversary Gala Dinner of IFMSA 21 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF IFMSA

6th of August 2001 – Aalborg, Denmark

The 50th anniversary of IFMSA was Holst from Den- celebrated on the third day of Inter- mark, who talked national Training Congress for about the visions and Medical Students (ITCMS). hard work that laid the ground for the A lot of time and effort was invested founding of IFMSA. in the anniversary in order to He was followed by achieve three main goals. Sanjeeb Sapkota First of all the day was designed to (President of IFMSA draw a historical line from the birth 2000-2001), Nils of IFMSA to the organisation as it is Daulaire (President today. Secondly we wanted to use and CEO of Global the day to give a more in depth pres- Health Council) and entation of the aims, achievements, Line Gisselmann One of the Round Table Discussions. and future of IFMSA to our liaison and Yusuf Goedblöd organisations and sponsors. Finally (Chairs of the Inter- we hoped that the specific outcomes national Organizing of the day might help to shape and Committee for ITCMS). Bent (cofounder of IFMSA) and Lennert influence the future of IFMSA work. Grubb Larsen and Zahra Theilgaard Veerman and Björg did an excellent job as Masters of Thorsteinsdottir (former presidents In the morning 12 round table dis- Ceremony throughout the anniver- of IFMSA ´95/´96 and ´97/´98). cussions (RTDs) on different sub- sary ceremony and the rest of the Before the last speech there was a jects relevant to IFMSA were held day. memorial presentation on the Hiro- in parallel. The discussions were shima bombings. The anniversary prepared and moderated by In the afternoon the big forum on was held on the same date as the IFMSA students. All 12 discussions “Poverty, Global Health and Sus- bombings took place. Dinner was went very well, as they helped tainable Development” was held. followed by fireworks, tailor made open our eyes to new areas of The forum was moderated by Bilal for the evening and the evening IFMSA interests and to established Zuberi (Massachusetts Institute of turned into night accompanied by new contacts within old and poten- Technology, Cambridge, USA) and the tones of live music. tial liaison organisations. the discussants were Dr. Nils Daulaire (President and CEO of the The day was all throughout a great The Anniversary Ceremony fol- Global Health Council), Dr. success. The IFMSA seniors helped lowed the RTDs and was opened by Zafrullah Chowdhury (Projects Co- us portray the history of IFMSA. the first president of IFMSA, Erik ordinator, Gonoshasthya Kendra The Roundtable discussions opened People’s Health Centre, Bangla- new areas of interest for IFMSA, and desh), Dr. Melinda Moore (Deputy our contact to liaison organisations Director of the Office of Interna- were expanded and improved tional And Refugee Health, DHHS through out the whole day. It was a United States Government) and day that will claim its place in the his- Laurie Garrett (Pulitzer, Polk and tory of the IFMSA, and that will be Peabody Award Winning Author) remembered as a day of fun, learning and celebration. The evening’s festivities were initiated by a reception, followed by a gala dinner for 600 people. Out of Kristoffer Barfod, the 600 people who dined, approxi- Denmark, mately one hundred were guests [email protected] from new and old liaison organisa- Mats Sundberg, tions. The dinner was opened by an Sweden, address from United Nation’s Sec- [email protected] retary General, Kofi Annan, read by Rune Damgaard Nielsen, stud. med. John Amuasi from Denmark, Ghana. This was followed by Sanjeeb Sapkota (IFMSA President) and [email protected] th Nils Daulaire (President and CEO of the Halfdan Mahler (Director General IFMSA 50 Anniversary day Coordi- Global Health Council). WHO 1973 – 1988), Ralph Gräsbeck nators

16 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

50th Anniversary Day Forum POVERTY, GLOBAL HEALTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The 50th anniversary of the found- Massachusetts Institute of Tech- – serving in international health and ing of International Federation of nology, USA, was the moderator. helping humanity achieve a better Medical Students was celebrated not and healthier life. just by reminding the General As- Ms. Laurie Garrett started the dis- sembly audience about the past work cussion by giving a presentation on Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury brought a of IFMSA and its history, but also by her experiences as she witnessed the different perspective to the discus- boldly looking forward into the fu- crippled state of public health in the sion by providing a case study of how ture to prescribe the course that poor countries she had traveled to health can be affected in poor and IFMSA must follow in the coming as a journalist. Ms. Garrett noted disease-ridden societies. He argued decades. An extremely important that epidemics such as AIDS, ma- that while the developed countries panel discussion on the issues of laria, dengue fever and tuberculo- were increasing the average age of “Poverty, Global Health and Sus- sis have already launched an attack their citizens by employing highly tainable Development” was held on on societies that were already bur- sophisticated technological ad- August 6th, 2001 which was attended dened with extreme poverty and vances to medicine, the relief for the by over 500 IFMSA delegates, rep- other socio-economic and political poor lay in more simple but commu- resentatives of United Nations and diseases. As nations tried to battle at nity based intervention systems. His other world agencies as well as ex- various fronts – poverty, inequity, presentation showed how women perts from institutions (non-govern- economic development, globaliza- with low level of technological ex- mental and non-profit) that IFMSA tion, ill-health and rapid growth – pertise had been trained to deliver collaborates with. The topic under there were reasons to fear that if our primary healthcare at his institute. discussion was extremely relevant to resources were not unified, we The message was powerful – break- the current issues in global health, would lose on at least a few fronts. throughs in health achieved via lo- and especially important to IFMSA, She expressed her fear that the ex- cal empowerment. Gonoshasthya given the global focus of IFMSA and treme poverty, poor-sanitation, edu- Kendra, the institute founded and the increased participation and cation and vaccination conditions in run by Dr. Chowdhury, has built a membership from developing coun- most of south and central Asia are sustainable system of providing im- tries. now turning into breeding grounds mediate medical relief to poor peo- for future public health disasters. ple using principles of community The panel consisted of very notable Both Ms. Laurie Garrett and the medicine and low-cost effective speakers, each of whom are leading next speaker, Dr. Melinda Moore ar- healthcare. Dr. Chowdhury’s argu- experts in global health and inter- ticulated that poor communities ments were not just validated by the national development. IFMSA is around the globe have been en- data he presented but they also proud to have received recognition gulfed in the cycle of poverty and helped infused hope into the audi- from these speakers and their insti- disease for decades and the situation ence that while needs of global tutions and hopes to continue col- is only becoming worse. They ar- health seemed high and daunting, laborating with them in the future. gued that poverty in many parts of they could be achieved even with the The speakers were: the world has increased vulnerabil- resources we currently have avail- ity to disease by limiting access to able – if we just learnt to mobilize Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer, Polk and health care, information, education, and utilize them efficiently. Peabody Award Winning Author, safe water, sanitation, adequate diet ‘Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of and through human rights viola- Dr. Nils Daulaire gave the last pres- Global Public Health’; ‘The Coming tions. Dr. Moore showed data on the entation in the panel and used his Plague’ widening disparities in the socio- past experience as a medical student Dr. Melinda Moore, Deputy Direc- economic status and health between working with Dr. Zafrullah tor of the Office of International poor and rich countries and within Chowdhury and others to highlight and Refugee Health, DHHS, USA both. Highlighting the importance the importance of actually going out Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury, projects of such events as our panel discus- into the field and seeing what rural coordinator Gonoshasthya sion, Dr. Moore said that it was at healthcare was all about. He advised Kendra People’s Health Centre, one such lecture that she went in as all medical students interested in Bangladesh a young medical student and came global health to spend some time in Dr. Nils Daulaire, President and out knowing full well that what she a rural community to actually expe- CEO of the Global Health Coun- wanted to do in her career was pub- rience life in those dire situations so cil lic health. Since then, that is exactly they could understand how poverty Bilal Zuberi, Ph.D Candidate at the what she has done for over 15 years completed the vicious cycle of dis- www.ifmsa.org 17 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 ease, suffering and death. Dr. tremely appreciated in not just tak- Daulaire outlined the role of non- ing this message to the international profit actors in the war against pov- community but in also taking the erty and disease and argued that if lead step in moving the medical the epidemics of today are not con- community in that direction. At a lo- fined to any state boundaries – how cal and regional level as well, it was can their solutions be confined to discussed that community based any country or region. His message health programs in various coun- was clear: we live in a global society tries should be created to bring peo- and we must act at a global level to ple together in analyzing the root combat the diseases that plague our causes of the community’s health societies. Dr. Daulaire also explained related problems and to bring health the role of Global Health Council, into the community’s own hands the largest network of health related through organized action. NGOs around the world. The Coun- cil seeks to improve health world- The panel discussion outlined vari- wide by bringing together commu- ous ways in which the young medi- nities and groups that are working cal students and future doctors on similar problems. Not only does could start playing the role in mak- it improve knowledge-sharing ing health equitable and available to among all involved parties but it also all human beings. While the socie- provides a platform to create part- ties in the world are struggling with nerships that can work effectively in social, political and economic issues, combatting diseases. Even IFMSA the world medical community needs has benefited by its recent member- to stand together in their fight ship into the Global Health Council against disease, epidemics and ill- since many NGOs present at and health. While health should always participating in the GA were ap- remain as the primary concern of all proached through the GHC net- medical professionals, it cannot be work. argued that the social, political and economic factors that affect each After a detailed analysis of the prob- patients’ lives also affect the way lems and possible solutions by the medical professionals can practice experts on the panel, the floor was their profession. Poverty must be opened to discussion where ex- eliminated via development – a de- change of ideas, opinions, thoughts velopment that is based on princi- and views took place between the ples of justice, equality and speakers and the audience. Mem- sustainability. Only then can the bers of the audience participated in dream of a healthier tomorrow be this open forum with full vigor and realized. This particular panel dis- the medical students and other no- cussion brought up all these ex- tables in the audience (such as tremely important and relevant is- Halfdan Mahler, former Exec. Di- sues in the context of IFMSA’s ac- rector of WHO, Erik Holst, founder tions worldwide, and also helped in of IFMSA) asked for clarifications on creating some partnerships and al- questions they had from the presen- liances that can help IFMSA work tations. It was agreed by all partici- towards that goal. pants that given the nature and extent of the problems faced by poor countries, the international community had a responsibility to help them defeat poverty and disease. An emerging theme in the open discussion period was the need for world medical community to focus on global health and in building international partnerships to generate the Bilal Zuberi resources (financial, technical and Coordinator of the “Poverty and political) that are needed to combat Disease: Breaking the Cycle” work- diseases worldwide. The role of shop young medical doctors was ex- [email protected]

18 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA - 50 YEARS BEYOND ITS START OPENING ADDRESS AT THE OFFICIAL CELEBRATION OF IFMSA’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY Åalborg University, August 6, 2001

Looking back at the earliest beginnings dent exchange between Denmark and rector general of WHO, Dr. Derolle. We of the IFMSA now fifty years later is a the rest of Europe – including eventu- argued as best we could for WHO to take strange voyage back into a completely ally also Czechoslovakia! We needed, a direct interest in future medical doc- different world. The war years had for however, an international framework tors by offering to host a secretariat for many of us been a time of almost com- for these activities. international medical student exchange plete international isolation. This was first discussed among at a and collaboration e.g. on medical edu- After the liberation - which came to small international meeting in Paris in cational and student health issues. I also Denmark in May 1945 after more than December 1950, called by the Austrian had the opportunity to present our ideas five years of foreign military occupation medical students association where I first to the assembled Nordic Directors of - an immense need for contact with the met Ralph Gräsbech from Finland who Public Health from Denmark, Finland, rest of the world was a dominating feel- is also here today. Iceland, Norway and Sweden. ing, not least among the students. The subject was again discussed Everybody was very encouraging and This led to the creation of the Inter- among the international guests at the used their influence to obtain support national Union of Students (IUS) with annual meeting of French National for our ideas but after initial investiga- headquarters in Prague and high hopes Medical Student Associations early 1951 tions the general feed-back was clear: for a new world with open borders and in Lille in Northern France. Here I met Before WHO could enter any formal genuine international co-operation. for the first time the president of the relationship with us we have to get our However, with the communist take-over British Medical Students’ Association act together in the form of an interna- in Czechoslovakia in 1948 the high (BMSA), Rex Crossley. He gained imme- tional medical student organisation. hopes came to a sudden end and the in- diate respect among our French student Since we got a similar message at home ternational student movement became colleagues by winnin the beer-drinking through the Danish Medical Association highly politicised and was split into contest. We both lost miserably the wine- when we enquired about the possibility an Eastern and a Western part sup- drinking contest where you had to of World Medical Association taking in- ported - as we were later to find out – by empty a glass of red wine with a white ternational medical students collabora- KGB and CIA respectively. napkin around your neck to reveal any tion under their wings we decided to go The budding collaboration among drops spilled in the process – which was ahead with such an endeavour. medical student’s organisations was also of course disqualifying. The winner of IMCC therefore called a meeting in the stopped in its tracks. Thus I inherited – this test was the editor of the medical stu- summer of 1951, which took place at as newly elected international secretary dents’ journal in Paris, who could accom- Domus Medica in Copenhagen, head- of the Medical Student Council at the plish this for us rather demanding task quarters of the DMA. Eight countries University of Copenhagen in the fall of in a single movement - without spilling were represented at that initial meeting: 1948 – a letter from the Medical Stu- a drop! Austria, Denmark, Finland, Great Brit- dents Council of Charles’ University in While the Austrians remained with ain, Holland, Norway, Sweden, and West Prague signed by all members of that the initiative and became cofounders of Germany. A decision was made to create council. The letter expressed their the IFMSA, the French medical students a formal framework for our collabora- strong wish for future collaboration with never came back to play a direct role in tion and to concentrate on three main their counterparts in Copenhagen. the creation of the IFMSA. But they de- issues: Professional medical student ex- However, against each name my pred- serve to be mentioned today as having change, Medical education and ecessor had indicated the heavy prison twice provided the stage 50 years ago for Student health. sentences all of them had received after the future close collaboration between The only serious divergence that the communist take-over. BMSA and the Nordic medical student came up during the meeting in Copen- That went some way to cool our post- organisations which eventually resulted hagen was about which name to give this war euphoria about the New World we in creation of IFMSA. new creation. In the preceding months thought we had come to. With the initial help of Dr. Johannes we got used to think of the future organi- So, giving up on the politicised gen- Frandsen, then Danish Director of Pub- sation as “World Medical Students’ As- eral international student collaboration lic Heath we decided to investigate the sociation” or “WMSA” analogous to the medical students in Copenhagen possibility of making international pro- some existing national medical student’ turned to the more professional and fessional student exchange and other associations like the BMSA. practical aspects of international collabo- forms of international medical students’ However, our student colleague from ration. A need for dissection material in activities part of the program of World Cologne, West Germany, convinced us Denmark led to the organisation of a first Health Organisation. Dr Frandsen sug- by strict German logic, that since we did dissection course at the Medical Faculty gested that we should visit Geneva dur- not plan to have individual student of the University of Paris for 30 medical ing the World Health Assembly in Ge- membership but would consist of a students from Copenhagen and Aarhus neva in May 1951 and talk directly with number of separate member associa- in the summer of 1950 – we travelled in the WHO. Accordingly I somehow man- tions, the new body must be considered style by chartered aeroplane and stayed aged to get myself to Geneva for that a federation rather than an association. at Cité Universitaire. event. Bowing to the irrefutable logic of this This experience led to the creation of Together with Nus Mendelaar, a fel- argument and in the name of the IMCC in the fall of 1950 and a rapid low medical student from Holland, I ob- compromise we then took upon us the expansion of professional medical stu- tained an audience with the deputy di- cross of having to “sell” our initiative www.ifmsa.org 19 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 under the complicated name of IFMSA. time to waste on traditional procedures we produce care for people who are ill Content was after all more important and formalities. Many examples could or even dying. This is no small thing. But than form. And I see that people got be given of this phenomenon from the if we want to produce health we need to used to the name with time. early days of IFMSA. I will just refer to ally ourselves with other professions as A Provisional Directing Body was set the top-level meetings just described well as with politicians and the media. up with Rex Crossley, Great Britain, as during the WHO Assembly in Geneva in I am therefore pleased to see that chair with a view to call a first Executive 1951 and to the fact, that the first IFMSA IFMSA has taken up serious inter-or- Board Meeting, finalise the statutes and meetings took place in the prestigious ganisational and inter-professional rela- call a constituent general assembly in “Domus Medica” buildings in both Co- tionships that may lead to prevention of London in 1952. A standing committee penhagen in 1951 and in London 1952. disease and disability and to improve- on professional exchange - SCOPE even The spectacular way you have this ment of health among the underprivi- at that time – was created with Henrik year carried off your very ambitious de- leged and the suppressed. I can only Wulff, IMCC, Denmark, as chair and cision to celebrate this 50th anniversary hope that the lessons learnt in your with the task of organising a first Ex- in style -with royal patronage and with a formative years will lead to a future change Officers’ Meeting (EOM) which large number of outstanding experts medical paradigm that moves took place in London in December 1951. joining in - is for me an indication that even further beyond the necessary con- Similarly the responsibility for medical the medical students of today’s IFMSA tinued concern for individual patients. education issues - SCOME - was given still to operate successfully in accordance As a final remark I want to say that to Kees van der Kamp, president of the with to the old slogan: “The impossible none of us back in 1951 could have im- Dutch Medical Students’ Association, we do tomorrow. Miracles may take a lit- agined that our initiative would stand who participated as a result of Nus tle longer”. And the response from on the test of time to become a natural part Mendelaar’s effective mobilisation of the high seems still to be as positive as be- of the environment of medical students home front. The responsibility for stu- fore. all over the world. We did it because it dent health issues – SCOSH - was So, somehow we found the necessary made sense at the time and also it was handed over to Ralph Gräsbeck, Fin- funds to stage annual Exchange Offic- fun doing it. I believe that it is still seen land. Finally the task of setting up a gen- ers Meetings as well as the early general as something both worthwhile and fun eral secretariat in Copenhagen was en- assemblies in London 1952, in Zurich and that is the reason that the idea has trusted to Jørgen Falck Larsen, IMCC, 1953 and in Rome 1954. Even if we tried survived for half a century now. It is a Denmark. carefully to escape the political overtones pleasure and an honour for me to be Fifty years later you may wonder how that had destroyed the IUS we still en- here today and greet you on behalf of all this activity was possible within a sin- countered some – even if mainly imag- those who witnessed the birth of IFMSA. gle year among a group of medical stu- ined – political problems. Our early at- We can only express our deepest respect dents who then - as I am sure even now tempts to involve North America were for the impressive IFMSA movement - had a quite heavy study load within a frustrated by the fear among US medi- that you have been able to develop from rather tight curriculum. And how did we cal students of getting involved in the humble beginnings we somehow overcome the financial difficulties in- anything even remotely “un-American” managed to create in those days. volved in covering meeting and travel during the McCarthy period. costs. I remember one of the first US medi- Erik Holst MD I think part of the explanation was cal students coming to Denmark for a Professor Emeritus, that so many medical students were at- clinical clerkship organised by IMCC. University of Copenhagen tracted to this very practical but at the Having understood that free medical Co-Founder and first president of same time very challenging interna- services were the main feature of the IFMSA 1951-1952 tional work. This was something very Danish Health Care System his memo- [email protected] different from the sometimes rather bor- rable comment was” This is worse than Short CV ing organisational tasks offered by the socialism”. So the Students American 1948 Entered Medical School, University of Co- local student councils. So, people read- Medical Association supported by the penhagen ily made sacrifices to become and stay 1949 Secretary, Medical Students’ Council, Uni- American Medical Association could not versity of Copenhagen members of the team. be persuaded to join the IFMSA. 1950-52 First president of IMCC Working for IFMSA also gave a larger I see now that there is such a thing as 1952-53 First president of IFMSA 1960-63 President Junior Hospital Doctors Asso- degree of freedom to make decisions as IFMSA-USA – and that makes me feel ciation necessary and there was more room for good. 1963-65 Member, Council of the Danish Medical new and untraditional ideas. And there The fact that you have a president Association 1967-80 Co-editor-in-Chief, Journal of the Danish was a total lack of restraint in relation to from Nepal makes me feel even better Medical Association authorities whenever we felt that such since I have come to know and greatly 1975-80 Chair, National Advisory Board on authorities could and therefore should Higher Education in the Health Sciences, Ministry appreciate some of his countrymen as of Education be of assistance to our ideas. Somehow great colleagues in the global fight 1977-79 President Standing Committee of Doctors this proved contaminating since all the against torture. of the CEE 1978-92 Professor of Social Medicine, University high ranking people we approached I think this is an indication that of Copenhagen seemed to find it entirely natural and IFMSA today has taken upon itself the 1980-86 President, Danish Medical Association justified that these young students came mission of broadening the aim of medi- 1986-89 Visiting professor, Comparative Health Policy, School of Public Health, UCLA, California straight to them with their demands. cal training to include a concern not just 1990-97 President, Rehabilitation and Research This complete lack of modesty in pur- for the individual patient but also for the Center for Torture Victims (RCT), Copenhagen suing our goals had originally developed 1993-99 Executive Vice President, International improvement of health conditions glo- Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), within IMCC but came to dominate also bally. Copenhagen the attitudes within IFMSA: We were In this process we must always re- 2000- International consultant, ICAR Founda- tion, Romania doing some good and useful work, we member, that physicians do not nor- 2001- Member, Council of International Asso- needed help and we did not have much mally produce health – most of the time ciation for Prevention of Torture (APT), Geneva

20 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

Prof. Ralph Gräsbeck: SPEECH DURING THE ANNIVERSARY GALA DINNER OF IFMSA August 6th, 2001

Dear Colleagues, junior and senior, tion of IFMSA. Today, when in vitro became a paediatrician, later he was fertilisation is becoming quite com- employed by a commercial com- We celebrate the 50th birthday of mon, I wish to emphasise that the pany. Around 1958 he contacted me IFMSA. However, an international conception of IFMSA was very much to elucidate a case of mysterious organisation is not born without in vivo. François invited us to the lo- megaloblastic anaemia in a child, preparation, a foetal period. IFMSA calities of Association générale des and I diagnosed a new disease, se- étudiants en médecine de Paris was born in Copenhagen but con- lective vitamin B12 malabsorption ceived in Paris. (AGEMP), and there hang from the with proteinuria which carries my ceiling the ancient fertility symbol, name and that of a Norwegian lady In November 1950 the Finnish a two-meter-long phallus in papier- Imerslund who found it medical students’ organisations – mâché. In drinking Vermouth un- simultanously. The fact that we be- they were two at that time -received der it we performed a kind of fertil- came acquainted in Paris has thus an invitation from Austria to meet in ity-rite. Also, Paris is one of the fa- greatly influenced my career. Paris between Christmas and New vourite honey-moon sites, and then Year to discuss the founding of an the temperature was low, which the I am thus one of the fathers of international organisation. The sperm-cells like. No wonder that the IFMSA. Fathering a child is usually other Finnish delegate Ilmari conception led to a fine baby! relatively easy, but parenthood is Kantero and I met in Paris after more complicated, the child can de- quite eventful travels and succeeded Quelques mots en français: J’ai essayé à velop in quite unexpected ways. I to find the meeting place, Maison de contacter AGEMP, mais cette organisa- note that IFMSA has had its Sturm- médedine. Scandinavians, like the tion a disparu. Apparemment elle s’est und-Drang period, a pubertal period Americans, are accustomed to high amalgamée avec des autres organisations. of opposition, but has now devel- indoor temperatures, and the meet- Aussi, je serais interessé à savoir ou se oped into a balanced but still youth- ing room was extremely cold. Ac- trouve sa sculpture impressionnante. fully enthusiastic organisation. As cordingly, the delegates sat with one of its proud fathers I propose a their top coats on. We were very few. After that I participated in the sub- toast, a skål, for the eternal youth and Erik Holst represented Denmark, sequent meetings in Copenhagen prosperity of IFMSA. Norway and Sweden, there were two and twice in London (my society Austrians, perhaps two from the could not afford my trip to Lille). Prof. Ralph Gräsbeck Netherlands and one from Ger- During the last meetings I was na- many and finally one French ob- tional representative of Finland and Remarks: Kantero (1924-1998) repre- server, which Erik Holst and I have no longer only that of one student sented Laaketieteenkandidaattiseura agreed to call François. The discus- society. – In London, the indoor (LKS) and I Medicinarklubben Thorax sion was first rather chaotic, but we temperature was once low again. (Thorax). Kantero became paediatrician noticed that Erik apparently was an Finland got the task to collect data and was later employed by a commercial experienced organisation man and on the health services for university company. During the 1951 Copenhagen meeting Mikko Niemi (1929 -1999) rep- elected him chairman of the meet- students in different countries, and resented LKS. Then the Finnish organi- that study (designed to create good- ing. Then things started to move. sations elected me their common foreign will in WHO) was successfully com- secretary and IFMSA contact person. In We decided on the aims of the or- pleted, but after my period of serv- the picture on page 10 in the 50th Anni- ganisation, especially that student ice, which ended in 1953 when I versary booklet I and Niemi sit on the left (professional) exchange was to be graduated. I have rarely met per- in the front line. Niemi became Professor the main activity, and the present sons who participated in the first of Anatomy. I resigned in 1953 when I name was mentioned as one alterna- meetings. However, Erik Holst once graduated and was replaced by Jussi tive. The Austrian medical students arrived in Helsinki in a stunning Saukkonen (1930- ), now Professor of had apparently been very active at navy uniform when the king of Den- Medical Biochemistry in the USA. Then home and obtained reductions on mark paid a state visit to Finland. the number of medical faculties and students’ organisations increased and opera and railway tickets. However, During the last decade I have FiMSIC was founded to represent them reestablished contact with IFMSA the rest of us thought that such ac- all. -That the Austrians and Finns were tivities should be taken care of by and participated in the meetings in so active in the beginning can be under- other kinds of student organisations. the Aland islands and Kuopio. stood against the background of the similar geopolitical situations of the two “neu- This Paris meeting was the concep- My Finnish colleague Kantero first tral” countries. www.ifmsa.org 21

Exchanges and Medical Education

The Spine of IFMSA A Whole Year a Hard Labour! 24 Sub Regional Training, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland 25 3rd SRT of Central European Countries Medical Students’ Associations (CECOMSA), Eger, Hungary 26 Strengthening the Relations with the Medical Profession in Europe 27 Moving Ahead 28 Future of Exchange 29 Working Abroad 30

Back on the Track! 31 TeGeME Project 32 Curriculum Database Project 33 Influence of Studying on Students’ Health 34 Medical students learn sign language 34 Pro-active Partnership with UNESCO Working Together Towards Concrete Outcomes 36 World Conference on Higher Education NGO Follow up UNESCO 37 The Human Genome Project Workshop A Journey into Modern Genetics 38 International Collaboration for the Future of Medical Education – IFMSA in the World Federation for Medical Education 39 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

Standing Committee on Professional Exchange: THE SPINE OF IFMSA A WHOLE YEAR A HARD LABOUR!

Year 2001 was a big year; many things as agriculture, laws, forestry, veterinar- have occurred in the “Standing Commit- ian medicine and pharmacy, creating an tee on Professional Exchanges”. This com- international student network. mittee has been the most active part of the IFMSA since its foundation, and this In our exchange program, each univer- year has not been different from the sity has its own LEO’s to organise the other ones. Therefore, we have suc- local facilities for the incoming students ceeded in many ways to achieve our ob- and to help the outgoing students in jectives, which are mostly to provide their exchange. This year, as we did last medical students an opportunity to dis- year, subregional trainings (SRT) have cover the world while studying. In the been held. The basic objective of the SRT last year, the number of exchanges has was the train LEO’s from NEO’s, but at increased and new countries have joined the same time to make them meet NEO’s the IFMSA exchange program, giving us and LEO’s from the surrounding coun- the possibility to make more people par- tries. In this way, people can feel they ticipate in this program. IFMSA is not are not alone in their local committee, only an exchange program, but also a but that they are part of whole organisa- whole organisation building on the work tion. Those SRT have taken place in of six Standing Committees. It is then Switzerland, in Hungary and in the important to create collaboration be- Netherlands. Such SRT should still be tween these committees, which we have organised in the next years, not only in started to do during this year. In the Europe, but also in the other continents. same way, collaboration between many Mariota (SCOPE Director) and Marie- studying fields all over the world has Louise (NEO IMCC). As everybody knows, NEO’s have a lot been created. Moreover, we developed of work every year to organise the ex- regional trainings for the LEO’s of each changes. This year, they prove that they country, assuring good exchanging ex- had the energy and the capacity to make periences for the students. To help the next years. As a consequence of the a huge workshop, which has been a real NEO’s and LEO’s providing resources wonderful work of the students engaged success! In this workshop, students from and information on their program, a in the IFMSA, we are sure that the popu- many countries have been trained on workshop called “The future of ex- larity of the program will keep on in- presentation techniques and on Internet changes” has been organised, in which creasing during the next year, allowing resources useful. The purpose was not trainings on presentation techniques more people to enjoy this great experi- only to train them, but also to give them and internet using in a medical purpose ence. the skills to train people on these fields have been given to medical students. in their own country. Finally, for the first time in the IFMSA IFMSA is built on six Standing Commit- and SCOPE’s histories, a “MSI on ex- tees (SC). This year, we improved the A very important project to give SCOPE changes” will be published in the next relations between all the SC, providing an opportunity to promote itself all over year; its whole basis has been built dur- a more linked association. During our the world is the “MSI Exchanges”, which ing this year. General Assembly (GA) in Malta, the di- has been built this year. Hopefully, the rectors of each SC got the opportunity magazine will go out in few months af- As said before, the number of students to meet the other SC and to eventually ter a lot of efforts from SCOPE’s, participating in our exchanges has in- involve their members in other SC’s ac- SCORE’s and the EB’s members. A creased. This year, 4500 students did an tivities. This is not only important for the dream will come true! exchange instead of 4000 the year be- SCOPE, but also to all the others Stand- fore, which is an increase of about 12,5 ing Committees; a unified association is As you can read, many things have hap- %. Local committees have worked really the key for a good and effective work. pened in the SCOPE this year. This hard to advertise and promote their pro- proves again that SCOPE is really “the gram inside their own country, making IFMSA is not the only international stu- spine” of IFMSA! the exchanges more and more popular dent association. Therefore, the “Infor- all over the world. This year, Brazil mal Forum of International Students DENEM, Germany, Spain and Italy Organisations” exchanges have been were the associations with the biggest created this year to provide communi- amount of exchanges. Participants have cation between the exchange program not only increased in the countries al- of all the students associations. This will Maria Panagiota Panourgià, ready engaged in the program, but new allow us to offer to our students an op- IFMSA SCOPE director 2000-2001 countries from Asia, Africa and America portunity to meet and interact with François Carrier have joined the program, as Australia other non-medical students from every- Medical student, Canada did this year and as others will during where in the world, studying fields such

24 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 SUBREGIONAL TRAINING, BAD RAGAZ, SWITZERLAND (3-7 JANUARY, 2001)

SRT Programme The Subregional Training is a small in- The programme included 3 ternational Meeting for NMOs who like presentations and 4 work- to strengthen their relations. It’s an op- shops, which where held dur- portunity to introduce and educate their ing the meeting. We used dif- Local Exchange Officers (LEO), espe- ferent ways to introduce the information LEOs and how they can use it, what they cially the new ones, to give them an over- for instance teaching lessons, roleplays, can find in it and what not. view of the LEOs work and their hand- interactive presentations and games. book and show how to survive in hope- WS II: AF, CA, CC : what are they used less situations. The meeting focused on Presentation I: Each country presented for and how to handle these papers. the professional exchange and also gave themselves and talked about their coun- FAQ, what to do if...-> trouble shooting the newcomers a short introduction to try, universities, structure of their as a LEO. We had some funny roleplays the world of IFMSA. Finally they had the proffesional exchange and how their and an exciting contest outside in the chance to meet other LEOs at this meet- exchanges are organized. snow where different groups had to an- ing, which is always an important thing, swer questions and show their creative since it is funnier to know with whom Presentation II: All about IFMSA. We talent as well. you are working, than sending mails to tried to give the new LEO’s an idea of unknown faces. the whole structure of IFMSA and the WS III&IV: How to recruit new LEOs?, way it works. We presented all the Stand- How to distribute information to the stu- - participating countries: Austria, ing committees with their running dents? How to improve the information France, Germany and Switzer- projects, the EB, etc. flow on the local, national and interna- land. tional level? Social programme for in- - number of participants: 34 Presentation III: The aim of this pres- comings? What can you do with incom- entation was to show the relations of ing students? These where the questions Beside the idea of the SRT, with its edu- IFMSA with other Non Gouvermental we had to deal with during this WS. cation we wanted to give the people the Organisations (NGO) opportunity to enjoy the beautiful land- and the work of the scape of Switzerland with its mountains. liaison officers. Therefore we chose Bad Ragaz, a lovely little skiing resort, and added two days Workshops for skiing to the meeting (just to make WS I: LEOs work- the whole trip worth coming). Thanks what is it all about? We to our “chef de cousine“ (a certain swiss presented the hand- NEO) and his crew we really had no fear book, the bible for of starvation.

In between the tough programe there was always time to relax with a tablesoccer game or a refreshing snow- ball fight. Unfortunately the weather and snow conditions weren’t like in a fairytale but we still had a lot of fun and in the kitchen a lot of work!

Thank you all who helped to realize this meeting.

Marko Jablanovic, Switzerland President IFMSA-Switzerland www.ifmsa.org 25 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

Subregional Trainings (SRTs): an example to follow 3RD SRT OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES MEDICAL STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATIONS (CECOMSA), EGER, HUNGARY, (15–18 OF FEBRUARY 2001)

Participating countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary

The CECOMSA (Central European Commit- house DRIV for a delicious Norwegian sea and SCORE issues, but also about SCOME tee of Medical Students Associations) group food dinner and after that pub crawl. (Medical Education) and SCOPH (Public was formed in order to have a close relation- Health). ship among the Central-European countries On Saturday the day was filled with lectures including Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, concerning intercultural communications On Friday-evening we all came together in a Slovakia, and Hungary. and being a doctor in a multicultural society. nice house in the forest near Utrecht and we One of the lectures was held by a doctor had a lot of name-games and the first party On the 2nd SRT in Olomouc, Czech Repub- raised in the Sámi culture and with experi- that evening. lic, we came up with the idea of organizing ence from working in a Sámi community. It social programs for our incoming students. is a very actual and important topic today On Saturday we trained them about “What This means if a student comes to Hungary when there is an increased mixture of cul- makes a good LEO or LORE”, we played a for example, has the opportunity to go to the tures that makes it even harder for doctors to LEO/LORE-problem-solving-game in the Czech Republic for a very affordable prize communicate and avoid misunderstandings. forest, we prepared the talent show and we offered by the Czech national organisation. This evening we celebrated NorMSIC’s 50th had a big party that night. anniversary with dinner and party all night This agreement requires a strong coopera- at a restaurant high up on the top of the field On Sunday we did some workshops in tion between the countries in application pro- with a magnificent view of Tromso. fundraising, Public Health and Medical Edu- cedures and also requires almost an every day cation. contact in between the national representa- The reason why I went to the Nordic meet- tives. ing, or one of the reasons, was to join the During the weekend a lot of cities have pre- workshop groups to discuss and share ideas sented themselves: about their university, During the 3rd SRT the whole meeting pro- from the different projects that we have in their curriculum, their city etc. gram was focused on how we make this idea common. I work in SCORA with peer educa- a reality. We also set up a combined database tion and as both Denmark and most of all All together, it was a really interesting week- about the programs we have in the region at Norway have several years of experience it end, of course with a lot of fun!!! http://cee.dote.hu. was really an interesting workshop and I went home to Sweden with many new ideas and Baltic Meeting, Porvoo, Finland In the close future we will form working com- tips. Another example from the different mittees for SCORA and SCOPH, where we groups is SCORP, that made a street action • participating countries: Russia, Finland, can share our ideas and experiences on these against racism were they went to the centre Latvia, Estonia fields as well. of Tromso to talk to people. Unfortunately it was the 1st of April, the day when everybody The subject was moreover SCORA (Repro- Nordic Meeting in Tromso, Norway (30th in Norway is making practical jokes… ductive Health incl. AIDS) field: “HIV/ March–1st April 2001) And unfortunately the workshops were held AIDS in Baltic countries”, but we also on Sunday when all of us was tired and on talked about SCORE since there happened • participating countries: Finland, Swe- our way home. to be NOREs from Russia, Finland, Latvia den, Norway, Denmark and Estonia. What NOREs mostly did was • people participating: around 60–70 There was also a SCORE workshop on April gossip of course, but talked business too. the 1st. This workshop was basically a SRT for Next Baltic meeting will be in September Participants from Denmark, Finland, Sweden SCORE (and also a bit on the other Standing 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia and the subject and of course Norway gathered for a week- Committees) They discussed different issues so far will be something like “Integration”. end to discuss projects, share experiences and concerning exchanges, exchanged experi- ideas and to celebrate the 50th anniversary for ences etc. There was also a session on Marta Ocampo, NorMSIC. Unfortunately the fifth Nordic fundraising for the exchange officers Spain country Island didn’t send any participants. (SCORE and SCOPE). IFMSA Secretary General 2000-2001 IFMSA SCORE Co-director 1999-2000 The theme of the meeting was “Health in a SRT Austerlitz, The Netherlands (20–22nd [email protected] multicultural society”. April 2001) Thanks to: Friday after the official opening of the meet- • participating countries: England, Ger- Marko Jablanovic, President IFMSA-Switzer- ing we had leader ship training program with many, The Netherlands land lectures and examples that we put into prac- • people participating: around 50 local Andras Szigeti, NEO HurMSIC tice for your voice, body language and differ- and national officers of SCOPE (Pro- Marike Wabbijn, NEO IFMSA-the Netherlands ent teamwork methods. I think that all of us fessional Exchange) and SCORE (Re- Anna-Linda Carlsson, participant at the Nor- enjoyed it, learned some new strategies and search Exchange) dic meeting was reminded of that the way you are pre- Pedja Djukic, SCORE Director 2000-2001 senting information is very important and de- The SRT this year was a real success! The Mariota Panourgia, SCOPE Director 2000- termine the interpretation of the message. participants were very satisfied. Some pres- 2001 In the evening we gathered at the student entations were given, not only about SCOPE

26 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers STRENGTHENING THE RELATIONS WITH THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN EUROPE

Annual report of the Liaison Officer for the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CP) and the Permanent Working Group of European Junior Doctors (PWG) 2000-2001

In the past year, IFMSA has improved ing Group on Continuous Medical Edu- its contacts with two of the most impor- cation and Continuous Professional De- tant organisations of the medical profes- velopment in September 2000. The Li- sion in Europe. Through the work of the aison Officer participated in this work- Liaison Officer, Jacco Veldhuyzen, the ing group on behalf of IFMSA. The exchange of information was increased, working group has drafted a resolution which resulted in a higher awareness on Continuous Medical Education and among the country representatives of Continuous Professional Development those organisations of the work of which will be presented to several Euro- IFMSA. Furthermore the contacts with pean institutions. the country representatives have resulted in cooperation between the Na- The Permanent Working Group of Eu- tional Medical Association and the Na- ropean Junior Doctors (PWG) aims to tional Member Organisation of IFMSA represent the junior doctors in Europe. in several countries. Junior Doctors are those doctors who acquired their medical degree, but did The Standing Committee of European not finish their specialist training. It is Research Exchange stand at the IMCC- Doctors (CP) aims to represent the Medi- composed of the National Junior Doc- Denmark 50th Anniversary (Odense, Oc- cal Profession (being all those working tor Organisations in Europe. The PWG tober 2000). as a doctor) towards European institu- is one of the associated organisations of tions. The CP is composed of the Na- the CP. The PWG mainly deals with the of actual practical cooperation between tional Medical Associations in Europe working conditions, training and career IFMSA and the CP or PWG in terms of and has strong links with the specialists, opportunities of junior doctors. IFMSA activities. However, the policy state- general practitioners, hospital manage- is officially recognised by the PWG. ments of the CP and the PWG can be ment, salaried doctors, junior doctors very valuable for discussions on those and medical students organisations in Last year IFMSA participated in all the topics in IFMSA. Furthermore, there is Europe. The CP is very European Un- meetings of the PWG. The Liaison Of- an increasing interest within IFMSA to ion focussed, but several non European ficer, Jacco Veldhuyzen attended the develop policy statements reflecting the Union countries participate in the activi- meeting of the PWG in October 2000 in opinions of the medical students com- ties of the CP. The CP deals wit all Euro- Utrecht. The IFMSA Treasurer repre- munity. In the future, IFMSA can col- pean Health Care issues through sub- sented the IFMSA during the meeting laborate with the CP and the PWG by committees. It formulates the opinion of in May 2001 in Stockholm. During those presenting our policy statements in the the medical profession on those issues meetings reports were given on the ac- meetings of the CP and PWG. By doing through policy statements. IFMSA is rec- tivities of IFMSA. Furthermore, a discus- this, those policy statements will more ognised as an Associated Organisation of sion was started on how to increase the easily reach National Medical Associa- the CP, representing the medical student cooperation between the PWG and tions, European and International insti- community. IFMSA. The idea was born to develop tutions. an agreement for future cooperation In the last year, IFMSA participated in between IFMSA and the PWG. For more information: all meetings of the CP. The Liaison Of- Standing Committee of European Doctors (CP): ficer participated in the sub-committee Within IFMSA, the National Member http://www.cpme.be Permanent Working Group of European Junior meetings and board meeting in Septem- Organisations were informed of the ac- Doctors (PWG): http://www.pwgeurope.org ber 2000 in Helsinki, in the associated tivities of the CP and the PWG through IFMSA Liaison Officer towards the CP and PWG: organisations meeting and the General the email distribution lists of IFMSA and [email protected] Assembly in November 2000 in Brussels during the meetings, specifically in the Liaison Officer 1999-2001, Jacco Veldhuyzen (see e-mail below) and in the associated organisations meet- meetings of the Standing Committee on ing, the sub-committee meetings, the Medical Education and the Standing board meeting and the General Assem- Committee on Public Health. The policy Jacco Veldhuyzen, bly in April 2001 in Brussels. The IFMSA statements developed by the CP and the The Netherlands President, Sanjeeb Sapkota, joined the PWG can be useful in the activities of IFMSA Liaison Officer for the Standing Liaison Officer during the General As- IFMSA in the field of Medical Education Committee of European Doctors (CP) sembly in November 2000 in Brussels. and Public Health. and the Permanent Working Group of During those meetings, reports on the European Junior Doctors (PWG) 1999- activities of IFMSA were given. The fact that the CP and the PWG are 2001 mainly discussion forums for European [email protected] IFMSA was invited to join the CP Work- health care issues limits the development www.ifmsa.org 27 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers Standing committee on research exchange MOVING AHEAD

SCORE Supervisory Board, SCORE Workshop, Agreement with Berlin Congress ... all in sense of better SCORE

First thing’s first: Considering the conferences where, with other the Workshop itself and, after that, information and statistics that were students, students that were on RE analyzing how great it was! collected from NOREs, there are can present their work - the first around 600 exchanges done agreement was signed with Of course, there were difficulties. through IFMSA Research Exchange European Students Conference The biggest one was connected to during the last exchange season Berlin. This is the good the shutting down of the IFMSA (March 2000 - March 2001). As far foundation for, in the following website in December 2000. It struck as I know, it is more than ever. There years, establishing similar SCORE very hard, since whole are 37 NMOs that take part in agreements with couple of strong SCORE Research Project Database SCORE. Beside that, as every year, medical students’ conferences on was shut down and lost with the SCORE worked to include more each continent. All this should, website. Students could not find the NMOs in Research Exchange. So far actually, be preparatory work for projects anymore. Fortunately there are 4 new NMOs who are asking wider university SCORE continued to work more or preparing to take part in SCORE. recognition of IFMSA Research less normally, thanks to the FTP site This is basic report, but is there Exchange throughout the World. where all the booklets with projects anything else? Of course that there were placed. This early summer is... Beside Research Exchange (what is (May and June) was marked by main work of SCORE) and creating new databases for whole What was done in the past year was improvement and recognition of it IFMSA. Many NOREs actively took mainly continuation of the work for (where work is constant for couple part in creating databases for its improvement of RE of IFMSA that of years and results slowly appear), Exchange Conditions and Research has been going on for couple of years SCORE did many other things this Projects. Both databases are now now. One of the milestones of that year. One of the most important and activeJ. work was adoption of new SCORE biggest is definitely SCORE Bylaws during the IFMSA General Workshop. This Workshop, There are much more that was Assembly in Porto, last year. We had together with several others, will going on in SCORE in the past year. to work a lot to implement those take place during the 50th These were just most important Bylaws. One of the main steps was Anniversary of IFMSA, officially things. To count them all would forming the entirely new, internal, known as International Training require a book... SCORE body – SCORE Supervisory Congress for Medical Students. Board (SB). The work of SCORE SB SCORE people managed to fulfill Before I finish this report, I want to is focused on improving the quality this realy big thing in one years’ time. point out something else. SCORE of Projects that are offered to All of it started one year ago, during has one special thing that has always students through SCORE. Since this the SCORE Working Group for made me proud of being SCOREr. was the first year of their work, the Workshop during GA in Porto. That is the feeling of great huge task of reviewing all already Then, several young and friendship, great atmosphere and existing projects was laying ahead of enthusiastic SCORE people agreed great devotion to SCORE. That is them. They did really great job and on a subject of the Workshop, and typical wherever you find two of I hope that they will manage to finish the year of internet searching, more SCORErs: on meetings, on this huge task till Denmark. After proposal writing, program making, internet, on the bus, on the street ... that, the work of SCORE SB will speakers and lecturers inviting, Anywhere ... SCORE THE mostly consist of checking newly fundraising and finalizing of the WORLD!!! offered projects and improving whole thing was ahead. There were general quality criteria. dificulties, there were ups and downs, but they never quit, they Another important thing that was were persistant and hardworking Predrag Djukic, done this year is start of official and the results are there. All the Yugoslavia relationships between IFMSA/ preparations are done. The best part IFMSA SCORE Director 2000-2001 SCORE and medical students’ is yet to come - actual experiencing [email protected]

28 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

International Training Congress for Medical Students FUTURE OF EXCHANGE

“We are future doctors with a big potential. We all have a lot of dreams and many ideas. We can’t change the world. But we can change the facts. And when we change the facts, we change points of view. If we change points of view, then we may change a vote. By changing a vote we may change the world. So lets’ make healthier and better tomorrow!”

Each year close to The Professional Exchange has long in- relevant and sustainable projects 6,000 medical stu- fluenced the medical education of stu- • Peer-reviewed Action Plans for the dents from close to dents from around the Federation, by following 12 months 70 different coun- providing them with exposure to differ- •A Global Network to support activities tries, on 6 conti- ent health care systems and giving these spinning off from the workshop nents participate in students the ability to be more active in the IFMSA Profes- designing their medical education. How- Program sional Exchange Program. This pro- ever, the application procedure, counsel- gram has the potential to yearly educate ing students and training LEOs consumes August 7th, 2001: a great number of future physicians on much of the National Exchange Officers • Prof. Robert Steffen, SCOPE Direc- the various health care delivery systems time. This time could be better utilized tor in 60s, IFMSA President 1967- found across the Globe. The task of or- developing the exchange program, and 1968, Professor of Travel Medicine at ganizing such a large group of students establishing and cultivating relationships the University of Zurich, Switzerland, requires a massive commitment of vol- with Medical Faculty officials, professors Head of the Division of Epidemiology unteer resources and a great logistical and potential funding sources. and Prevention of Communicable Dis- effort. As with most multinational en- eases at the Institute of Social and Pre- deavors, good communication is vital for The wide use of the internet and digital ventive Medicine and the Director of the success of the operation. technology has accelerated our move- the WHO Collaborating Center for ment toward a more global society in Traveller´s Health. The IFMSA Standing Committee on Pro- many areas including medicine and Prof. Steffen held a lecture about the fessional Exchange organized workshop; health services. This new technology is importance of SCOPE, histoty and “The Future of Exchange” which was viewed by IFMSA as a unique opportu- the main goals of SCOPE. the part of GA 50 IFMSA and provided a nity to integrate advances in medical stu- • Mr. Viggo Haarlov, the National co- foundation of basic computer and dent education from around the world. ordinator of SOCRATES program, Internet skills to further develop existing To provide future physicians with an Denmark presented the SOCRATES modes of communication. Improved international curricular experience has program run by the European Union. communications will improve the effi- been one of the founding goals of • Afterwards, participants were divide ciency and decrease the time commitment IFMSA. To implement this plan will re- into 4 parallel groups and discussed of the National Exchange Officers. quire a great amount of support from the same topic: “Our vision of an ideal Medical Faculties worldwide, and the clerkship”. Each group made a short IFMSA was initiated in Western Europe “Future of Exchange” workshop was an presentation of what they found the in 1951, comprised of student organiza- excellent tool to accomplish this mission. most important topics about the “ideal tions from several European Medical clerkship” Faculties. During the last 50 years, What were the main goals of our IFMSA has grown to almost 70 countries Future of Exchange Workshop? August 8th, 2001: from 6 continents. The main interest of • Increasing the academic quality of the • Jana Myndiukova, National Ex- many of these newly initiated Associa- Clinical Exchanges. change Officer of SloMSA, Slovakia, tions is to participate in the exchange • Gain better influence with medical presented “My success story in Cooper- program. The Standing Committee on education decision-makers. ating with officials”, describing the co- Professional Exchange now has the po- • Provide participants with skills to operation with decision makers (fac- tential to influence thousands of medi- reach a larger audience. ulty, departments) on the local and cal students and physicians around the • Increase understanding and co-op- national level. world. eration among people already work- The presentation was followed by the ing with the program. discussion of guidelines for approaching To ensure that medical students took • Get permanent funding to Profes- deans and to reach a conclusion about part in this program had a uniform and sional Exchange. the SCOPE benefits for schools, hospi- quality experience, the workshop was a tals and departments forum where professors and students Participants: • Pia Niittymaki, National Exchange discussed what constitutes a “Quality 60 medical student leaders, represent- Officer of FiMSIC, Finland: “Why is Clerkship”. Discussions will include stan- ing all geographical regions exchange important” dards for the clinical practice and teach- After the participants were divided into ing. After these discussions, implemen- Expected Outputs 4 parallel groups and discussed the tation programs for these standards • 60 students leaders equipped with SCOPE goals and objectives. were designed. skills and knowledge to initiate locally • Marie Louise Skaerlund, National www.ifmsa.org 29 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

Exchange Officer of IMCC, Denmark, International Training Congress for Medical Students presented “Guidlines for approaching decision makers”. After participants discussed in the paral- WORKING ABROAD lel groups SCOPE guidelines for ap- an EMSA-IFMSA workshop proaching decision makers.

August 9th, 2001: The workshop’s aim was to find out the search in motivation of medical students • Marius Grima, MMSA, Malta: “NEO motivations for medical students to work to work abroad, carried out by every homepage”. The presentation about abroad within Europe, the problems participant with a questionnaire. Also a the future SCOPE homepage that European doctors might face when creative presentation which included a • Antonis Kaintatzis, HelMSIC, they try to cross the borders, and the song and some sketches was filmed. Greece and Marius Grima, MMSA, availability of information about this sub- Malta: The IFMSA electronic database ject. This workshop was at the same time The atmosphere during the workshop and the electronic exchange system intended to be creative and interactive, was relaxed and real good team work presentation (www.ifmsa.net) to so no lectures were scheduled, but every was done. Lots of all kind of ice-break- Workshop participants participant had to take part actively and ing games were played. share his/her information and own August 10th, 2001: ideas. After every day and at the end of the • Pia Niittymaki, National Exchange workshop a evaluation was done. There Officer of FiMSIC, Finland: “Introduc- There were three main topics in the were many positive aspects such as in- tion to Evaluation of Exchange Program” workshop, which were dealt with in one teresting subjects, lots of fun, active par- An introduction to evaluation, then dis- session each. One of them was the East- ticipation, and only negative one, which cussion in 4 different groups with differ- West barrier. During this session, five was starting late. ent topics concerning the SCOPE evalu- practical cases about doctors moving be- ation procedures. tween West and East European coun- So, this were the outcomes of the work- • Group discussion about the Evalua- tries were discussed. At the end of the shop: tion procedures within SCOPE, mod- session it was agreed that there is a East- • Lots of fun erated by facilitators West barrier and some solutions were •A research on students’ motivations to • Mariota Panourgia, SCOPE Direc- proposed. work abroad tor: “Good communication and handover • Information about the situation of in SCOPE” The following session was about the lack doctors in different European coun- • Panel discussion about the communi- of information and every participant tries provided by the participants cation within SCOPE. shared his /her experience with sources • General information about working • Making plans of action, moderating by of information about working abroad abroad: links and recommended the Workshop Organizing Committee and some internet links and books were books or other sources recommended. At the end of this session •A creative presentation of the state- August 11th, 2001: it was decided to create a web page with ments done in this workshop • Dr. Noel Barrengo, OC President, up to date information about working •A proposal to create a web page with 97th EOM, 2000, IFMSA Vice Presi- abroad as a doctor available for medical information about working abroad dent on External Affairs 1999-2000: students. and to keep up with the work started “Basic Concepts in Marketing” and “Fu- with this workshop. ture of SCOPE Marketing” The last session was about motivation of Afterwards participants discussed the students to work abroad. It was dis- SCOPE marketing strategies cussed why doctors might or might not Raquel Costa Andrés, • Jana Myndiukova, IFMSA want to move from their own country to Spain Fundraising Task Force Coordinator: work in another European country. Workshop Organising Committee Member “Face to face fundraising negotiation” [email protected] and “Future of SCOPE Fundraising” During this workshop also parallel ac- Karin Feddes, The Netherlands The presentation was followed by the tivities were developed, such as a re- Workshop Fundraiser discussion about the SCOPE fundraising strategies. • Pia Niittymaki, Workshop Coordina- tor: “Conclusion and Workshop Evalua- tion”

Organizing Committee: Pia Niittymaki, Workshop Coordinator, Finland Marie Louise Skaerlund, Workshop Program Coordi- nator, Denmark Jana Myndiukova, Coordinator, WS Fundraising, WS Treasurer, Slovakia Derek M. Guirand, NEO IFMSA-USA, USA Luis Filippe Vasconcelos Farinha, NEO Assistant, PorMSIC/ANEM, Portugal Manuel Nuno Direito de Morais Guerreiro, NEO, PorMSIC/ANEM, Portugal Maria Panagiota Panourgia, SCOPE Director, Italy Ulas Sozener, WS Webmaster, Outgoing NEO, TurkMSIC, Turkey SCOPE Working Group at the ITCMS. 30 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers

Standing committee on medical education BACK ON THE TRACK!

I don’t want to wine, even though I love I believe, that in the beginning of a new by our own universities. My sincer- to do that…. Well, a bit controversial, I year in SCOME, the working commit- est thank-you-s go to Tomris guess…. But anyways, this year WAS tee has new directions to strive for, I be- Cesuroglu (TurkMSIC, Turkey) for all tough! lieve a lot has been done to assure conti- the effort she put in it. And of course nuity. When going through the SCOME to Nila Karmila (Indonesia), Ahmad I have very-very mixed feelings, when I files, I noticed how the very same things Halawani (LeMSIC, Lebanon) and think back of the last year. It was success- have been done over and over and over Mohamed Othman (EMSA, Egypt). ful from one point of view, from an other, and over all again. In different decades it was a disaster – especially the very last – ok. But one single project under a dif- Mats Sundberg (IFMSA-Sweden) and bit of it. But then again, I feel like a lot ferent name had for example been Nergiz Dagoglu (TurkMSIC) gave a was accomplished, and then I can also started for 4 (!) times only in the 1990-s. good effort to build stronger contacts sympathize with those who see as if noth- between us and the World Federation of ing had been done for a whole year. Continuity and the training of NOMEs/ Medical Education (WFME). They both LOMEs is what should the priority for deserve my thanks. The project on the When I took over the leadership of next year’s SCOME leadership team! International Standards is just starting, SCOME in August 2000, I had 20 very but we are already known as very valu- energetic people looking at me, smil- The Curriculum Database Project is able partners and I can only hope that ing to my face. And I thought – vow, growing stronger! For this I would es- the co-operation will grow into real mu- what a team: we are going to move pecially like to thank Ciprian tual benefits. rocks! And we all promised to write, Dospinescu (IFMSA-Romania), the co- write, write. Because this is what I ordinator of the project. He has brought A fact that I am I guess most happy truly inside me believe that the project to a new phase, a fabulous about, is that SCOME has brought new “Scomees” should do: communicate homepage has been built and new ideas members into it’s family. SCOME needs with each other. It is indeed impor- around this project have risen. I only to grow and we have started to already. tant to do much at a local and national wish luck and hope to see this very same I would especially like to highlight here level. Of course. But for me, as a project in IFMSA Annual Reports also IFMSA’s French and Canadian NMOs. SCOME Director, it doesn’t help me in 20 years from now. I hope we will see newcomers like this much to learn at the end of the year in the following years as well. (Not to that certain LOMEs or NOMEs have The work together with others student forget the old-foxes, of course). been extremely active but yet never organisations through the UNESCO told anything about it to others. student forum should be strengthened. I also want to thank everybody else who SCOME is all about sharing: informa- Medicine IS part of the big picture of helped me with SCOME work, I call tion and experiences. That is all it is higher education and we should get them my sweet “Scomees” and I hope about. SCOME world-wide: I just can- more heavily involved. This year we that the name I put to these wonderful not let myself be so naïve to believe, made good contacts for that at the people will remain. As a conclusion I can that we as a group could actually UNESCO World Conference on Higher only say that SCOME is truly back on change medical education at a world- Education NGO-Follow up. track, starting its engines slowly as an old wide level. NO, NO, NO, we can’t. wagon usually does (we ARE 50 years What we can do is to learn from each A big problem in SCOME was high- old!!!), but renovating itself bit-by-bit. other about what could be done, about lighted that the Scomees themselves are what is good at other places and what not as well educated about the medical The main word for the following years is better at my local university or na- education factual matters. Not as well as to come is nevertheless – tional education/healthcare system. we should be. Being medical students c_o_n_t_i_n_u_i_t_y! My sincere wish- Through this, we could move rocks! naturally makes us knowledgeable, but you-luck wishes to the next SCOME Di- Piece-by-piece, the same way as the not experts. We should be experts. The rector Nikola and his team! great pyramids were built, the same problem has been brought up and it is way medicine has developed, the only up to the next teams to put their And remember – when you need to same way everything in this world focus on that. Training ourselves. smile for a picture, you don’t have to say happens. Doing things only at a local “cheese”, ‘cause “Scomeeeeee” works level – that is not participation in The Future of Medical Education just as well!!!!! SCOME-international. Unfortunately workshop at IFMSA’s 50th Anniver- this is the fact. sary Assembly was a success. Four great declarations that will need fur- The communication over our “global ther working were written: on practi- network” – a yahoogroups.com server cal education, community-oriented was not as big, but I truly believe there education, life-long-learning and Teele Raiend, is hope for that. problem-based-learning. These are Estonia the hurting issues in the world of IFMSA SCOME Director 2000-2001 I guess one day we will all be computer- medical education today and it is up [email protected] freaks J! to us to make them better recognized www.ifmsa.org 31 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 TeGeME PROJECT Factsheet for the Teaching Geriatrics in Medical Education

TeGeME 1 study, Teaching Geriat- rics in Medical Education: investi- The TeGeME-project is working on limited gating geriatrics teaching in medi- funding and runs without a budget. WHO cal schools. provides technical support without costs and The data collection of the TeGeME 1 study has come to an end. Data has limited funding for administrative purposes. been acquired from many countries, UNFPA will fund the publication of the report. but unfortunately we did not suc- ceed to acquire data from all targeted countries, which is a big dis- appointment. With the limited data it will not be possible to undertake The attitude is measured by a Se- For the coming months we have comparisons. mantic Differential constructed by planned to gather the data from all Rosencranz and McNevin. This is a the countries participating. We have The acquired data will be processed questionnaire of 32 bipolar scales of planned to organise focus group dis- by a member of the European Medi- attributes or behavioural character- cussions with selected groups of stu- cal Students’ Association (EMSA) in istics. By comparing the outcomes of dents in the participating countries. September 2001. The results will be the questionnaire with the basic sta- When all the data has been acquired published together with the results tistical data an insight can be ac- the analysis of the data will start. The of the TeGeME 2 study. quired on the attitude of medical results will be published in a report, students towards older people in together with the results of the TeGeME 2 study, Improving old age general. Furthermore it is possible TeGeME 1 study. care: medical students’ attitudes to- to see what factors are determining wards older persons for the attitude of medical students. In the extended future we can think of expansion of the TeGeME 2 study The TeGeME 2 study is a follow up This method is a known tool. There- to other regions, making the survey study of TeGeME 1 and focuses fore the results of the study can be available for internet use and other more on the individual medical stu- compared with other studies using use. After that we might think of dent. the same tool. TeGeME 3, which could for exam- Knowing how medical students For the study five African countries ple focus on case studies. think about older persons is impor- have been selected: Ghana, Kenya, tant, as the future generation of pa- Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. tients will be of older age then the Furthermore we are in contact with current patient population. This students from Sudan and Rwanda to change will be most notable in de- start the study in these countries as veloping countries. The medical stu- well. Africa has been chosen because dents of now will be the doctors of this region faces the highest world- these patients. At this moment very wide level of ageing in the coming little is known about the attitude of years. The countries have specifi- medical students towards older per- cally been selected on the knowledge sons. Therefore IFMSA and WHO of English language among the medical students and the experi- work together in this study to get a More information: better insight. ences from the TeGeME 1 study. • Ingrid Keller, World Health Or- ganization A survey will conducted under Progress report and plan of action [email protected] medical students from all years of of the TeGeME 2 study study. Basic statistical data, such as age, sex and year of study will be Over the last months, questionnaires • Thiago Monaco, IFMSA coordina- collected to get an overview of the from Tanzania, Ghana and South- tor for the TeGeME 1 study respondent population. Africa have been processed. We have [email protected] been working on getting the ques- The respondents will be asked if the tionnaires from other countries as • Jacco Veldhuyzen, IFMSA coordi- lived for more then 5 years with well. The statistical evaluation of the nator for the TeGeME 2 study older persons in the same house. data has started. [email protected]

32 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Official Project CURRICULUM DATABASE PROJECT

Introduction • Gathering data: all over the world. First, we aim to col- Having two questionnaires, in the lect the information from the IFMSA The Curriculum Database Project is an process of collecting the information member countries. This is easiest way to Official IFMSA SCOME project that has we need the help of: begin, because we can benefit from the been created in 1999, with the aim of – National Officers on Medical Edu- infrastructure of IFMSA. offering medical students an opportu- cation who must fill in the National nity to find information about the ways Level Questionnaire with general Browsing the CD site, you can read of studying and teaching medicine in data that gives an idea about Medi- about the project itself and also you can other faculties and countries worldwide. cal Education in their country, browse the database. That way, you can The Standing Committee on Medical – Local Officers on Medical Educa- get the general information about one Education (SCOME) is one of the most tion who must fill in the Medical country’s Medical Education system and important standing committees of School Questionnaire with specific also more detailed information on how IFMSA, having the purpose of involv- data that describes in detail how do others learn medicine at their home uni- ing medical students around the world students learn medicine in their versities. in improving their education systems. Medical School. So far, 26 countries listed their medical Bearing these facts in mind, all medical • Evaluation: education information in the database. education representatives (the NOMEs At IFMSA meetings, the project co- They are: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bul- – National Officers on Medical Educa- ordinators will present project evalu- garia, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, tion) of the IFMSA member countries ations that will show the project’s Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, have meet in several working commit- progress: statistics about the number Holland, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, tees during IFMSA Congresses ever of NMO’s that have participated, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Ro- since. The Project has developed with about the number of medical schools mania, Spain, Spain Catalonia, Switzer- the participation of many students that have been included, percentages land, Taiwan, Turkey and USA. throughout the world and reached its and other interpretations. today status. Follow-up We think that, among medical students, In order to become officially recognized there is a need of knowledge in the field The next thing to do is promote the by IFMSA, the project had to be submit- of medical curricula. Regular students project in order to have in the CD as ted for approval to the IFMSA General don’t have influence on curriculum de- many countries as possible. Then, we Assembly, during one of the two annual velopment at their home medical schools have to build up a strong network of lo- meetings of the federation. At the 2001 and they might not be aware of the im- cal contacts in each country and gather March Meeting of IFMSA (March 5th- portance of it. Curriculum Database was more detailed data. 10th, 2001) the IFMSA General Assem- created to fill this gap. bly voted in the 4th Plenary Session in In the long run, we would like to extend favour of giving Curriculum Database At the end CD will be a tool that will help: the CD to countries which are not official recognition as an IFMSA project. • student representatives to find out IFMSA members and develop a very details about better and more devel- consistent database. Description oped medical education systems, details that they can use at home, CD Team The project had to go through a few • medical students that want to become steps: international students to decide the For any questions or sugestions related faculty and country that suits best to the project please contact us. We’ll do • Writing the questionnaires: their needs, our best to meet your expectations! All the questions that need to be an- • all medical students that intend to swered have been put together by the take part in a student exchange pro- CD team in questionnaires, which are gramme to get prepared pro- the tools that will help us gather all fessionaly and to know what to expect the informations. when arriving to the host medical Ciprian Dospinescu, At the SCOME meeting in Porto, in school, IFMSA-Romania, August 2000, it has been decided that • students that want to express opin- [email protected] is better to work with two question- ions and ask each other questions re- International Co-ordinator naires, and collect the information on garding medical education. Sebastian Iancu, two levels: Anybodyelse who thinks that CD is use- IFMSA-Romania, – questionnaires for countries, ful, is welcome to take advantage of it! [email protected] – questionnaires for medical schools. Webmaster, Website Builder The questionnaires are dynamic, al- Outcomes Nikola Borojevic, ways subject for being improved, Croatia, there can always be new questions The actual result of the project is the CD [email protected] added or old questions removed or homepage: http://cd.osmcluj.ro, that can PR Co-ordinator modified. be accessed by any medical student from www.ifmsa.org 33 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA Official Project IFMSA Official Project INFLUENCE OF STUDYING ON MEDICAL STUDENTS’ HEALTH STUDENTS LEARN SIGN INTRODUCTION majority of traditional schools. We LANGUAGE expect the level of stress to be lower The aim of the project is to establish in PBL schools. a correlation between studying and Helen Keller once said: students’ health. CONCLUSION Blindness separates people Medical students in general seem to from things, have more physical and emotional The health of medical students is deafness separates people worse than peer population as a re- problems than peers do. The cause from people. is stress induced by studying and the sult of stress caused by studies and their organisation. We have not es- organisation of studies. The project Have you ever thought of is organised on international level in tablished any significant difference four countries. The results show de- between surveyed countries. learning the Sign language? terioration in students’ health and well being since the beginning of Our focus and follow-up will be ori- First Sign Language Course for medical students was organized in the year 2000 their studies and they are similar in ented on medical education even at the Medical faculty in Zagreb. Sixty more than before. all included countries. medical students gathered because they wanted to learn how to communicate with METHODS Next step, which has already begun, a deaf person. It is not easy to learn Sign is involving more PBL and other language and it takes a lot of practising, Tool is a questionnaire for students “experimental” medical schools in but it is something completely different to evaluate students’ health. The the project. 3 surveys have been from anything you have ever learned and questionnaire consists of 27 ques- done in PBL schools. We expect that, also very interesting and attractive. tions, which are divided into four in comparison to traditional ones, sections: General information, Gen- PBL has lower level of stress because We have managed to organized this eral health evaluation, Studying and their program is more student-ori- course with a great help from the Medi- cal faculty of Zagreb and Mrs. Mirjana health and The lifestyle. The ques- ented. We hope to contribute Jurisa, a defectologist from the Faculty of SCOME with this project, especially tionnaire focuses on stress factors Defectology in Zagreb. that are related to studying – cur- in evaluation of types of medical riculum, organisation, relationship education on a global scale by re- Our students have shown great interest with mentors etc. and, consequently, cruiting different NMOs. It is a spe- in this matter, so this year we have organ- on the effects that such environment cial opportunity to reach such a di- ized another course. This time there were produces. Special accent is put on versity of medical schools. 30 students enrolled. Just like the first physical symptoms and actual diag- time, the only condition was that they are noses of conditions that are closely The project has been running since medical students. Characteristics like age, related to stress. The students have 1997 and is currently run in 4 coun- gender, nationality or something else been chosen by random method. tries, Croatia, France, Egypt and have not been considered. Germany by a team of around 40 Through communication with other people. It counts with the support RESULTS Medical faculties in Croatia, our idea was and advice of the Economics Depart- exerted at the Medical Faculty in Rijeka. The results show that medical stu- ment of the University of They have organized their own Sign dents consider their health to be J.J.Srossmayer, Osijek, Croatia and language course and it was very worse than peer population and that the Student Council Center, Rijeka, successful. We hope that our experience it has deteriorated since the begin- Croatia. will help other two Croatian Medical ning of the studies. The analysis faculties – Osijek and Split, to do the same. showed that 40,5 % of surveyed stu- This course is our contribution to the dents have symptoms of either Vlatka Jurkovic, education of medical students, but more physical or emotional impairment. CroMSIC, Croatia important, it is our contribution to the fight for the human rights. That is the The survey includes 15 medical International Coordinator reason we hope that this course will be [email protected] schools from Croatia (4), France (4), organized at medical faculties worldwide. Germany (6) and Egypt (1). The preliminary results are very similar in National project coordinators: Nikolina Jovanovic, all countries. Some medical schools Philippe Ghibu, ANEMF, France Croatia have PBL (Problem Based Learn- Mohamed Othman, MSSA, Egypt International Coordinator ing) system to be compared to the Ozgur Onur, GeMSA, Germany [email protected]

34 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

NMO project Book aid project NMO IFMSA-Canada Contact person Karine Sanogo Email [email protected] Dates Once in a year Location Canada Number of Participants 8 medical students from Nationalities Canadian Canada in collaboration with African participants Collaborating Organisations FAEMQ (Quebec Federation of medical student associations) within IFMSA-Canada Description (150 words max) We will collect medical books from libraries, students and doctors to send them to the libraries of 2 medical faculties of African countries (one English faculty and one French faculty). The project is starting and we intend to send for the first time during the next year books to the 2 first faculties. Planned Follow-up We would like the project to continue in the future.

NMO project Medico Vadis NMO VSM/AEMS (IFMSA - Switzerland) Contact person Bachmann Iris Irène Email [email protected] Dates spring, summer and Location Switzerland autumn 2002 (various cities) Number of Participants about 1000-2000 Nationalities CH and others Collaborating Organisations VSAO/ASMAC Swiss Junior doctors association Description (150 words max) Medico Vadis is a new formed information platform for students and junior doctors in Switzer- land. We like to show the perspectives for future, to answer the frequent questions of education and continuation of one’s education, to sensitise our members for political problems and to promote the dialogue within the health system. (language: German, French) Planned Follow-up Every year (various events)

NMO Event Symposium ‘new data-drugs and nutrition’ NMO HELMSIC Contact person Nasothimiou Efi Email [email protected] Karamani Elina [email protected] Dates 5/5/2001 Location Athens Number of Participants 250 medical students Nationalities Greek Collaborating Organisations University of Athens, Dimokritos institution Athens medical school Description (150 words max) It was a very successful scientific symposium. Many HelMSIC people worked very hard during the year so as to organise this activity. It was held in the main building of Athens university. There were a round table discussion on nutrition by Dr Trixopoulou, a lecture on dioxins by Dr Nikolopoulou, a round table discussion on new data on drugs for cancer by scientists from Dimokritos etc Planned Follow-up Our aim is to organise more symposiums in the near future www.ifmsa.org 35 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers PRO-ACTIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH UNESCO WORKING TOGETHER TOWARDS CONCRETE OUTCOMES

The year 2000–2001 has proved that cuss joint student strategy for follow-up with HIV/AIDS is fear, and this fear continued and active interest in and work on student mandate, set of stu- comes mostly from wrong or distorted UNESCO’s activities and programs is dent priorities and activities. Three offi- information…so, our first step had to be very beneficial for IFMSA. Having the cial student representatives were elected to correct misunderstandings about how same liaison officer assigned for in charge of coordination of follow-up. HIV is transmitted...” Two interdiscipli- UNESCO for two years now, IFMSA has (IAAS, ESIB, MIEC). The focus of the nary regional training workshops on become a visible and approachable Student Forum is on the participation HIV/AIDS and Human Rights in Indo- youth NGO that is involved in many of of students in Decision-Making and the nesia (Bandung, November 3–9, 2001) UNESCO’s programs, such as World development of a student-friendly and South Africa (Cape-Town, February Conference on Higher Education Fol- Handbook or Guide to the Declaration 2002) are prepared now at an amazing low-up, Bioethics Unit, Culture of Peace, and Plan of Action of the WCHE. From speed on the basis of the resource kit and Gender equality unit, Participation Pro- 17-18 September 2001 the special a training module that serves local youth gram and the Social and Human Sci- Project “Women, Higher Education and organizations in conceiving and organ- ences Sector. Development” Evaluation meeting took izing workshops on human rights and place at UNESCO headquarters. The HIV/AIDS. IFMSA Focal Point in UNESCO objectives of this fruitful meeting were: The Youth Coordination Unit is the of- – to discuss the external evaluation re- SIDAetSavoirs ficial focal point for IFMSA. Through port on the 6-year Special Project “Sida@s...” is a science-society liaison ini- regular meetings with Sabine Detzel and “Women, Higher Education and Devel- tiative aiming at encouraging young Ms. Maria Hendriques-Muller, IFMSA opment” - to propose a set of activities people to investigate the current state of is well informed about conferences and in favor of women in higher education research and knowledge about aids & activities in and outside UNESCO that that UNESCO might undertake during development (e.g. access to treatments, actively involves young people. By in- the next medium-term strategy (2002– expansion of the pandemic, cultural rep- forming them about IFMSA’s involve- 2007) in co-operation with partners resentations, vaccination, political & eco- ment in the various UNESCO pro- committed to women and development. nomic stakes etc.) and explain it to their grams, the youth coordination unit can IFMSA will discuss and bring proposals peers and a larger audience around actively help us in arranging appoint- for future action in favour of women in them. It also aims to stimulate through ments with various departments, stimu- higher education. A formal letter was Internet, the dialogue between French- late youth involvement on a practical send by many student NGO’s like IAAS, speaking youth from Europe and Africa level in different departments, so simply IPSF, ELSA and IFMSA to address the and between young people, scientists & facilitate that IFMSA voice, potential and visa problems many exchange students, journalists about aids & development creativity is heard and seen. A nice over- especially from developing countries issues. The project is prepared in col- view of International Youth Organiza- encounter when they go on elective. laboration with the French Institute de tions you can find on the following UNESCO replied that they feel this is an Recherche pour le Development (IRD). website: http://www.unesco.org/youth/ important issue and that they are ad- For the preparation of the project RepONG.htm dressing it. IFMSA agreed to review the project document. When the project starts in World Conference on Higher Educa- HIV/AIDS and Human Rights “Young January 2002, a call for participation to tion (WCHE) Follow-up People in Action” francophone IFMSA members will be Last year IFMSA participated in the 7th The major development this year has done to initiate four or five projects run UNESCO/NGO Collective Consultation been the development of the resource by medical students in various on Higher Education (27-29 November kit “HIV/AIDS and Human Rights: francophone countries. 2000) to discuss the potential of infor- Young People in Action” by the mation technology for widening access UNESCO Social and Human Sciences Bioethics to higher education and to examine the sector. Last year IFMSA students gave The last year the contact with the Inter- results achieved by NGOs and others feedback on the draft manual and international Bioethics Committee was inten- with regard to the implementation of the views with students active on the grass- sified. The Universal Declaration of the WCHE Declaration and Action. More root level in the field of HIV/AIDS and Human Genome and Human Rights info on the WCHE Follow-up can be Human rights were added. The follow- was actively distributed on the IFMSA found on the newly released website: ing quote by Franciscus Arifin from In- mailinglist What this declaration basi- http://www.unesco.org/education/wche/ donesia is put in the foreword of the re- cally saying is that with the advancement index.shtml. source kit by Koichiro Matsuura, Direc- of technical competence, the human ge- tor-General of UNESCO and Peter Piot, nome is at higher risk of being the sub- IFMSA actively contributed in discussion Executive Director of UNAIDS. “…The ject of mutilation and thus losing the and met with the Student Forum to dis- basis of discrimination of people living human dignity. It also has a strong com-

36 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 ponent where it condemns the human IFMSA attended the NGO Collective Upcoming UNESCO meetings cloning. IFMSA will also completed the Consultation on Gender Equality and Youth Forum during the UNESCO survey among NGOs about the Univer- Equity and a meeting about women General Conference 12-14 October sal Declaration of the Human Genome and new information and communi- 2001. and Human Rights that was send by the cation technologies. IFMSA has pre- UNESCO NGO-liaison committee. sented at these meetings its work on In summary, IFMSA relationship to IFMSA attended in the UNESCO con- women’s health and gender equality. UNESCO has improved a lot the last ference: Colloque International No further steps are done at the mo- years through continued interest in Ethique, Propriete Intellectuelle et ment to further integrate these meet- UNESCO activities and committed par- Genomique (Jan 30-Feb 1 2001) More ings among youth NGO’s. The start ticipation in UNESCO’s consultations, IFMSA involvement in this field will up of a special group about the young projects and conferences. IFMSA has show in the youth Forum on Bioethics women can still be considered. made their voice heard in this UN body. organized in Paris and the World Com- It is essential for IFMSA to integrate mission on the Ethics of Scientific Participation Program these activities in the structure of the Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) IFMSA applied for its Leadership Train- organization, in particular the standing meeting in Berlin. An important inter- ing and Resource Development Pro- committees in order to guarantee follow- disciplinary meeting, the International gram in March 2000 and got granted up and dissemination on these topics. It Students Symposium “Bioethics in Life US$ 20.000. Through the provided was a pleasure and honor to serve Science: the Importance to Future Pro- funds IFMSA was able to professionalise IFMSA as the UNESCO liaison officer fessionals” will be held inVienna, Austria its program and invite participants and for the last two years. I would like to (21–24 November, 2001) is organised by lecturers to participate in the successful thank especially Jeremie Sinzelle for the agriculture, medical and pharmacy stu- three-day Training and Resource Devel- enormous energy and commitment he dents with the financial and technical opment Program held during the Inter- showed to assist me in my work as support of UNESCO. national Training Congress for Medical UNESCO liaison officer. Students (4-12 August 2001) in Aalborg, Culture of Peace Denmark. The suggestion for next year IFMSA was this year an Official Mes- is to select five IFMSA projects on local, senger of the Manifesto 2000 and col- national or international level early on Barbara Schimmer, lected 150 signatures by having the and apply for the UNESCO Participa- The Netherlands Manifesto logo on its website and dis- tion Program (2001-2002) in order to IFMSA Liaison Officer for UNESCO tributed Manifesto pins during the get the UNESCO National Commission 1999-2001 Malta meeting. IFMSA actively took Support Letters on time. [email protected] part in the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence by having the Children and War workshop listed on the UNESCO IYCP Calender and assigned as official flag- WORLD CONFERENCE ON ship event for the International Year for the Culture of Peace. IFMSA was HIGHER EDUCATION NGO one of the 130 non-governmental or- FOLLOW UP UNESCO ganizations (NGOs) took part in a symposium on November 24–25, 2000 at UNESCO Headquarters enti- 27-29th November 2000, Paris, France tled The Culture of Peace: An Idea in Action, designed to assess the During the conference, attended by was the knowledge of higher education progress of the global movement for Barbara Schimmer (IFMSA Liaison Of- movements to be given on to our NMOs, a culture of peace and non-violence ficer for UNESCO), Teele Raiend precisely through the Standing Commit- and the various activities undertaken (IFMSA SCOME Director) and Tomris tee on Medical education. Meeting of by the NGOs throughout the year. Cesuroglu (TurkMSIC NOME), a dis- other student NGOs, co-operation in the Another aim was to strengthen co- cussion of what could NGOs do to pro- field of higher education and possibility operation between the NGOs and mote the development of higher educa- to meet lots of higher education NGOs UNESCO in this field for the Inter- tion world-wide was held. Examples was also a very important asset. national Decade for a Culture of Peace where shown what different NGOs al- and Non-Violence for the Children of ready have done. Different student the World (2001–2010). There will not NGOs that were present also communi- be any Partnership Agreement for the cated thoroughly and made a good start Decade but some principles of collabo- for the UNESCO student forum. IFMSA ration, which the joint NGO- is part of it. The Informal Forum of In- UNESCO Liaison Committee will ex- ternational Students Organisations Barbara Schimmer plain to IFMSA. (IFISO), was represented by IAAS. IFMSA Liaison Officer for UNESCO, 1999-2001 Gender Equality and Equity The most valuable outcome for IFMSA [email protected] IFMSA was invited to join the meetings of the Gender Equality Unit. www.ifmsa.org 37 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 International Training Congress for Medical Students

THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT WORKSHOP A JOURNEY INTO MODERN GENETICS

As part of the International Train- lem based small group discussion sure their leading role in the treating Congress of Medical Students moderated by members of the or- ment counseling and educating pa- (ITCMS) the Standing Committee ganizing committee. The ethical le- tients worldwide. of Research Exchange (SCORE) gal and social issues resulting from organized a workshop entitled: gene testing were elaborated and This workshop is only a step towards The Human Genome Project; A emphasized. involving IFMSA in other activities journey into modern genetics. and events related to the current The workshop took place during On the third day Prof Thomas genetic discoveries. The outcomes of the IFMSA 50th GA in Aalborg, Jensen from the University of the workshop will be presented in Denmark from the 7th-12th of Au- Aarhus, Denmark introduced the several other international events gust 2001. It intended to bridge topic of Gene Therapy its potentials and published in local and interna- the gap between the genetic world and limitations. The small group tional journals. In addition, we will and the medical community discussions that followed the lecture be able to send students on ex- through lectures, film presenta- focused on the practicality and the change to participate in the Estonian tion, small group discussions, and expenses of gene therapy. Human Genome Project. debates. Fifty medical students coming from Africa Asia, South Prof Johanna Hanneman from the All expenses of the workshop were and North America and Europe John Kennedy Institute in Copen- covered by The ITCMS central participated in this event. The hagen, Denmark exposed the par- budget. Nature special issue on the HGP ticipants to the role of the genetic was distributed to all participants counselor and encouraged them by Aventis. to discuss among each other some cases on genetic counseling. On the first day Prof. Niels Nadine Choueiter, Tommerup from the University of After the students have been intro- Lebanon Copenhagen, Denmark gave the duced to the potentials of the HGP Workshop Coordinator participants an overview of the and its applications in the field of [email protected] Past Present and Future of the medicine Dr. Georges Kutukdjian, HGP. He discussed all the steps the Secretary general of the Interna- project went through before com- tional Committee on Bioethics ing to completion on June 2000 (ICB) UNESCO discussed with the 5years ahead of schedule. The par- participants the ethical issues aris- ticipants had also the chance to ing from the HGP. He raised sev- watch a movie on the history and eral questions relating to the development of the HGP pre- patenting of the human genetic Organizing Committee: pared by the National Institute of blue print and human rights. Dr. Nadine Choueiter, Health (NIH). Kutukdgian stressed the impor- Lebanon, tance of human dignity freedom Workshop Coordinator Prof Andres Metspalu head of the and confidentiality. The partici- Oliver Nietsche, Biotechnology Department in the pants were divided after that into Germany, University of Tartu, Estonia exposed small groups to reflect on the pre- Fundraiser the participants to various research ceding issues. Last but not least Oriol Casals Rafecas, techniques that were used to achieve Miss Lise Gormsen from Denmark Spain-Catalonia, the HGP. He further discussed the chair of the Ethical Student Con- Treasurer applications of HGP in medicine. He ference 2001 (ESC 2001) pre- Aiki Kadri Kask, elaborated on a new diagnostic tech- sented the outcomes of the confer- Estonia nique in the field of medicine: gene ence especially what related to Elizabeth Manansch, testing. He stressed the benefits of bioethics. Spain-Catalonia gene testing in prenatal diagnosis Ane Sophie Olsen, and in determining the risk of de- As members of IFMSA and as future Denmark veloping genetically inherited late health professionals we believe that Gulbiz Dagoglus, onset disorders. The lecture on gene by involving medical students in the Turkey testing was then followed by a prob- emerging genetic revolution we en-

38 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION FOR THE FUTURE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION IFMSA IN THE WORLD FEDERATION FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION

In September 2000 IFMSA partici- tion of International Standards in Medical Education for Better pated for the first time in an Execu- Basic Medical Education, in which Health Care”. The aim is to stimu- tive Council meeting of WFME standards have been defined to late a “debate among decision-makers (World Federation for Medical Edu- outline minimum requirements of in medical education and health care cation). With the presence of repre- medical education institutions about the complex question of intro- sentatives of the regional associa- worldwide. IFMSA has contrib- ducing generally accepted global tions for medical education, as well uted with the views of medical stu- standards in medical education in or- as staff from WHO, this forum is an dents in the revision of this docu- der to promote the quality of health care important venue for IFMSA to dis- ment. delivery systems”. cuss and debate the future development of medical training and health In the year 2000/2001 IFMSA and IFMSA has been invited as one of the systems performance. It offers WFME have interacted first and collaborating partners in organising unique opportunities for IFMSA to foremost in relation to the IFMSA this important event, and will thus make its voice heard in the presence August meeting, where WFME con- have the opportunity of participat- of some of the most prominent ex- tributed with valuable expertise to ing in shaping policies and opinions perts in the field of medical educa- the roundtable discussions “Imple- in the very field that dominates the tion. menting International Standards in life of medical students - namely our Basic Medical Education” and “Impact everyday medical education. WFME was founded in 1972, with of Technology on Health Education”. A the general objective “to strive for the concrete outcome of these discus- highest scientific and ethical standards sions are two policy statements that in medical education, taking initiatives will serve as a basis for IFMSA activi- with respect to new methods, new tools, ties in these fields in the coming and management of medical education”. years. Mats Sundberg IFMSA Liaison Officer to WFME The organisation covers all phases In September 2002 WFME will be 2000-2002 of medical education in its work. organising the 3rd World Conference IFMSA Training Director 2000-2001 on Medical Education in Copenha- IFMSA Past-President 1999-2000 The most important project of gen, Denmark. The theme for the IFMSA SCORP Director 1998-1999 WFME at present is the formula- event will be “Global Standards in [email protected]

www.ifmsa.org 39

Thinking Globally

March Meeting 2001 42 … People can Change 44 World Health Assembly 2001 45 IFMSA’s Collaboration with other Students’ Organisations 46 The Global Health Council IFMSA’s New Partner 46 Cooperating with the United Nations in Africa 47 International Training Congress for Medical Students 48 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

MARCH MEETING 2001

Well what can I say about the March Dolmen (no Swedish jokes please) misunder-standings and a great deal Meeting held in Malta in 2001? was a joyful exodus. Everybody of improvisation, at the end of the Modesty forbids me to claim that it packed and got ready to go. The day everyone went to dinner was the best conference IFMSA had organising team was just fixing up satisfied. seen in years, and that it was a the finishing touches in all the standard-setter for the meetings to amenities of the hotel, and get ready I couldn’t wait to get to the dinner come, so I won’t. I’ll have to go about for the main influx of guests for the part. That was usually the last it another way. meeting. moment of clarity and quiet before the start of the almost nightly The idea of organising the meeting Registrations were handled debauched releases of tension that was born way back, before the smoothly and the delegates were were the parties the Maltese are meeting in Slovenia, during which quick to settle down. Now it was time famous for throwing. For whoever we put forward our candidature to for the real stuff. I think the opening was there, the hippy party, the host the exchange officers meeting ceremony is one of the major caveman party, and the now almost the year after. That time, we had lost daemons an organising committee traditional Lebanese party would the bid to our Finnish friends, but has to face in the devising of such an still be fresh in one’s memory. One that didn’t put us down. Instead, we event. We all had our fingers might take it for granted, but seeing used this chance to plan things out crossed, many things could have so many people from different properly, gather more sponsors, and gone wrong, but thank goodness nations, cultures, religions, and jump-start the creative process from everything went fine, the people political belief, just get together, an enthusiastic team, which resulted liked the entertainment, and many have a drink (or two, or three….) in the success everybody witnessed even expressed their liking to our and dance the night away has that last year. President Guido Demarco. awesome feel to it. Risking disrupting the chronological format With more than a year to plan, The next day it’s down to business. I was taking with this account, a decide, change our minds, think, The standing committee meetings perfect example of this was the rethink, consider, reconsider, fight, and the presidents’ sessions were International Night held on make up and finalise, we came up being held, and the OC was scooting Saturday night. “Wow” is the only with our final product: a conference and jetting round the place to see way I can describe it. I always love hosting 600 people from all over the everything was going fine. I the international night in the IFMSA world on our island, ready to get personally was in the equipment meetings, but when you arrange it together, discuss IFMSA issues, eat, team, so I know what I’m talking yourself its different. It was drink and party, all blessed by a about when I say extra effort was put memorable (sort of…. people still wonderful spell of the best spring in to make sure every standing have to fill me in on large gaps in my weather Malta can offer. If that just committee had all that was needed memory, but the smile everyone had sounded easy, think again. It wasn’t to have a smooth meeting with all the next morning didn’t require a task for the faint-hearted, and it the presentations and other facilities many words). required all the manpower we could required. This included rapid muster. transport, shifting and sometimes Malta’s meeting saw the nomination “borrowing” equipment from other of the host for the next March Enough making a fuss about the standing committees, meetings, Meeting, Yugoslavia, of which I ordeal of organisation, and let us computer room etc. Even amidst heard many positive things so I hope focus more on the good parts. It all quarrels, misplaced items, schedule we were of inspiration . started with the TRD held at the Paradise Bay Hotel, on the north coast of the island. Here the IFMSA EB met for the first time in the meeting, and some delegates from the various NMOs started to flock in and get a first taste of the place. The homely atmosphere of the hotel, the weather and the indoor pool had already started working their charm on everybody, and enthusiasm started building up like popcorn.

The transfer to the main hotel, the

42 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

March Meeting 2001 www.ifmsa.org 43 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers … PEOPLE CAN CHANGE

“… we have new reason to be opti- Ageing and Health (August 2000), Lappe, Collins and Kinley, have mistic. We are working together with IFMSA has increasingly got involved written: renewed energy. A renewed will to in the movement advocating for a act. A determination to walk down life course perspective to health, It’s hard to work toward a vision unexplored paths to get results. The starting with advocacy on healthy of something better without be- demand for effective action are ever ageing, through ISNAH (Interna- lieving that change is possible. more intense. Our fundamental tional Students’ Network on Ageing That seems obvious. But what al- challenge is to respond to the billions and Health). A Medical Students’ lows us to believe that change is of people whose potential is so cru- International publication on Ageing possible? Certainly part of the an- elly extinguished by avoidable ill- and Health is to be printed in the swer is discovering that much of health.” – Dr. G.H. Brundtland, first months of the new term. the suffering we see today is not WHO Director General. Opening due to geographic or other physi- Speech 54th World Health Assembly, Having been introduced and involved cal givens but is the results of the Geneva, May 2001 in the integrated management ap- actions of people. What people proaches of WHO towards childhood create, people can change. (AIDS Hearing these words for the first illness and pregnancy and childbirth as obstacle, Institute for Food and time, I felt as if the DG was talking and in the rights-based approach to Development Policy, San Fran- directly to IFMSA, to us. With the child health, a strong team of IFMSA cisco, 1981, p.153) celebrations of our 50th Anniversary students is working towards the reali- just behind us, these words get an zation of a new IFMSA project on Ma- This insight raises questions about entirely new meaning. And with our ternal and Child Health with the first responsibility. The IFMSA is predi- 50th General Assembly behind us intervention to be in Yogyakarta, In- cated on the believe that it “empow- there is a new team to give life to the donesia in 2002. ers medical students in using their next fifty years of IFMSA. And it knowledge and capacities for the feels like the DG is still speaking di- In the past year very fruitful and benefit of society” (IFMSA constitu- rectly to us: “… we have new reason promising discussions have been ini- tion, March 2001). It is in the activi- to be optimistic”. tiated on Gender equity, on Alcohol ties derived from this objective that and Substance abuse among medi- IFMSA’s principle of creating re- Glancing over the shoulder cal students, on Violence and Injury sponsible future physicians comes to The past term was highly dedi- prevention and the role of IFMSA the light. cated towards an innovative way of in all. The meeting in Denmark was having General Assembly meet- our second successful smoke-free In this year of our 50th Anniversary ings, to the celebration of the fifty meeting and the public health com- it was good for IFMSA to hold a mir- years of our organisation and to mittee distributed a very useful ror to its activities in the various ar- the initiation of new things and the IFMSA poster for our anti-smoking eas and to see where we should completion of the still unfinished. campaign within our member coun- elaborate more on to maintain our tries. And just within the last days of principles succesfully. It is my be- At the WHO Executive Board Ses- this term a small group of students lieve that we found in this mirror sion in January 2001 our official re- is working to organise an interna- image, that IFMSA should invest in lation with this agency was being re- tional training on the topic of Fe- its most powerful tools: the training viewed. Our presentation of a thor- male Genital Mutilations in Africa in and resource development pro- ough triennial report in the prior the near future. gram, the Village Concept docu- term, our ideas for future collabo- ment and interdisciplinary commu- ration plans have resulted in an op- In mentioning these initiatives I nity projects, the contents of our ex- timistic outcome; our status has been have not begun to mention the ini- change programs, the evaluation of renewed for another three years tiatives that sprung out of the Inter- our peer-education programs and with some clear recommendations to national Training Congress for techniques and the advocacy for an work towards strengthening our re- Medical Students held in Aalborg, international health and rights-based gional and local members in their ac- Denmark this August. It is this new approach in medical education. tivities. This was very much inline innovative way of having meetings with the new initiatives in the organi- that functions as food for thought to And while working on our new vi- sation to expend their horizons even the organisers of next years’ General sion for IFMSA in the coming years further, to really start acting locally. Assembly meetings. we should keep in mind that: “ What people create, people can change.” And There were more new initiatives. As Glancing at the horizon medical students are people too, we a result of the Porto Conference on Nutrition and health activists, do have the power to change. And 44 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 our challenge is clear: to change, Externals what people have created, but we are not satisfied with. WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY 2001 A word of goodbye Having been in IFMSA office two The IFMSA was present at the 54th with the following clusters: consecutive years, I feel that in a way World Health Assembly with a del- I came full circle. My last annual re- egation of 15 medical students from • Family and Community port for was titled, “What people 9 countries. Health create…”. In the past year I have • Noncommunicable Diseases focused my time preparing for We use the opportunity of the As- and Mental Health change: anticipating my retirement sembly to reinforce old contacts and • Communicable diseases as an official, preparing for the to establish new ones in the World proper handover to someone new, Health Organisation Headquarters Areas with much compatibility to to the new team that will take the for the various activities undertaken IFMSA activities and projects. changing force to the next step, pre- by the students in our member or- paring for this change in my IFMSA ganisations. And since we are in Ge- In the Family and Community life. My contribution this year is neva, European capital of many UN Health Cluster we are almost at named “... people can change”, ex- agencies, we us the opportunity to home, since we have good relations pressing why I love IFMSA: its abil- organize meetings with those rela- with the entire cluster for a couple ity to change people in a way that tions as well. Meetings with of years now. It was nice to be able they come to understand that the UNAIDS and UNHCR were ar- to arrange meetings with the various power to change is theirs and that ranged and very productive. staff and directors of the depart- the only thing left for them to do is ments of Child and Adolescent to decide to use this power wisely. The World Health Assembly meet- Health and Developments, Repro- ing is the annual meeting of the ductive Health and Research, Gen- World Health Organisation were all der Women and Health, HIV/AIDS. Josette T.M.Troon, their member states are present to The Netherlands discuss important matters of this or- Also are collaboration with the IFMSA Liaison Officer for WHO ganisation. And since almost all the Noncommunicable Diseases and 1999-2001 Ministries of Health are present at Mental Health cluster is improving. [email protected] this meeting it is a great opportunity There has been established contacts to introduce them to IFMSA and its with NCD Prevention and Health activities. Promotion, Injuries and Violence 1. “We are working together with Prevention, Mental Health and Sub- renewed energy.” At this years meeting the Ministries stance Dependence and Tobacco 2. “much of the suffering we see of Health of Denmark, The Nether- Free Initiative. lands, and many African countries. today is not due to geographic All the ministries were contacted for A new and very important and in- or other physical givens but is various reasons, but mostly for the teresting contact was made with the the results of the actions of peo- work our Liaison Officer for UN department of Communicable Dis- ple.” agencies in Africa has done so far ease Control, Prevention and Eradi- 3. “IFMSA should invest in its and wanted to inform the govern- cation, that is looking forward to most powerful tools.” ments of our African NMOs about. collaborate more with IFMSA on the Also Pharmaceutical companies, like national local level. 4. “We do have the power to Eli Lilly and Merck, and the Inter- change.” national Federation of Pharmaceu- A complete report of the IFMSA tical Manufacturers were ap- meetings at the WHA can be ob- proached to follow-up with earlier tained at the President of each NMO communications regarding the 50th or by sending a request to me per- List of the most important achievements of the year: Anniversary in Denmark. sonally. To give you an idea of what is discussed at this important meet- • IFMSA official relation with WHO There were meetings and introducing you will find extracts of speeches has been extended for another tions with MEDACT, WEMOS, of Dr. G.H. Brundtland, Director of three years Health Gap, Quaker UN Office, the WHO and by Dr. Kofi Anan, UN • Official IFMSA project on Maternal People’s Health Centre Bangladesh, Secretary General. and Child health in Indonesia the Global Health Council, DORP • Strong successful contribution to (Development Organisation of the Josette T.M.Troon, the IFMSA TRD programs Rural Poor), and the Global Forum The Netherlands • NMO appreciation of my work for for Health Research. IFMSA Liaison for WHO 1999-2001 IFMSA in the past years. [email protected] In the WHO itself we had meetings www.ifmsa.org 45 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA´S COLLABORATION WITH OTHER STUDENTS’ ORGANISATIONS

IFMSA collaborates with other Interna- • Structure, activities, mem- tional Students Organisations (such as bership systems and IPSF, IAAS, IFSA and others ) in the or- fundraising strategies of the ganisation of joint activities. We gather different organisations were two or three times a year in an informal put in common. forum where the members of the respec- • Exchanges: the possibility of tive executive boards exchange informa- intersectorial exchanges was tion and ideas and plan strategic ap- discussed, and also the or- proaches to common fields of work. ganisation of joint social programs for our students. The During this term the Informal Forum of structure of the different ex- International Student Organisations change programs was a (IFISO) has met in several occasions: handicap to compare the Copenhagen (Feb 2001), Den Haag electronic exchange systems IFISO Meeting in Den Haag (April 2001). (April 2001), Göttingen (June 2001), that we all try to start. Leuven (Sep 2001), etc… These sessions • Collaboration with UNESCO were extremely productive and the fol- for the coming years • Bioethical Symposium in Austria lowing issues were evaluated or started. • Village Concept Projects: As the ex- (Nov 2001) perience with VCPs has learned that • Intersectorial disaster preparedness the concept is not flexible towards workshop in Slovenia (planned for other projects in developing coun- Nov 2002) tries, it was discussed whether we should look for a similar format for IFMSA will try to keep this focus in an other projects. It was agreed that if intersectorial approach for our activities there is an interest an intersectorial for the coming years. conference on “the role of students in development work” could be or- Marta Ocampo Fontangordo, ganised to investigate this. The cur- Spain rent VCPs were discussed. IFMSA Secretary General 2000-2001 Sudan VCP, one of the collaborations of •A new VCP symposium, to be organ- IFMSA SCORE Co-director 1999-2000 IFMSA with other student organisations. ised in Panama. [email protected]

THE GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL IFMSA’S NEW PARTNER

Since April 2001, IFMSA is a full mem- pated in a panel discussion at our anni- the chance to invite many speakers for ber of the Global Health Council, the versary day on August 6th. Dr. Daulaire’s the IFMSA Anniversary Day and for a world’s largest alliance dedicated to im- words made a strong impact on the stu- few individual workshops during the proving health worldwide. Several hun- dents present, reminding us that we live ITCMS. IFMSA has therefore already dred health NGOs around the world are in a global society and we must act at a benefited by its recent membership since joined together in this council to share global level to combat the diseases that many NGOs present at and participat- knowledge and resources. plague our societies. ing in the ITCMS were approached through the GHC network. By bringing together communities and Every year in May, the Global Health groups that are working on similar prob- Council holds its Annual Conference. I hope that IFMSA will make full use of lems, the council provides a platform to Yusuf Goedbloed and myself were all the possibilities of our membership create partnerships that can work effec- present at this year’s meeting entitled into the Global Health Council. Collabo- tively in combating diseases and advo- “Healthy Women, Healthy World: Chal- rating with the partners of the Global cating for health. IFMSA is very fortu- lenges for the Future”. Approximately Health Council could prove to be of nate to enjoy the benefits of the Global 1500 medical doctors, public health enormous value for our international, Health Council’s membership. It is a workers, public and private sector rep- national and local projects. My aim is wonderful opportunity for medical stu- resentatives were gathered to discuss the that project organisers within IFMSA dents to learn from and join forces with progress that has been made and the recognize the potential of the GHC and the professional practitioners and advo- work that remains to be done to ensure utilise the new contacts for improve- cates in the field of Public Health. better health for the women of every ment, increased outcome and broader nation. Many pressing issues were ad- dissemination of their projects. Almost as a symbol of our recently initi- dressed: from reproductive health to the ated collaboration, Nils Daulaire was safety of breastfeeding, from violence Kim Sigaloff present at the ITCMS in Aalborg where against women to the gender-bias in the Global Health Council Focal Point he gave a keynote lecture and partici- HIV/AIDS epidemic. Yusuf and I had [email protected]

46 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers COOPERATING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS IN AFRICA

The position of IFMSA Liaison Of- year. I visited regional offices of organisation worth collaborating ficer to UN Agencies in Africa was WHO and UNFPA in Harare and re- with. created in August 2000, after long gional offices of UNICEF and discussions with the Executive UNESCO in Nairobi. I also attended I look forward to another term as Li- Board and Officers of IFMSA. As it the United Nations Special Session aison Officer in which I will be was a new position, it has to be very on HIV/AIDS in New York, and focussing on strengthening the strongly motivated for to justify the made contact with UNIFEM and project work done by the NMOs and need for such a position. I had the UNICEF persons present there. the process of making UN Agencies honour of being involved from the The concept of an Interface for aware of this work. onset of the discussions. Many hours youth organisations in Africa to work of research involving literature with the UN was explored. There A more detailed report is available study on the internet about the work are some areas of collaboration be- on request. done by the various UN Agencies in tween IFMSA and the UN that are Africa and much consultation, and being developed. many more hours of thought about the role of such a Liaison Officer Government officials from Health eventually resulted in the creation Ministries of African countries were on the post in it’s present form. approached during the World Health Assembly, which took place The concept of Liaison Officer to in Geneva in May 2001. The Health Chanakya Jonnalagadda, UN Agencies in Africa is very differ- Ministry officials were made aware South Africa ent from the concept of the other of the presence of the NMOs in their IFMSA Liaison Officer to UN Liaison Officers. The following are respective countries and the officials Agencies in Africa 2000-2001 some of the main differences: were informed about the work be- [email protected] ing done by the NMO. Focal points •I am working to build relation- within the Health Ministry within ships with several organisa- several countries were found for the tions NMOs to initiate contact with the •I don’t have focal points in any Ministry. of these organisations but rather network with persons I have been working and consulting who may be able to collaborate with the African NMOs from the with IFMSA beginning. A server was set up for •I have not only networked with African issues to be discussed within UN Agencies but also with gov- IFMSA. The NMO leaders in Por- ernment officials. tugal, in Malta and in Aalborg were • The work of the past year will consulted about the problems and be used to build relationships opportunities that were present in for the future. the work done by their respective NMOs. The leaders were informed The last year as Liaison Officer has about the consultation that had fundamentally be one of research. taken place with the UN Agencies My aim was to building sustainable and the Ministries, and asked the working relationships between Afri- NMO leaders to follow them up at can NMOs of IFMSA and their Na- local level. tional UN Agency Offices and Na- tional Health Ministries. I have At a year of consultation, I feel that therefore consulted the leaders of I have a good idea of the opportu- the African NMOs, the relevant per- nities and weaknesses of the differ- sons in the UN Agencies and Gov- ent NMOs and of the UN Agencies. ernment Officials. As has been explained to the African NMOs, the way forward now is for Contact was made with individuals the NMOs to work together to show from UN structures throughout the the UN Agencies that IFMSA is an www.ifmsa.org 47 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CONGRESS FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS

4th – 12th of August 2001, Aalborg, Denmark

The clock passes five minutes to nine, five minutes to opening time for registration to the 51st GA of IFMSA. It’s Saturday the 4th of Au- gust 2001 on the first floor of hotel Hvide Hus in Aalborg, Den- mark.

I take another look at the watch and at the long line of people waiting patiently on the stairs behind the ropes. I catch the eyes of Rikke Malene Groenholm – secretary general and in charge of the registration – she looks incredibly calm. “Is everything under control, are you ready?” I ask, “yep!” she answers with a smile. Plenary session The staff at the 8 registration tables is dancing restlessly and excitedly result of 2-years of preparation. The cover all areas of logistics, such as around – can’t wait to get started. LOC and some of our international transport, congress centre, hotel, The clock turns nine – “OK, let’s go colleagues had been living in registration, finances, social pro- …” Aalborg in the weeks prior to the gramme, staff, externals, PR, IT, etc. congress fixing and coordinating all Each team had a team leader who This was the kick-off to the Interna- the details of this huge event. We had was responsible for his or her spe- tional Training Congress for Medi- been living together, working dur- cific area and who had a group of cal Students and the 51st GA of ing the day – having fun during the staff members to help perform the IFMSA seen from the Local Organ- night (while working ...), shaking to- tasks required. Once a day or as of- ising Committee (LOC) side of the gether the core OC team to prepare ten as possible we had a team leader table. it to survive a 9-day congress. meeting to sum up the activities and solve any problems there might be. It was a kick-off to what would be the The LOC worked in small teams to In this way we were able to nib any problems in the bud.

It was important for us Danes as hosts to show our guests the true meaning of the Danish expression “hygge” which is the thing that keeps us alive through the long cold, dark winter period – and keeps us happy all year around!

“Hygge” is a situation of being happy and comfortable together with good friends in nice surround- ings.

We tried to make people feel at home and relaxed in Aalborg. Plan- ning a nice social programme was very important, so we decided to put up a huge tent in the park – Danes Those who made possible the preliminaries … amongst others. like to party in tents – to create the

48 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA new team of officers for 2001–2002

That evening we had a Danes only “hygge- party” – everyone being sooooo tired but no one really wanted to go to bed, because now it was all over and that was just a bit too strange!

On behalf of the LOC I would like to thank everyone who came to Aalborg. perfect frame around the Viking All day, as people say their goodbyes, party. LOC is packing everything up, com- We had a blast and we hope you had puters, offices, the tent, posters, etc. one as well. As the 9 days passed by with extreme It’s a strange feeling to pack up eve- speed the missing hours of sleep rything you have worked so hard to from the past 3 weeks started to establish and at the same time being Line Gisselmann, knock on the door for everyone interrupted every other second by Denmark from the LOC. Luckily most things some old or new friend wanting to LOC Chair were under control and more or less say goodbye to you. [email protected] routine work. When everyone is worn out, overworked and under stress even little things can burst into a flame in a team working and living so close for such a long time. But if the team is aware of this overload danger and the team members respect each other, it’s not a bad thing to have a minor dispute and get things out in the open. What char- acterises a strong team then is the ability to get together again shortly after making up and to keep up the work - as friends.

It’s Sunday the 12th of August 2001 – the big goodbye day. The time on my watch says 8.05 a.m. I’m in the lobby of the hotel after 2 hours of sleep. It’s totally empty – no people anywhere, not that strange since we had the notorious national drink party the night before.

But shortly after people start swarm- ing around hugging, kissing, some crying, checking out, carrying suit- cases, swapping email addresses, ITCMS side effects. making the last agreements.

www.ifmsa.org 49

Acting Locally: Public Health

Public Health in the IFMSA 52 Ethics of Old Age 52 Poverty and Disease – Breaking the Cycle 53 International Association of Gerontology, IAG 54 International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC-UK) 54 The Story of One Year 55

Projects par Excellence – IFMSA’s Face to the World 56 ASPIS – Awareness Strategies for Pollution from Industries 57 Calcutta Village Project: When the People becomes Author of its own Development 58 Tanzania – Godfrey’s Children 58 Rwanda Village Concept Project (VCP) 59 Organ Donation Awareness Initiative – Raising Public Awareness on Organ Donation and Donor Card Topic 60 EQUIP – A Project of Co-operation between IFMSA-Sweden and YuMSIC 60 Nurturing Music in Prenatal and Perinatal Medicine and Child Development 61 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE IFMSA

During the past year, Public Health has information for the World Health Day, year had the topic “Mental Health”. This regrouped and is internationally now this year titled “Mental Health”. does not only target old people, but you concentrating on three major issues. and me and your friends, your parents Mental Health, Ageing and Health and The main goals were, on the one hand … everyone on the one hand side can Anti Tobacco. side to gain knowledge about the situa- be affected by one of those illnesses on tion in the population, especially the stu- the other hand side has to become aware In our anniversary year also the organi- dents, but even more important to raise that those are real illnesses, which can zation of 2 Workshops for the General the awareness, that it is an illness, that it be treated. assembly played a big role. concerns far more people than we believe and to reduce the general anxiety towards Especially reducing prejudices and Furthermore, the already established it to the same level one would have with strengthening acceptance. As start, a sur- activities continued. One new Village other, non communicable diseases. vey at many med schools around the concept project will open its doors in world raised data on the students situa- beginning of 2002 and a lot of local and The World No Tobacco Day, this year tion. national level work has been done, partly labelled “2nd hand smoking kills”, was by only one country, partly by part of our taken to the Universities. At many med In the field of improving the situation big family. schools students got informed, Deans in developing countries, the “Village began work on interdicting smoking on Concept Projects” continued to work. In During our two annual meetings, a lot campus and protecting the non-smok- Sudan one was finalized. Zimbabwe con- of information has been shared and the ers. Also a survey was tested during our tinues and the international part of the activities accelerated forward through meeting, evaluated and is available for Rwanda Project is going to start in be- our joint forces. Within the March meet- all our member organizations to use. ginning of 2002. ing we achieved through a survey to In the field of Ageing and Health we render all indoor places at the August participated in many countries in the While all of those activities continued, 2 meeting smoke-free. Global embrace, an WHO event making very successful Workshops were pre- aware of the situation of elderly and pared for the 50th Anniversary meeting: The forces of many countries combined bringing them and the younger ones “Poverty and Health” and “Ethics of old itself in the work of a questionnaire and together. The world health day of this age”.

International Training Congress for Medical Students ETHICS OF OLD AGE

Born as a follow-up activity of the “In- ing of 20 hours we tried to enlighten the DanAge, Dr. Ole Hartling, Danish ternational Conference on Ageing and following aspects of the challenges Council on Ethics, Denmark. Health”, that was organized in August brought by an ageing population: 2000 in Portugal, this workshop in- intergenerational exchange and sup- The participants have been stimulated tended to equip medical students with port, end-of-life issues including eutha- from the beginning to produce their the necessary competence to make sen- nasia, doctor patient communication, own plan of action and to develop some sitive and appropriate decisions in the informed consent, human rights of older field activities in their country of origin. management of older people’ health, people, older people abuse and discrimi- with them and for them, using the prin- nation, the gender perspective of age- For more information about IFMSA ac- ciples of medical ethics. ing, ageing and poverty, ageing and dis- tivities in the field of ageing, please visit ability, the consequences of HIV/AIDS the website of the International Stu- One of the main features of the world on older people and the role of the com- dents’ Network on Ageing and Health”, within the next few decades will be the munity and the society, from a cultural http://www.isnah.f2s.com/ rapid increase in numbers of older peo- point of view; This illustrated some as- ple in both developing and developed pects related to old age, that unfortu- countries. All people need to be aware nately are often insufficiently taught in of the fact that older people have distinct our medical curricula. rights which must be respected just as much as the others human rights of eve- We could count on the resources pro- ryone else. And that everyone, includ- vided by our eminent speakers and ing the most frail, is entitled to dignity guests: Prof. Rory Fisher, from the Uni- and control over his or her own life. versity of Toronto, Canada, Mrs. Terezinha da Silva, sociologist from Emily Martinoni, Through lectures, role plays, video ses- Mozambique, Mr. Dr. Ruud Hagenouw, Switzerland sions, students’ presentations, case stud- Dutch Federation of Doctors, NL, Mr. Workshop Coordinator ies and small-groups discussion forum Hans Jacob Hansen, Priest in Aarlborg, [email protected] discussion and debates for a total train- Denmark, Dr. Sobel, EXIT, Switzerland,

52 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

International Training Congress for Medical Students POVERTY AND DISEASE – BREAKING THE CYCLE International Training Workshop

The IFMSA finds Global Health and Mike Rowson, Director of Medact Comprehensive Rural Health Project, important and pressing issue. Global Dimensions of poverty Jamkhed, India health is threatened by global Barbara Schimmer, medical student inequities, and therefore, as future Day 2 The Netherlands, attendant of doctors, we are concerned with the Global and International Perspec- PHA wide-spread poverty in the world. As tives People’s Health Assembly and follow-up medical professionals, we should David Woodward, Department of network become more involved in global Health and Development, WHO development debates, in inter- Health in a globalised world The IFMSA Global Health Network national relations, and become more (Globalisation and Health) has been established to coordinate knowledgeable about the root causes Mike Rowson follow-up activities that were of poverty and its profound effects The role of international organisations included in the Plans of Action from on health. We should speak out on and actors the workshop. The newly formed these issues, not leaving the group within IFMSA is to deal with discussion only to economists and Day 3 issues of global health and social development experts. The National and Local Perspectives sustainable development and shares contribution of doctors, as the Dr. Timothy Stamps, Minister of the vision of “Health for all, natural attorneys of the poor, the Health and Child Welfare, Zim- including the poor”. We recognized defenders of the social and econo- babwe the need to create a focus group mical human rights, is essential. How can national policy create the so- within IFMSA that will be the voice cial, political, economical and envi- of IFMSA on issues of global health. This was a message that the majority ronmental conditions that protect This groups would in planning and of participants of the workshop on health? working out activities and projects Poverty and Disease (7-11 August, Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury, Founder, also liase with institutions such as: the Aalborg, Denmark) took home. The People’s Health Centre, Bangla- People’s Health Assembly - the Global workshop was for many students a desh Health Council – the World Bank – first opportunity to increase their How can sustainable rural development Medact – the International Poverty and knowledge on issues of poverty and lead to sustainable healthiness? Health Network – Jahmked - health, and realize what International Health Consortium - responsibilities and possibilities they Day 4 national health and development have in the field of international Top-down projects ministries – the WHO – United Nations development. This five day training Mike Rowson Development Programme - other non- was also an opportunity to learn from Drop the Debt & Poverty Reduction profit organizations and interest groups. each other’s experiences and make Strategy Papers It my hope, as well as that of my valuable contacts. The wide range of Prof. John Yudkin & Catherine fellow organizers, that the proposed invited speakers and experts Bateman, International Health projects will be implemented and provided the students with and Medical Education Centre, have the intended impact, so that interesting sessions and excellent University College London IFMSA, strengthened by additional network opportunities. Emphasis was Introducing Global Health into the medi- knowledge, capacity and skills, can placed on designing student action cal curriculum continue “working together for a plans, contributing to the proposed Dr. Glynis Cooper, Dr. Albert healthier tomorrow”. workshop outcomes. Here follows a Petersen & Dr.Carlota Marchan, short overview of the speakers and International Health Consortium presenters in our workshop program: Medicine Crossing Borders: Safe Drug Kim Sigaloff, Donations and Access to Essential The Netherlands Day 1 Medicines Workshop Coordinator Dr. Nils Daulaire, President and [email protected] CEO of Global Health Council Day 5 Health as a step towards human devel- Bottom-up projects Organizing Committee: opment Dr. Marianne Thompson, Medical Kim Sigaloff, The Netherlands, Amarinder Singh Bindra, medical Director, TCE Southern Africa Workshop Coordinator student, Christian Medical Col- Total Control of the Epidemic, Humana Bilal Zuberi, USA lege, India People to People Priya Agrawal, UK The story of a health worker in a pov- Connie Gates, MPH, Resource Per- Marjolein Zwaan, The Netherlands erty-stricken area son www.ifmsa.org 53 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

Life Course Approach Meeting INTERNATIONAL LONGEVITY CENTRE-UK (ILC-UK) www.ilcuk.org.uk 10th May 2001, London, UK

IFMSA was invited by the Interna- cepted to be member of the Board of Medical Education workshop tional Longevity Center – United of Trustees of the workshop on Eth- held as well in the ITCMS. Kingdom (ILC-UK) to give the ics of Old Age that IFMSA organised point of view of the medical stu- during the International Training dents on the development of a new Congress for Medical Students “Life Course Perspective” medical (ITCMS) in August 2001. curriculum. In the morning we got introduced to “Life Course IFMSA could develop this approach Perspective” concept and the af- in some of its activities such as ternoon was dedicated to work- SCOME and the International Stu- Emily Martinoni shops. dents Network on Ageing and IFMSA-Switzerland President 2000- Health. The “Life Course Perspec- 2001 During the meeting, Baroness Sally tive” CD-ROM was presented as an Ethics of Old Age workshop coordinator Greengross, chair of the ILC-UK ac- educational tool during the Future [email protected]

17th World Congress of Gerontology INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GERONTOLOGY, IAG www.harbour.sfu.ca/iag 1-6th July 2001, Vancouver, Canada

The World Congress of Gerontol- the existing contacts of IFMSA in this bly on Ageing, to be held in Madrid ogy is organised every 4 years by field and create some new contacts, in April 2002 the IAG. The most important per- especially in the perspectives of the sons on the field of Ageing and workshop on Ethics of Old Age and Health and Gerontology meet the work of the International Stu- there. dents Network on Ageing and Health. IFMSA was invited by WHO-Life Course Program to give the point of Important outcomes from this meet- view of a medical student from a ing were the financial support to the Emily Martinoni developed country during the Ethics of Old Age workshop pro- IFMSA-Switzerland President 2000- round table “Are future MD pre- vided by the Novartis Foundation 2001 pared to care for Older People?”. I for Gerontology and the possibility Ethics of Old Age workshop coordinator also attended in order to consolidate to participate in the World Assem- [email protected]

54 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers Liaising to the European regional office of WHO THE STORY OF ONE YEAR

September 2000-January 2001: the Li- The IFMSA 50th March Meeting (MM), 13-14 August, 2001 aison Officer (LO) position stays Malta - visit at the office in under the leadership of Omer Saka - anti-tobacco activities Koppenhagen together with the from Turkey NPO of Sweden - LOs’ meetings

October 2000: the WHO-Euro’s Alco- - meetings with externals Departments visited: hol and Youth meeting in Stock- - CAH (topics discussed: the In- holm. Representatives from the - EBMs donesian WS, the WS preceding IFMSA functioned as facilitators at the MM 2002 ) the meeting. April 7th, the World Health Day: In co-operation with the IFMSA LO - NCD-TOB (our anti-tobacco ac- IFMSA EBM, January: the candidate WHO, contacts have been provided tivities including the represen- Jana Olearniková from Slovakia, at to the requesters of brochures for tation at the conferences in that time the president of SloMSA, the day specially focusing on men- Prague and Warszaw) was decided by the EB as the suit- tal health (two of four interested stu- - ageing and health (TeGeMe, re- able person for the position of the dents: Tomek Derkow from Poland, port from the Ageing and LO for WHO-Euro for the year NPO from Yugoslavia). Health WS was provided, Eth- 2001. ics of old age) Contact persons from the external’s Spring 2001: the changing of the side: Linda Merieau and her col- - reproductive health (SCORA is- contact persons. The new WHO- league Anne Yamada from WHO sues) Euro’s contact person for IFMSA headquarters. became Dr. Mila Garcia Barbero - mental health (attended byt the Milagros from the office in Barce- June-August: ITCMS: Swedish NPO) lona. - contacting the WHO-Euro’s -a lunch organised by Mr. headquarters with the aim to Thompson (WHO-EMRO) with Up to now, Dr. Mila has helped the invite Mr. Marc Danzon, the re- various EURO’s professionals organisers of the International gional director, to the ITCMS present Training Congress for Medical Stu- (Dr. Danzon at that time dents (ITCMS) to be held by IFMSA couldn’t attend). in August 2001, but was not in the ..My great thanks goes to Josette, direct contact with the LO, she - communicating with Mr. Sanjeeb, Omer Saka, Mr. Robert hasn’t replied to my emails since. Franklin Apfel and his colleagues Thompson, Mr. Eric Roque and as the wish was expressed by the all you the wonderful people I March: The National Counter- co-ordinators of the RTD on al- have met and worked with. And parts’ Meeting organised by cohol problems among medical to Marta, who would have so much WHO-Euro, Malta. students and young doctors, to liked to see reports from the of- have Mr. Apfel present. As he ficers on time, but somehow, - the president, SCOPHD, LO was away on holidays, another never had been awarded so. You WHO-Euro and the Maltese variant was chosen, yet, Mr. are so hard-working, folks! And so NPO were present at the meet- Apfel showed his interest and passionate in your volunteerism, ing where anti-tobacco activities obtained the documents from there’s still so much I wish to were discussed. The Smoke Free the RTD. I will most probably learn from you. Medical Schools’ draft was pre- meet him on person this au- sented at the meeting and the tumn. All my love, IFMSA representatives joined one of the working groups with - communication with Mr. Eric valuable inputs. Contacts were Roque, the CAH (child and ado- made with various participants lescent health) department in Jana Olearniková, and then provided to respective WHO-Euro’s and his attend- Slovakia NMOs (specially those of Swit- ance to the ITCMS. Mr. Roque IFMSA LO WHO-Euro 2001 zerland, the Czech Republic, is interested in the landmines’ [email protected] Slovakia, France, Malta, Russia). topic. www.ifmsa.org 55 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers PROJECTS PAR EXCELLENCE IFMSA’S FACE TO THE WORLD

This has been a year of great growth dinators were able at this forum to sible for our federations partners in our federation. It has been both make many key contacts with other and fellow projects. Also this year the challenging and rewarding to be an influential people specific to their projects servers have become fully instrument in this growth as far as fields of work. This has always been operational and have greatly im- our activities are concerned. I have the greatest goal of this whole mam- proved communication between the always believed an organisation can moth activity when I initiated its projects themselves and with the di- most effectively be judged by its ini- expansion those years ago, and it vision. This among other things has tiatives, towards the community in was very satisfying indeed to see the left me with the confidence that which it is situated and in aid of its work that managed to be done in a IFMSA projects have been left with own members and their collective relatively short space of time at this a more solid foundation from which goals. In this vein developing those forum. to continue moving forward. of our members who have had ideas on how to improve their fellow stu- The follow on to this whole process On that note, I would like to be the dents and their communities has remains our World Exhibition, first to congratulate and encourage been a priority and I am pleased to where standardised representations the present teams for our projects note this year an increasing number of all our activities are transported and events. Together we have come of organised official IFMSA projects. to various faculties and agencies this far and can continue to make a I congratulate all those in these net- around the world. The first of its difference. After this period at the works and those that have aided this kind was exhibited so far only in two helm it is clear to me that while there to make it a success. countries, and yet still the interest it is a lot to be done out there especially generated has shown us that it has a in the field and in the faculty, with This year as has become tradition we place in the future strategy of the necessary support from our di- had the Anniversary IFMSA Project IFMSA. Through it we can recruit vision and other quarters our stu- Fair. This has always given the op- and sustain those who are able to dents can make it and will excel. portunity for our various work- work and be trained for IFMSA’s shops, events and projects to mar- fieldwork; which will always remain The Projects Division can be con- ket themselves to our students and IFMSA’s face to the world. tacted at [email protected]. guests at our meetings. At this anniversary year, I had the great pleas- For our members, I am glad to note ure of introducing the Deputy Di- that we have created a new database rector of the U.S Agency On Refu- for our project coordinators and Edgar Njolomole, gee Health and the originator of the those who wish to learn more about Zimbabwe most extensive individual public how they can also initiate an effec- IFMSA Project Committee Director health initiative in Southern Asia for tive and sustainable project. Our 2000-2001 our official opening. Apart from online reporting systems have been IFMSA Project Committee member their presence to see for themselves expanded to make now input from 1999-2000 the extent of our projects, our coor- our activities easier and more acces- [email protected]

56 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Official Project ASPIS - AWARENESS STRATEGIES FOR POLLUTION FROM INDUSTRIES

Background information substances are transferred to the fe- ASPIS was elected as an IFMSA-project tus through mother’s milk and plain the GA ’97 in Cape Town and re- centa. elected in the GA ’98 in Hurghada, 2. The pesticides are chemical sub- maintaining this status until now. This stances and products, which are re- program is based on the European pro- leased into huge amounts and that, gram ASPIS (Awareness Strategies for disseminated into environment. Pollution from IndustrieS, which is be- Some groups of chemical substances ing coordinated from the University of have properties, which lead to their Athens and in this program participate bio-accumulation in organisms all Greece, Belgium, England and France. over the food chain. Thus, the human It has been implemented with the con- being faces great danger, as is found tribution and the support of the Greek at the crest of this chain. Ministry of Environment. 3. The residue’s output is on constant rise. By throwing away the residue we It aims at the development of a Trans just postpone the problem to the fu- European Environmental Educational ture, while waste incineration leads Health Net-work (TREE-Health Net) to more toxic reserves as long as the for the education and the raising of dangerous substances escape to the awareness in important issues, such as: air. The most famous and dangerous • Pollutants transmitted from mother substances are the dioxin. It is be- isation with the aim of the activation to fetus. lieved that dioxin should be handled of the educated. • The pesticides as dangerous chemi- and eliminated. Recycling, although • The connection of the environmen- cal substances. has many difficulties in practice, is tal problems with their influences • The consequences upon human perhaps the only way out of this upon human health helps raising health from the waste and the pre- impass. awareness. cautionary principle in the European • The organization of the long life legislation. Methods and goals learning education as well as the dis- • Strategies for the awareness in edu- • Creation of an Educational Environ- tant learning education is useful tools cation at all level. mental Network in Kos island, that it for the environmental education. will offer: • The aim of the education should not Problem statement 1. Information only be the accumulation of the data Do you know that……? 2. Education and facts, but also the continuous 1. Toxic substances of the environment, 3. Literature/references process towards the knowledge. which are transmitted from the 4. Researches mother to the fetus, can be the cause • Workshops concerning: Target groups of serious impairments to the unborn 1. Waste management and implications 1. South European industrial countries (in child. The organochlorine and par- on health order to solve the environmental ticularly the dioxin, once found in 2. Hormone disrupting substances problems which are coming from the high levels are capable of impairing (1998) industries). the intelligence, the immune system 3. Endocrine disruptors and their impli- 2. Less industrial countries (in order to and the levels of fetuses; hormones. cation in health (1999) protect their environment from the Those levels, which could provoke a 4. Is Cancer Predominantly an Environ- problems that will occur due to the reversible situation to an adult, would mental Disease? (2000) future industrial development) lead at the case of a fetus, to unpre- 5. Environment and Health (2001) dictable impairment, as these toxic Strategies for the awareness in Education The environmental education has certain particulari- Elina Karamani, ties. The habitual way of Greece, educational approach is not [email protected] sufficient. Nikos Papapanagiotou, • There is a need for a strat- Greece, egy whose aim will be the [email protected] transformation of knowl- Loizos Petrikkos, edge to awareness. Greece, • There is a need to plan [email protected] process so as to cultivate the ASPIS Project Coordinators consciousness and sensibil- www.ifmsa.org 57 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Official Project CALCUTTA VILLAGE PROJECT: WHEN THE PEOPLE BECOMES AUTHOR OF ITS OWN DEVELOPMENT

The Calcutta Village Project (CVP) is sored with the contribution of the Ital- this reason we insist on the international a primary health care project organized ian group. student’s participation in the project in in a rural area 30 kilometres south of India and in their own country. Up un- Calcutta (West-Bengal). Lastly the Micro-credit is the new til now the total number of medical stu- branch of the project that needs big en- dents who have been to the Calcutta Vil- It is founded on the cooperation be- ergies and sources to develop. It consists lage Project is 244: 90 Italy, 24 Sweden, tween the IIMC, Institute for Indian in a “bank for pour people” created on 19 Holland, 17 Germany, 15 Spain, 14 Mother and Child and the IFMSA- the model of the Grameen Bank Austria, 12 Finland, 12 Denmark, 8 Nor- SISM( Segretariato Italiano Studenti in founded by Mohammed Yunus. The way, 8 U.K., 5 Slovene, 5 U.S.A., 3 Medicina). The project is characterized micro-credit consists in small loans given Slovak, 3 Brazil, 2 Iceland, 2 Switzer- by different components (local staff, in- to women that do not have any land, 1 Japan, 1 Ireland, 1 Canada, 1 ternational participants and working guaranties to offer to a “normal bank”. Turkey, 1 Polonia. group in 14 different countries) that The women have the opportunity to work together to improve the health and start an activity and to improve the In the last year we have mostly worked social status of the population of 6 vil- physic and economical conditions of in the micro-credit and we involved one lages. The aims are focused on a com- themselves and of their families. We have thousand women in the project. We also plete developmental work on different started such programme in one village have been started a new school (till now levels: health, education and economy. and we got good results with 99% of loan the project has built 10) and improved It permits to have a gradually change given back to the Bank. The Italian the equipment inside the clinic centres. that is growing from the local people and group is now trying to fundraise to get In Italy we started to spread out using from their own needs. the sufficient amount of money needed the support of media and we hope it will to start in the other 5 villages. The mi- continue more effectively. In the “inter- The Health Programme consists in: run cro-credit is an important step for the national part” we tried to extend the a children indoor clinic, four outdoor real improvement of the people condi- Calcutta Village Project to other coun- clinic centres, a maternally centre and a tions because it is founded on the will of tries through the Sponsorship Pro- nutrition centre, organize vaccination the women and on their power. It is gramme and it seems that some of them and medical camps, form a community proved that women employ their success are going to start it soon. based paramedic unit of health workers for the family and the community in and organized health promotion and general. It will bring big changes in the The spirit of the Calcutta Village Project education. Indian society of the project area where is to collaborate to a developmental work the woman has always been dependent in the respect of the initiatives that come The Educational Programme is fo- on man decisions and is considered just from the local strengths. cused on increase the rate of education for the care of the house. among children through the Sponsor- Marina Gandossi, ship Programme and it is also focused We all believe that it is not enough to SISM, Italy on the construction of new schools in the collect money but it is also necessary to International Coordinator area. Almost six hundred children with work here for an education about devel- www.calcuttavp.org economical difficulties have been spon- opmental and human rights ideals. For [email protected]

IFMSAOfficial Project TANZANIA – GODFREY’S CHILDREN

The project, EVERYONE’S CHILD, Part of the project is the creation of As much as an orphanage is not the so- now named GODFREY’S CHILDREN an orphanage in Mbeya where land has lution to the AIDS crisis, one cannot ig- (after Godfrey Msemwa, Project Origi- already been purchased and is now in nore that there are already many young nator) is designed to care for HIV/AIDS the process of getting project managers children all over the world infected and infected and affected children (irrespec- to oversee construction. affected by this disease. The multi-disci- tive of race, creed, religion or gender). plinary nature of this project is meant to The project is multi-disciplinary in that The orphanage will house children but integrate the community in fighting the it has a mission to help not only young that will not be it’s sole purpose. It will spread of this disease as well as to give children but those within the try to integrate the community and the the children hope for a brighter tomor- community. Emphasis is on education, children into a healthy and nurturing re- row. empowerment and advocacy. lationship as well as provide the children a normal childhood with the opportu- Neema Mgana, The project currently has associations nity to education and health services. TaMSA, Tanzania with individuals and groups located na- The community has already given the International Coordinator tionally and internationally. blessings for this project. [email protected] 58 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA )fficial Project RWANDA VILLAGE CONCEPT PROJECT (VCP)

The Rwanda VCP is an international Rwanda VCP will start its rotations student-run project in Africa. Its aim for international and local students. is to improve the health and living It will be open for all students from standards in a Rwandan community, all nationalities. For students from using simple and low cost methods, developing countries it is planned to with the community and the stu- establish a TAF system. dents of the project country working together. The objectives corre- The organizing students panned spond with those of the “Primary this project to last for 3 years, with a Health Care” concepts of the World detailed baseline study at the very Health Organisation (WHO). beginning, a midterm-, end- and post-evaluation after 5 years the The main areas we are working in project stopped. are malaria-control, hygiene, nutrition, income generating activities, For more information: family planning and HIV/AIDs. At www.asta.mu-luebeck.de/rvcp the moment the main goal is to establish a good and functioning con- Rwanda, woman from the commune. Angelika Mayer, tact with and within the commune. Germany We believe that this project will just IFMSA GAs and 2 of our members International Coordinator run and will be sustainable when the went to Rwanda for 6 weeks. [email protected] community takes an active role. luebeck.de The Local Committee worked Ngabo Gisanura, Rwanda In the International Committee we mainly with the commune to get Local Coordinator worked in the last year on the project their ideas in the project proposal with the Rwandan stu- proposal. Also they re- dents, also we recruited people for viewed the budget and our team, established a homepage, established contacts to worked on a n evaluation sceeme local and international and started fundraising for the NGOs in Rwanda. project. We had several meetings all over Germany, particiapted in In January 2002 the

Rwanda, VCP. RwandaVCP, sewing project in Kigali. www.ifmsa.org 59 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Official Project ORGAN DONATION AWARENESS INITIATIVE RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS ON ORGAN DONATION AND DONOR CARD TOPIC

With our project we want to raise public fears, misbelieves and negative attitudes As result of our efforts we expect to wit- awareness for the lack of the available and act in accordance to the results. ness number of available organs increas- organs and tissues for transplantation ing as well as more positive attitudes to- We already surveyed students of Medi- procedures. In order to achieve that wards the subject. cal School Split, Croatia and found out goal, we are using Donor card as well as that only 1.68% of them owns Donor series of educational methods including After performing the survey we will con- card. That was the first sign for us that lectures, workshops, round tables, press tinue with mentioned educational meth- we’re on the right path. Surveying of stu- conferences, organisation of «Open do- ods. dents in other medical schools in nor days», creation of web-site dedicated Croatia: Osijek, Rijeka and Zagreb is also Livia Puljak, to the subject, organisation of blood do- in process and we expect results of data Croatia nation actions, promotion of registers analysis soon. International Co-ordinator for bone marrow donors etc. [email protected] Ther team consists of around 20 people Before all that we will survey on target and we are collaborating with the follow- Co-ordinators in CroMSIC’s local comittees: groups’ opinions and attitudes regarding organisations: LC Rijeka: Silvestra Spanjol ing organ donation and therefore try to • Donor Network of Croatia LC Osijek: Vlatka Jurkovic inform ourselves about level of their • Red Cross of Croatia LC Split: Livia Puljak knowledge about organ donation, their • School of Medicine, Split, Croatia LC Zagreb: Davor Franicevic

IFMSA Official Project EQUIP – A PROJECT OF CO-OPERATION BETWEEN IFMSA-SWEDEN AND YUMSIC

EQUIP is a co-operation project. receive technical equipment we turn to present time (June 2001) we have 3 com- By sending equipment and material that our colleagues in Yugoslavia and see if puters, 6 walking aids, 1 wheelchair, 1 is not used in Sweden to Yugoslavia we they are interested. First of all the equip- bath/ shower aid and a couple of bags of can help hospitals in Yugoslavia to re- ment is meant for the Clinical Center of compressors, syringes, Porth-à-Cath build the health care system throughout Serbia. needles, etc. waiting to be transported the country. to Belgrade. The Yugoslav airline com- There is to be one coordi- Organization: pany, JAT, has offered to take the mate- It is a vision that EQUIP will come to in- nator of EQUIP in each country in- rial from Copenhagen to Belgrade. ASG, volve all of IFMSA’s NMOs. Our goal is to volved along with a supervising coordi- a Swedish expedition company has been gather material and equipment to send nator. contacted and are willing and able to on a regular basis to various countries that The receiving country works together take the material from Malmo, Sweden are in need of the material offered. In the with the collecting country when it to Copenhagen, Denmark at a cost of future we hope to be able to establish a comes to fundraising, especially contact- approximately 200 USD. Shipment will database that is to be used by collecting ing the country´s airline company. The take place as soon as all the countries and receiving countries. receiving country also contacts the cus- administrational work and documents The aims of EQUIP toms to see what rules and regulations are in order. We are currently waiting 1) To fulfil the first shipment of material are applicable in the different situations. to clear the details with the Yugoslav cus- to Belgrade during the end of August. A detailed list of material, including toms and the cargo department at JAT. 2) To establish contacts to make regular weight and size, is needed for each trans- The preparatory work started in March shipments of 3-4 times a year possible. portation. This is faxed or mailed by the 2000 and the first shipment to Belgrade, 3) To expand the project over country collecting country to the receiving coun- with materials collected in Umea, Lund borders so that more NMOs get in- try in each case. The receiving country and Malmo, will take place during the volved, both as collectors and acceptors. then forwards this to the customs, cargo end of August / beginning of September. and all other institutions concerned. Strategy of EQUIP We hope to continue with regular ship- Equipment: We collect old technical The receiving country keeps all contact ments and to expand to involve more equipment that might be out of date in with the clinics concerned and keeps countries. Sweden but useful in Yugoslavia or else- written documents of all accepted ma- where - stethoscopes, computers, stu- terial. Photographs should also be taken, dent literature, sterile material, drugs, although not necessarily of every item. Line Hård af Segerstad, wheelchairs, etc. How far have we come? IFMSA-Sweden To collect equipment we turn to hospi- Several hospitals and General Practition- International Coordinator tals, General Practicioners, Health Care ers throughout Sweden have been con- [email protected] Centers and Medical Companies. If we tacted and informed about EQUIP. At

60 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Official Project NURTURING MUSIC IN PRENATAL AND PERINATAL MEDICINE AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

MAIN IDEA: as well as the support and grants, • Prof. Cheryl Dileo Ph.D., Philadelphia, USA The main idea of this interdisciplinary •prepared the background needed to – immediate past president of the World Federa- Project is to introduce prenatal education proceed and efficiently reach the goal tion for Music Therapy (WFMT), and prenatal stimulation through art nur- to work with pregnant women and their • Prof. Valentin Pozaic Ph.D., Zagreb, Croatia ture employing music, movement, touch partners for the benefit of the whole so- – professor of moral theology at Philosophical- Theology Institute, guest Professor at the Pope ciety. and vibration in order to improve prena- University “Gregoriana” in Rome, spiritual as- tal and perinatal care with the long-term •received invitations to present the sistant in FEAMC positive effects for the future children. Project in other NMOs (Hungary, Ro- • Prof. Barbara Wheeler Ph.D., Chair of the mania) International Relations Committee of the Ameri- PROJECT OUTLINE (three main can Music Therapy Association (AMTA), segments): PLAN OF ACTION • Sr. Lorna Zemke, OSF, DMA; Director of •LOVE NOTES in Croatian Cradle – is a. organize Love Notes courses in the Clinic Graduate Music and Early Childhood and Pre- based on the notion that the womb is the for Gynecology and Obstetrics as well as natal Music Programs, Silver Lake College, first music classroom for the unborn in the largest orphanage in Zagreb, Manitowoc, WI, USA • Prof. Ruth Fridman Ph.D., Buenos Aires, Ar- child where crucial imprinting of the Croatia, based on the experiences and gentina; President of the International Music whole human being is occurring. knowledge we gathered Society for Prenatal Development (IMSPD), Courses for pregnant couples will be b. continue with the preparations to start the • Prof. David Chamberlain, MD, Ph.D. Direc- organized in order to teach them how Vibroacoustics Clinical Study as soon tor of the Associations for Prenatal and Perina- they can communicate with the unborn as we receive approval from the Croatian tal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) child having ultimate goal to establish Ministry of Science and Technology and • Barbara Harper R.N., – President of the Glo- the early prenatal bonding. Special at- Ethics Committee bal and Maternal Health Organization, Port- tention is given to the lullaby singing c. prepare the Project Web Page land, OR, USA and different games that include move- d. inspire other NMOs that will find their • Prof. Stephen M Clift BA, PhD, FRSH, ments and touch through which both interest to take part in the Project Centerbury, Great Britain - Centre for Health Education and Research, Canterbury Christ future parents can convey the emotions Church University College of love and joy to their unborn child. PROJECT INFO • Fred J. Schwartz, MD, Departments of Anesthe- •Vibroacoustics Clinical Study – the pro- siology and Neonatology, Piedmont Hospital 1984 totype of the Vibroacoustic Birthing HEADQUARTERS Peachtree Rd. NW Atlanta, GA 30305 USA Mattress will be tested to investigate the Center for Family Planning And Repro- • Diana Moore, MS, LMT, CIMI, Founder/Di- beneficial effects of music and ductive Health, Clinic For Gynecology rector International Loving Touch Foundation, vibroacoustic multimodal stimulation And Obstetrics, Petrova 13, Zagreb, Inc. Portland, OR, USA on the level of relaxation, pain man- Croatia • Dr. June Boyce-Tillman, member of the Early agement and incidence of complica- Childhood Commission, International Society for Music Education, Utrecht, The Netherlands tions during perinatal period for both PROJECT ORGANIZING • Prof. Ivan Kuvacic MD, PH.D. Head of the mother and the child. COMMITTEE Department for Gynecology and Obstetrics, Uni- •Educational segment – series of lectures, Petar-Kresimir Hodzic, and Rafaela versity of Zagreb School of Medicine, Salata 3, round-tables and workshops will be or- Mrdjen-Hodzic (project coordinators) 10000 Zagreb, Croatia ganized in Croatia to increase the Tea Rukavina, Tomislav Bokun and • Prof. Zvonko Sosic, MD, Ph.D., on behalf of knowledge level on the issues related to Jurica Baric, (members) the “Andrija Stampar” Public Health School, planned and responsible parenthood, Rockefellerova 4, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia pregnancy and labor with special atten- This is the core of the interdisciplinary • Stefanija Bortek-Knesaurek, MD, Head of the tion to overcome obsolete prejudices POC for CroMSIC, Croatia. Many stu- National Department for Protection of Family, and misbeliefs in these topics. dents and experts took part in the Project Motherhood and Youth, Savska 41/III, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia since the beginning. Due to the novelty • Prof. Miroslav Prstacic Ph.D. Head of the ACHIEVEMENTS: of this Project the great deal of time was Department for Artherapy and Sociotherapies at •completed the survey with 150 female spent on collecting the literature and the University of Zagreb Faculty of Special Edu- students on their opinions and attitudes preparations, but now we have high ex- cation and Rehabilitation, towards parenthood, pregnancy and pectation that recent invitation to present • Martha Burke, MS, RMT-BC, North Caroline, labor, the Project in Hungary and hopefully USA; Director of the Music Research Institute •received approval from the Clinic of Romania will involve other NMOs. • Marija Djepina, MD, Head of the Polyclinic Gynecology and Obstetrics in Zagreb for students, University of Zagreb, Trg Hrvatskih Croatia to conduct the Project with all Petar-Kresimir Hodzic, Croatia velikana 10, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia • Lada Magdic, MD, Ph.D. Head of the Center its segments, International Project coordinator for Parenthood Planning and Reproductive •applied the project to the International [email protected] Health, Petrova 13, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia Federation of Medical Students’ Associa- • Assist. Prof. Melita Kovacevic, Ph.D., clini- tions (IFMSA) and on the IFMSA Gen- COLLABORATING AND cal psychologist at the University of Zagreb, Fac- eral Assembly 2000. in Portugal the SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS ulty of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Project was recognized as the official AND EXPERTS: Kuslanova 59a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia IFMSA project • Olav Skille, Norway – inventor of the Vibroacoustic Therapy. •contacted relevant institutions, organi- • Prof. Anthony Wigram Ph.D., – University of • Darko Hajsek, professional musician, composer, zations and experts in the field and re- Aalborg in Denmark; President of the World Zagreb, Croatia ceived their recognition for the Project Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT), www.ifmsa.org 61 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

NMO Project Teddy Bear Hospital NMO IFMSA-Sweden Contact person Line Hård af Segerstad E-mail [email protected] Dates May 2001 Location Uppsala, Lund, Umea, Stockholm, Gothenburg Number of Participants Nationalities Collaborating Organisations Description (150 words max) Teddy Bear hospitals have become a tradition in Sweden. This year we organised this event in 5 out of 6 university towns. The aim is to introduce primary health care to children in a fun and relaxed way so that the doctor or the atmosphere does not become a negative thing. Day care centres are invited and the children bring their favourite stuffed animals or dolls for a consulta tion at the doctor. The medical students that participate are given advice from play therapists and paediatrics. They can then receive and treat their little patients. This is an activity that can easily be organised in all countries and it is both fun and for a good cause. Appreciated by all parties involved. Planned Follow-up Day care centres have received enquiry to fill in. Participating students are engaged in after work. We will continue to organise Teddy Bear Hospitals on a regular basis

NMO Project Teddy Bear Hospital NMO MSA-ROC (Taiwan) Contact person Hai-Hua Chuang Email [email protected] Dates March-April Location Taipei, Taichung Number of Participants 40 Nationalities Taiwan Collaborating Organisations Description (150 words max) A day was chosen as the Teddy Bear Hospital Day, and medical students organized activities for paediatric patients in the hospitals of Chang-Gung University, National Defence Medical College, Chung-Shan Medical College, and Chinese Medical College. The activities included games, per formances, magic … Toys and balloons were given out to the patients. Planned Follow-up

NMO Project Hepatitis-B prevention program NMO Turkmsic Contact person Fazilet S_VR_ Email [email protected] Dates On March Location Erzurum Number of Participants 350 Nationalities Turkish Collaborating Organisations WHO Description (150 words max) We are in the risk group about hepatitis-B virus as medical students. That virus cause big health problems such as liver cancer. In that way we talked with our teachers and made a company for medical students. All of our students who are not inoculated before had a chance to make test (markers; HBsAg, HBsAb) and to be inoculated (four times inoculation - 0,1,2,12). Planned Follow-up

62 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

NMO Event The Crisis of the New Century: “Depression” NMO TurkMSIC Contact person Esra Genisol Email [email protected] Dates 17-18 March 2001 Location ISTANBUL Number of Participants 45 Nationalities Turkish Collaborating Organisations WHO Description (150 words max) A precise understanding of the phenomenon by the interested medical students and starting up a network of education by educating the peer-educators was aimed at this two-day work shop. Being aware that, mental disorders have multiple impacts of social, biological, and psychologi- cal determinants, we believe that raising awareness among firstly medical students, then, public is critical for mental disorders to be taken under control. Beginning with a case presentation, 45 medical students from various faculties in Turkey were trained on the subjects of symptoms and treatment of depression, the life of people in depression, the epidemiology of depression in Turkey and in the world, the cultural effects, counseling the people with depression, peer education approach, scenario analysis, discussion and evaluation of the workshop. Planned Follow-up At the end of the program, several different projects were initiated and the mental health program of TurkMSIC was detailed. Similar peer-educating workshops will be held at various locals committees. Public educating programs will be held in all over the country for small groups to raise the awareness of mental disorders, especially depression. The cooperation and support from the Turkish Psychiatry Foundation was enabled.

NMO Event Workshop on Depression NMO Turkmsic Contact person Fazilet S_VR_ Email [email protected] Dates 09-10/June Location Erzurum Number of Participants 60 Nationalities Turkish Collaborating Organisations WHO Description (150 words max) We made a search with students in our school and we noticed that most of the students want to learn about depression. We know that depression is the biggest problem that causes staying most far away from study for people. So we prepared a two day workshop to teach students to recognize and treat depression. Also all of them ended up knowing that depression is a very common mental health problem but it can be treated. At the end we gave certificate all of the students who attended to the workshop. Planned Follow-up

NMO Event Lecture on depression NMO Turkmsic Contact person Fazilet S_VR_ Email [email protected] Dates 15 March Location Erzurum Number of Participants 250 Nationalities Turkish Collaborating Organisations WHO Description (150 words max) We talked with Department of Psychiatry about depression that is very common over the world. And we decided to prepare a lecture for both students and the doctors. It took one hour and it was very crowded. One professor and two associate professors gave the lecture. All of the people was interested in that subject and they told their pleasure to us. Planned Follow-up www.ifmsa.org 63

Reproductive Health And Aids

Safe Sex Starts with Us! 66 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS 67 Health Education Intervention in Secondary Schools 68 International Condom Exhibition 68 Collaboration with UNICEF 71 IFMSA Recommendations on HIV/AIDS in Medical Education Curricula 72 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers STANDING COMMITTEE ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH INCLUDING AIDS SAFE SEX STARTS WITH US!

Over the passed year, topics ad- developed by UNESCO in collabo- dressed under the umbrella of ration with IFMSA. The project SCORA were increasingly looked gained official IFMSA status at the upon with gender equality and hu- August GA. man rights perspectives. In several ways, external collaboration was External Collaboration strengthened and one of the high- In several ways, SCORA this year lights was IFMSA attending the strengthened its collaboration with UNGASS on HIV/AIDS and the the UN Agencies and WHO. With outcomes that followed. Further- UNFPA and UNICEF, SCORA dis- more, the peer education concept cussed primarily sexual health peer spread to other health fields and the education projects. Several national focus turned towards fellow medical projects were included in a UNICEF students. A future challenge will be stocktake on peer education initia- to keep the transparency and to tives in Central and Eastern Europe spread initiatives to developing and the Baltics. Projects especially in countries. this region enjoyed valuable support from the UN. New Angles on Reproductive Health With WHO, UNAIDS and The discussion on how gender equal- UNESCO, closer contacts concern- Sara Hogmark ity as a goal for global health implies ing HIV/AIDS were developed to IFMSA was intensified this year. As throughout the year, along with ex- planning and management. The a joint Standing Committee effort pri- pertise advice and collaboration on importance of setting up regional marily led by SCORA and SCORP, the other fields, such as gender, wom- networks was stressed and more possibility of gender mainstreaming en’s health and adolescent health. emphasis put on educating not only IFMSA activities was looked into. On Projects and activities that gained the community in general, but also the International Women’s Day, from this collaboration are the fellow medical students and other which occurred during the March SCORA International Summer university students. Realising that meeting, a successful forum on gen- Schools on HIV/AIDS, the IFMSA safe sex starts with us, the IFMSA der equality and women’s empower- Condom Project, the HIV/Human Condom Project was also launched ment was attended by more than 70 Rights workshops, the ITCMS at the August meeting and condoms students from at least 30 countries. workshops (Teenage Pregnancies in nicely designed envelopes will be This resulted in a drafted Declaration and HIV/Poverty), Peer Education handed out at the next March meet- on Women’s Empowerment. To take Projects and more. ing. Moreover, at the ITCMS medi- this initiative further, gender equal- cal students were provided with ity was the topic of a successful round IFMSA also had the opportunity to training on peer education tech- table discussion on the 50th Anniver- attend the UNGASS on HIV/AIDS, niques, aiming to spread the method sary day. which resulted in the IFMSA Rec- to other health fields. ommendations on HIV/AIDS in The human rights perspective of re- Medical Education Curricula. These Other activities productive health in general and recommendations were adopted by The World AIDS Day is an impor- HIV in particular was also high- the General Assembly in August and tant event for SCORA worldwide, lighted. In close collaboration with spread to different countries for im- providing an opportunity to unite in UNESCO, an international IFMSA plementation by medical students, an effort to spread knowledge and team with local committees is now hopefully resulting in more compre- awareness on HIV/AIDS. Cam- planning regional workshops on hensive HIV/AIDS curricula. paigns in the form of street actions HIV and human rights to be held in have proved successful and were Africa, Asia and Latin America. Peer Education on Sexual Health also included in the SCORA pro- These workshops are aiming to cre- The major activity run by SCORA in gramme of the international IFMSA ate a network of students working many countries is peer education on March meeting. Other topics that locally in the regions where the need sexual health. This year, countries were addressed by SCORA interna- is greatest and where IFMSA today like Ghana, Peru and Jamaica joined tionally are Female Genital Mutila- is less active. The methods used will the network of peer educators and tion and Women’s HealthThe loss of be based on a youth manual recently guidelines were written on project our fellow medical student Tanza-

66 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 nian Godfrey Msemwa came as a big shock for many IFMSA students at UNITED NATIONS GENERAL the beginning of this period. Turn- ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION ing grief and feelings of hopeless- ness into creativity was a major (UNGASS) ON HIV/AIDS achievement. Resulting from a joint effort by many people, the Tanza- United Nations nian orphanage project “Godfrey’s Children” recently gained official 23-25th June 2001, New York IFMSA status.

Other projects that were adopted as For the first time in history the During our August Meeting, the official IFMSA projects by the August United Nations convened this past IFMSA General Assembly adopted a GA are the Maternal and Child June to discuss a strategic action policy statement encouraging Health Training in Indonesia as well plan on a health issue. HIV/AIDS is change in medical education cur- as the International Condom Exhibi- on the minds of political leaders ricula and outlining the various po- tion in Taiwan. worldwide as a threat to human se- tential topics to include. Through curity and human rights. It is a chal- our National Member Organiza- Future Plans lenge that involves all sectors of so- tions, this statement will now be dis- Challenges for the future will be to ciety from the United Nations to tributed to medical schools within keep the open and positive atmos- civil society, from academia to pri- the IFMSA network. It is hoped that phere that is central in SCORA. vate enterprise. It was indeed an this document will serve as a tool to Working voluntarily, international honour and an opportunity that the advocate for change and to raise reporting and communication are IFMSA was invited to send four rep- awareness of HIV/AIDS amongst crucial in creating enthusiasm and resentatives to this historical event. decision-makers. spreading best-practice activities from one country to another. The newly set Kofi Anan called upon the world for As physicians of the future, it is our up godparent programme (including leadership and solidarity. As the in- responsibility to be educated and more than 30 countries) and the ternational body for medical stu- equipped to take a leadership role SCORA Information Package for dents, the IFMSA chose to take a in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Newcomers should be further devel- leadership role to improve the con- oped and utilised. tent of HIV/AIDS in medical education curricula. Throughout the Initiatives sprung from the ITCMS session there were numerous as- workshops should be carefully fol- pects of this global challenge lowed up and emphasise put on brought to light – issues about gen- strengthening the network of stu- der roles, culture, traditional myths, dents active in developing countries. and economic impact. It is our vi- Also, it is important to strive for na- sion that medical schools around tional and grass roots implementa- the world should include in their tion of international recommenda- education the holistic view of HIV/ tions adopted this year. Lastly, the AIDS that provide our future phy- Zohray Moolani Talib, importance of long-term planning sicians with an accurate description Canada and evaluation should continuously of this virus and its impact on the IFMSA Liaison Officer for UNICEF, be stressed in order to improve the individual, their family, community 1999-2001 quality and co-ordination of our and the global population. [email protected] projects.

I wish my successor the best of luck and that she/he will find it as rewarding as I did during my period!

Sara Hogmark, Sweden IFMSA SCORA Director 2000-2001 [email protected] www.ifmsa.org 67 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA official project HEALTH EDUCATION INTERVENTION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

As students we all learn many things... Some- ing the high schools where the students, to us their pleasure and satisfaction from times, we have to learn more... And then, it’s divided in small groups again, debate with the project outcome. The high schools’ time to share our knowledge with the ones small groups of pupils of the same sex (to teachers asked us to inform them too on that need it... That’s exactly what we have more discreteness and straightness AIDS & Sexually Transmitted diseases thought before organising our project... in their conversation). What is more, the and we are planning that for the next pupils of the high schools fill in some ques- year as an addition to our general plan A brief summary of our project tionnaires so as to determine the level of of action. Of course, a follow-up of the The program is divided in two basic sub- their knowledge before and after their project is already organized. species. Initially, it involves briefing of conversation with the students. the students who, later, will be asked to The project is run from October to June, transmit whatever they will have learnt Reporting, planning dreaming by a team of 47 Greek students from to the young pupils of high schools. At After the entire activity to the schools the HelMSIC, under the supervision of the the first stage, the students are divided project group had a meeting, together Department of Social Medicine, Aristo- in small groups and do homework con- with the supervising Prof. Dr. A. Benos tle University of Thessaloniki. cerning something particular, for exam- and we all discussed about our experi- ple, contraception hygiene, abortions, ence, our impressions, our thoughts Gesthimani (Gefsi) Mintziori, AIDS, other sexually transmitted dis- about how we might improve the project Greece eases, anatomy of the genital system, in the following year. Everything was International Coordinator hepatitis etc. These homework is pre- under discussion and everybody en- [email protected] sented in open meetings and give the joined the straightness and sincerity of stimuli for miscellaneous conversations the conversation. At the end, we wrote Local Organising Committee - about the topic of prevention of sexu- an article for the 1st School’s of Triandria Thessaloniki: ally transmitted diseases as well as about Anniversary Book, as we were asked by Panagiotis Mpaliakas the way of approach of the young pu- the students. The pupils seemed to love Stella-Lyda Papadopoulou pils. Afterwards, the next step is the visit- the project and their parents expressed Ioanna Milidou

Off Project – health education intervention

IFMSA official project INTERNATIONAL CONDOM EXHIBITION

Condoms of various countries were Two separate questionnaires designed questionnaire is currently under collected during the IFMSA March by the Centre of Disease Control (CDC) analysis. Meeting in Malta. A condom exhibition investigating medical students’ was created and shown in several knowledge and attitude towards sex The project is run in Taiwan by a team universities in Taiwan, along with anti- were handed out before and after the of 100 students and under the AIDS posters. exhibition. supervision and advice of the Center for Disease Control, Taiwan. Condoms provided by Taiwanese A joint press conference with the CDC companies were given out along with was held during the second week of the leaflets and booklets about Sexually exhibition, and another one will be held Yuh-Huey Chao, Transmitted Diseases provided by the after the results of the questionnaires MSA-ROC, Taiwan Taiwanese Ministry of Health. come out. The result of the second [email protected]

68 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

NMO Event Sexpression – the National Training Workshop NMO MedSIN-UK Contact person Emily Spry Email [email protected] Dates 17th –18th November 2001 Location Liverpool Number of Participants 100 Nationalities British and others Collaborating Organisations Sexpression (the MedSIN National Committee for Sex Education) Description (150 words max) This workshop follows on from the successful MY-PLESHA (Medical Students Youth Peer Led Education on Sexual Health Awareness) held in London on 25th and 26th November last year.

A National Training Workshop for representatives of medical student sex education groups and other interested students, who may go on to set up such groups. There will be both large group sessions with top speakers and small group sessions run by medical students with experience in sex education. Several workshops will run in parallel, addressing different issues. The weekend will be interspersed with games and exercises run by different medical student groups.

The aims of the weekend include: inspiring confidence in students new to sex education, refreshing those already involved, allowing discussion of some difficult areas in sex education, to foster communication and exchange between the student groups and to improve skills, awareness and knowledge in all students. And to have a lot of fun! Planned Follow-up Questionnaire based evaluations for attendees – a formal report will be sent to interested parties after the workshop.

NMO Event Symposium -AIDS ‘Diagnosis and therapy’ NMO HELMSIC Contact person Mpampis Rossas Email Dates 27/4/2001 Location Patra Number of Participants 200 medical student Nationalities Greek Collaborating Organisations University of Patra-Medical school of patra Description (150 words max) The struggle for cure of aids has vital interest for all medical student. It was great aim for us to organise this seminar in the best way so as to enlighten every student on the new data and the new methods. Planned Follow-up

www.ifmsa.org 69 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

NMO Event Workshop on peer education and HIV/AIDS Peer education project – HIV and AIDS prevention in high school. NMO Federation of Israeli Medical Students (FIMS) Contact person Adi Ovadia Email [email protected] Dates 24/5/2001, Location Technion medical school – 31/5/2001, Haifa, Israel 4/6/2001 8,15/6/2001 Number of Participants 10 medical students, Nationalities Israeli 150 high school students. Collaborating Organisations Description (150 words max) Between May and June of this year, for the first time, a HIV/AIDS prevention program took place. The prevention program was held in the city of Haifa, Israel, and targeted high school students. The instructors for the preliminary program were chosen from medical school attending the Technion Medical School. Prior to implementing the program in the high school the medical students attended a special workshop to prepare them for the task. The workshop consisted of three meetings and lasted 10 hours. The main goals of the workshop were to give the medical students the knowledge and skills towards the subject at hand and included topics such as the HIV virus, epidemiology, teen behavior and tools and methods in teaching adolescents. Fur- thermore, due to the delicate material, the medical students confronted there own behavioral skills as part of a self awareness approach that will help them deal better with the different difficult aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention in teenagers and the different behavioral changes they would need to “preach” for. After completing the preliminary work shop, the medical students entered 10th grade classes and facilitated a 2 two hour program that dealt with the different aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention. The program was based on the knowledge and teaching outline the medical students received in the workshop as well as on an instructors booklet on the subject and other instructional material that was prepared in advance. In order to assess the efficacy of this program a pre and post questionnaire were prepared, which are being evaluated at the moment. Planned Follow-up Starting next year, this project will be held in 10-15 schools. A student will be assigned to each school, and throughout the year will be in charge of implementing the program in all the higher grade classes. (8th-12th grades).

NMO Event 1st National Education Program on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS NMO TurkMSIC Contact person Pinar ASLANARGUN Email [email protected] Dates 20-23rd of April 2001 Location Bursa Number of Participants 46 Nationalities 1 USA 45 Turkish Collaborating Organisations UNFPA Description (150 words max) The 1st National Education Program on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS was completed in Bursa on 20-23rd of April 2001. It was an initiative of TurkMSIC-SCORA and AIDS Prevention Society for training peer educators. By this way, we aim to teach medical students peer methodologies, so that they can work in collaboration with government, various IGO’s, NGO’s and universities to improve knowledge of young people in the field of reproductive health. The program was funded by UNFPA local office. Planned Follow-up Our major future plans are International Youth Education Program (12-14th of No- vember 2001 - see above), 2nd National Education Program on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS, WAD 2001.

70 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers COLLABORATION WITH UNICEF

It was a unique year for the IFMSA together with the IFMSA facilitators In addition to my role as a liaison – a milestone anniversary and a rein the preparations, implementation officer, I coordinated the Training juvenated energy to train more stu- and follow-up to the meeting. and Resource Development (TRD) dents in exciting new areas. Program – an opportunity that ena- This past year we made new con- bled me to work with our talented Our relations with the United Na- tacts in the areas of HIV/AIDS and IFMSA Seniors and the TRD team tions network have been strength- Maternal and Child Health to as- from different parts of the world. ened, including our relationship sist the workshops in the Interna- Through the TRD program we with UNICEF. A new focal point was tional Training Congress for trained hundreds of students with appointed for us at the UNICEF Medical Students held in August. skills that will empower them to take headquarters in New York and These individuals in UNICEF who effective action in areas that inspire through him we continue to keep now know of the IFMSA and our them. These are important and ef- the Health Section of UNICEF in- work are impressed by our energy fective accomplishments for the formed of our activities and areas of and eager to work with us in the IFMSA. work. As we received ECOSOC sta- coming year. tus this past year, we are now in a We have turned a page in the his- position to apply for official NGO The year ahead brings ample oppor- tory of IFMSA and I am sure the status within UNICEF – a process tunity to work with UNICEF. Along year ahead will bring a new level of that will be initiated in the months with the General Assembly in March, diversity and energy in the work that ahead. to be held in Yugoslavia, there will we do. be a workshop on Child Abuse. In In November of 2000, IFMSA rep- addition there is an international resentatives were invited to be group within the IFMSA working on facilitators for a conference on a long-term project involving IMCI, Zohray Moolani Talib, Young People and Alcohol in Balsta, IMPAC and the Rights of the Child. Canada Sweden. UNICEF representatives This will be an exciting and pivotal IFMSA Liaison Officer for from European offices were in- year to build in-depth collaborations UNICEF, 1999-2001 volved in this project and worked with UNICEF. [email protected]

Mats Sundberg (TRD Director). Zohray Mooloni (UNICEF LO) and Marta Ocampo (Secretary General). www.ifmsa.org 71 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA RECOMMENDATIONS ON HIV/AIDS IN MEDICAL EDUCATION CURRICULA

“We must give hope to those infected with HIV, enabling them to plan for life instead of preparing for death. And we must give hope to humanity - hope that the spread of the disease can indeed be halted and reversed, and that future generations will not have to live under its shadow.” Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations to the World Health Assembly, 2001

In just two decades the AIDS epi- researchers and leaders in their SUPPORTING DOCUMENT demic has become a global emer- communities. gency. The fight to tackle this dis- Outline of Critical Content on ease is one that has evoked the at- In clinical care, the physician plays HIV/AIDS for Medical Education tention and efforts of all sectors of an important role in treating the dis- society – from local communities to ease and in educating patients to The following outline is meant to be the United Nations – there is now a prevent the spread and transmission a guide to ensure that medical edu- global effort to halt the spread of this of the virus. In order to optimize this cation curricula on HIV/AIDS cover devastating disease, and provide opportunity for prevention and all important aspects of the disease. better access to care and psychoso- treatment, we must ensure that phy- cial support to those already infected sicians are aware of the different fac- 1. Biological nature of the virus or ill. tors contributing to the spread in- and pathology of the disease cluding gender, cultural, social and As an organization representing economic issues. • Microbiology, immunology, medical students worldwide, the In- pathogenesis, mode of transmis- ternational Federation of Medical Physicians are also active players in sion, clinical features, Students’ Associations (IFMSA) can research to find a cure, vaccine and comorbidities and treatment contribute to this fight against HIV/ simplified treatment regimen for AIDS by providing leadership and HIV/AIDS. Medical education 2. Epidemiology guidance to ensure relevant, com- therefore should provide a basic prehensive and critical content overview of the current status and • World and local trends, distribu- about HIV/AIDS in medical educa- future needs of research in these ar- tion of HIV sub types around tion curricula. eas. the world, gender differences, future and past trends, method- With this document we wish to pro- Doctors often become decision-mak- ology aspects, and gaps in vide medical schools across the ers in society and are especially in- knowledge world with an overview of the issues volved in the management of health relating to HIV/AIDS which charac- care services. Physicians need to be • Effects on life expectancy with terize the disease as not only a virus aware of the impact of HIV/AIDS on young adults being particularly creating ill health but an entity that health care systems – the challenges affected now threatens human security, eco- of accessibility to patients and the nomic growth and the very existence draining of resources (human, fi- 3. Social impact of some populations around the nancial and political) particularly world. where the incidence and prevalence • Impact on households and fami- of HIV are high. lies – decreasing sources of in- We hope that medical student lead- come ers will use this document as a tool to advocate for change in curricula Medical Students as Agents of • Gender issues – increased bur- and to raise awareness of these issues Change den on females due to tradi- amongst decision makers. tional gender roles, responsibili- The IFMSA is an organization ties of care-giving and exploita- The Role of the Physician in the driven by medical students commit- tion to earn money Fight Against HIV/AIDS ted to better health for all. Our goal is to ensure that the next generation • Education – decrease in avail- Medical professionals have an essen- of physicians are educated and em- able teachers, impoverished tial and unique role in the fight powered to take a lead role in the families affected by AIDS cannot against AIDS as clinical physicians, fight against HIV/AIDS. afford to send children to school 72 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

• Health Services – overwhelmed 5. Economic Impact 7. Prevention by cost of treatment, lack of accessibility to health services and • HIV/AIDS has led to a dramatic • Education about responsible challenges due to discrimina- reduction of the healthy work and safe sexual behavior tion by medical personnel force, government revenues and resources, therefore, it has • Counseling techniques to teach • Orphans – generation of or- had a devastating impact on eco- prevention to target groups, for phans created by the epidemic nomic growth example, adolescents and the imposes economic and social elderly burden on society, including the elderly, and affects the develop- 6. Diagnosis, Treatment and • Ensure safe injection and surgi- ment of the child Therapeutic Interventions cal practices in the health care setting 4. Impact on Human Security • HIV testing – methods, confi- and Human Rights dentiality, consent and timing • Ensure the supply of safe blood and blood products • The epidemic has become a • Antiretroviral drugs currently threat to security as the UN Se- available - appropriate regi- • Prevent progression through curity Council now defines secu- mens, importance of adherence, treatment of opportunistic and rity as an issue going well be- awareness of resistance and side concurrent infections yond the presence or absence of effects armed conflict, one which af- • Provision of male and female fects health and social services, • Research needed for a cure, vac- condoms family composition and social cine and a simplified treatment structure, economies and food regimen • Prevent vertical transmission security from infected mothers to their • Skills to counsel and provide babies • There are human rights issues palliative care to HIV/AIDS pa- that have surfaced – those who tients and their families • Education about the benefits of are deprived of their basic hu- voluntary counseling and test- man rights (for example refu- • Information about support net- ing gees) are particularly at risk and works and services available for those who are already infected by HIV/AIDS patients in their • Post-exposure prophylaxis the virus are often stigmatized community

www.ifmsa.org 73

Collaboration and Resources Development

Training the Medical Leaders of the Future 76 Making the IFMSA Homepage 77 A Step Ahead – IFMSA Online Databases and Electronic Exchange 78 The Seniors’ Club of the IFMSA, A new Initiative 79 IFMSA Seniors Club Annual Report – 2000-2001 80 The IFMSA Newsletter – Reporting to the World 81 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA Officers TRAINING THE MEDICAL LEADERS OF THE FUTURE

the IFMSA training and resources development program

In 2000/2001the IFMSA Training been devoted to planning and or- will be able to establish sustainable and Resources Development (TRD) ganising the TRD program during and functional structures for re- program saw the light of day. Previ- the 50th Anniversary General Assem- gional and national trainings in all ously named the Leadership Train- bly, where a total of eight topics were parts of the world. ing Program, the TRD has now taught to more than 500 students broadened the scope of providing from all over the world. This major In the future activities of IFMSA the skills training for medical students undertaking proved a great chal- concept of “training trainers” will be in all fields of interpersonal and in- lenge in which various resources a guiding principle. In that way ter-organisational relations. were involved, and it has proved the IFMSA will continue to build key hu- Teambuilding; chairing meetings; efficient nature of the rich network man resources that will eventually designing, raising funds for and that IFMSA has shaped during its improve medical training all over managing projects; advocating and years in existence. The program in- the world, in order for it to ad- lobbying for changes; liaising with volved trainers from external or- equately address the important role external organisations - these are all ganisations such as WHO and of the doctor in shaping and improv- examples of skills that the medical UNFPA, as well as experienced stu- ing the performance of the health students of today and physicians of dents active in IFMSA today. Impor- systems. tomorrow will need, in order to ca- tantly it also engaged former IFMSA ter for the health care needs of their students, who have become doctors communities. and are now actively participating in shaping the health systems sur- The aim for the TRD program in rounding them. With this set-up the 2000/2001 has been to continue the TRD has proven the strength of building of sustainable training “training new trainers”, and by tap- structures in IFMSA and its national ping into “internal” expertise - member organisations. In March, present and past - IFMSA aims at ul- immediately before the General As- timately becoming self-sustainable in sembly meeting in Malta, a two-day organising its training programs. training program taught 50 student leaders how to chair meetings, raise One result of the training program Mats Sundberg, funds for projects and activities, in Denmark in August is that the Sweden manage their time and prioritise TRD has definitely been brought to IFMSA Training Director 2000-2001 and to understand and overcome the forefront of IFMSA activities, IFMSA Liaison Officer to WFME cultural differences in their work and has thus become a central part 2000-2002 together. of any IFMSA meeting. By involving IFMSA Past-President 1999-2000 many hundreds of students from IFMSA SCORP Director 1998-1999 The year has to a very large extent many different countries the TRD [email protected]

76 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 IFMSA Officers MAKING THE IFMSA HOMEPAGE

Our main goal as directors of New lot of good suggestions, not to men- familiar with it before March meet- Technology Support Division was to tion digital photos of all officers. We ing. We also added a new counter to completely redesign the IFMSA web had decided photos to be essential be able to monitor the traffic on the page. We wanted to make the page to give more personal feeling to of- site. In March meeting in Malta we easier to navigate and also give it a ficer page and also to make officers had meetings with all EB members more modern, uniform look. In easier to approach by GA partici- and Standing Committee Directors Porto we had made some basic de- pants. EB meeting took rather long to collect feedback on the site and sign decisions, which were discussed time, and most of the work didn’t made several changes. Many great through email in the following really concern me much, so I had ideas were proposed to us by inter- weeks. The guidelines we finally time to create a draft of the site struc- ested participants, for instance we agreed on were simple: the page ture on the back site of the EBM created a summer schools page to should be 800x600, have a white or meeting papers. promote various summer courses very light background, no frames provided by the NMOs. and fast download times to ensure Now the design template and site access from slower computers used structure were ready so it was time The file structure started to show by several NMOs. This meant heavy to get to the dull part: converting the strain after the number of pages restrictions on the graphics, but we old pages to the new format and increased. Sub domains for Stand- felt the download speed to be essen- updating the information. This took ing Committees had been pro- tial and had a vision of an elegant longer than expected and delayed posed on Malta and after ponder- page, where graphics would be used the launch of the page, but also gave ing the idea for a while we decided only when needed. us time to test the page. Even with to go for it. The change was made the new structure it was difficult to at the same time as the server was After trying several different layouts find some information from the moved to a new, bigger computer, it become clear that the best way to page and it become clear we needed as we were also running out of disk reach our goal was to create a tem- a search function. We tested several space. After the change SC pages plate with a navigation bar, which search providers and decided Atomz have been available directly under would then be used on all the pages would meet our requirements: it was www.ifmsa.org/scome, within the site. Thus the navigation free for sites under 500 pages, it was www.ifmsa.org/scope etc. tools would be accessible from all the fast and it allowed us to use custom- pages and together with graphical ized results page without too many The site has been growing all the header the navigation bar could give banners or advertisements. We had time, and currently consists of over the pages uniform look we wanted. very little previous experience in 200 pages, takes nearly 100 Mb As we had decided against using setting up search functions, but it and has had over 21 000 visitors frames, the navigation bar had to be proved surprisingly easy. I had pre- during its existence. created the hard way. The web de- pared to fight with the code for signing program we had chosen, weeks, but it was up and running Dreamweaver, made this possible by after a weekend. At this point we allowing us to use library elements. were ready to start a public beta test Whenever we needed to change the of the site and created a link from navbar, the program would go the old page to the new one. through all the pages and make the changes, so that all the pages would Feedback started to pour in and maintain identical look. On the soon we were overwhelmed by the downside this meant we would have mail. Apart the homepage we were to update all over 100 pages in the supposed to moderate IFMSA mail- server, but at that time it didn’t ing lists and together the amount of sound that bad. After a couple of email was just too much, at the worst sketches how the page could look, point I had 600+ messages waiting Bent send me one with idea of arch for my attention. We got many very containing IFMSA logo and navbar good suggestions, but unfortunately on the left. I immediately liked the we not able to respond to all writers design and created more refined or even read all the mail. This was a version and tested it with some clear failure and also a warning of pages. We both agreed the basic de- email troubles looming ahead. After Markus Leskinen sign looked very good and took this making most critical changes we de- IFMSA NTSD Director 2000-2001 design to EBM in Odense. The feed- cided to launch the site officially, so [email protected] back was very positive and we got a that people would have time to get www.ifmsa.org 77 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 A STEP AHEAD IFMSA ONLINE DATABASES AND ELECTRONIC EXCHANGE

This year a big step ahead has been being finalised and will done in our federation technical re- be used for the first sources. The creation of the IFMSA time in the IFMSA his- online databases and the electronic tory to organise the ex- exchange system (e-ex) will be an changes in both important asset for our members in SCOPE and SCORE the coming years. for the year 2001-2002. It will provide an easy IFMSA has been playing around tool to NEOs, NOREs with the idea of the SCOPE and and local officers that SCORE e-ex for years now, but it was will make the process of not until this year when thank to the accepting students initiative of Antonis Kaintatzis faster and in the case of (former IFMSA Web Coordinator), SCORE it has some and the support and cooperation of added features such as the 2000-2001 SCOPE and SCORE a search function for directors (Mariota and Pedja), and the research projects myself as Secretary General, that this offered by SCORE all “often dreamed” project has finally over the world, where seen the light. students interested in our programs can surf Some precedents in the past, such as to. Besides, students the old online address lists for na- will be able to check tional officers and the Research Ex- anytime of the year the change projects database, were the stage of their exchange inspiration to design the structure of application through a the IFMSA Databases, currently password. hosted on a commercial internet server at the domain www.ifmsa.net. But this is not all, two But no comparison; the new more databases will be databases are special for their secu- developed in the com- rity levels which allow different using months. The sen- ers to access only certain informa- iors database, that will tion. They consist of a public inter- provide a useful tool to face (www.ifmsa.net/public), where keep record of our sen- non sensitive information is dis- iors and the Projects Marius and Marta presenting the e-ex4. played for the use of anybody who and Events database, might visit our pages, (such as gen- where all IFMSA eral contact info to our NMOs and projects and events info IFMSA officials, exchange condi- can be stored and checked anytime Marta Ocampo Fontangordo, tions and the research projects da- by any of the authorised people. Spain tabase search function), and differ- Some non-sensitive data from these IFMSA Secretary General ent levels of private pages that can two new databases will be also be 2000-2001 only be accessed through pass- available through the public section IFMSA SCORE Co-director word systems, providing a very at www.ifmsa.net/public. 1999-2000 useful tool to both our National [email protected] Member Organisations and spe- We sincerely hope that our work cifically to the work of the IFMSA and vision concerning this project Antonis Kaintatzis, Secretary General and the IFMSA will be useful to IFMSA develop- HelMSIC, Greece Treasurer. ment in the near and not-so-near IFMSA Databases and future. We want to thank all those e-ex coordinator But the most important is that these who collaborated with us in mak- IFMSA NTSD Director databases are the core of the e-ex- ing it reality. 1999-2000 change system, which is currently [email protected]

78 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 THE SENIORS’ CLUB OF THE IFMSA, A NEW INITIATIVE

Mogens Dahl, Chair of IFMSA Seniors Club.

The 50th GA and anniversary of the an informal meeting in my home in Mogens Dahl IFMSA held August 2001 in Aalborg Vodskov (close to Aalborg) to discuss IFMSA Seniors Club Chairman and fostered an interest in its history. our own time in IFMSA. We all general practicioner Poya Tababat-Khani from Sweden remembered the spirit and IMCC President 1967-1968 had coordinated a search for doctors enthusiasm from participating in IFMSA Treasurer 1968-1970, previously active in the IMFSA, meetings and projects in the IFMSA. Botswana Project leader 1971-1973 “IFMSA Seniors”, and set up a web Later the same day we joined the [email protected] based Seniors’ database at http:// executive board of the IFMSA for a go.to/ifmsa-seniors where you may meeting chaired by Poya to set up a register. The list of Seniors found in Seniors’ Club. The Seniors’ Club will the archives of the General aim to serve the IFMSA with Secretariat can be viewed at: experience, knowledge and history, and provide ourselves with a means http://www.ifmsa.org/Meetings/ of communication. We hope to find Chronology of IFMSA activities and all IFMSA Seniors by appointing a people 1951-1999.htm National Senior in each country to search national medical directories. August 5th 2001 25 Seniors, Our activities can be followed by including prof. Erik Holst, founder joining our mailing list. Just write an of the IMCC and co-founder and the empty email to: ifmsa-seniors- first president of the IFMSA, met for [email protected].

www.ifmsa.org 79 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA SENIORS CLUB ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

One of the roles of the Club is 49, number 2, p 31) on the Sen- storming session around the to act as a pool for the active iors Club. Also the homepage topic “Future of IFMSA”. members of IFMSA to dive into (www.synapsis.nu/seniors) has Gradually the Meeting was when they have problems or been updated and the number wound up with a fourse course questions about specific fields of registrations increased to 89, dinner at a four star restaurant or areas of interest. number of participants in the in the centre of Aalborg. Yahoo!Groups mailing list has This role has been used in rela- increased to 144. The outcome of the brain- tion to many happennings in storming session can be ob- IFMSA this year. Mainly the In relation with the ITCMS, the tained through the co- competence was used for ar- Seniors Meeting was arranged ordinator. Dr Mogens Dahl was rangements of the Interna- on August 5 for the Seniors at- elected as Chairman of the tional Training Congress for tending the ITCMS. The main IFMSA Seniors’ Club. Medical Students, which was goal for the Meeting was to so- held at the Fiftieth Anniversary cialize with the members of the of the Federation, in Aalborg, Club, secondly to create new Poya Tababat-Khani, Denmark August 2001. ideas for the new generations of Sweden IFMSA. An informal lunch was Seniors Club Co-ordinator, During the year, one article was arranged by Dr Mogens Dahl, 1999–2002 published in VAGUS (Volume in Vodskov, followed by a brain- [email protected]

80 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers IFMSA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF VAGUS, THE IFMSA NEWSLETTER REPORTING TO THE WORLD

VAGUS – its aim shall be to link The passed “IFMSA year” can eas- make the reader feel more comfort- the brain with heart and intes- ily be reviewed while reading able while reading new issues. tines, just as its namesake nerve through those three issues of VA- Therefore the editorial should al- no. X. And just as its translation GUS that are downloadable from ways be found at page 3 followed by from Latin The “Wanderer” our web page www.ifmsa.org. On the IFMSA – o – gramm presenting VAGUS is presenting a great the one hand almost all IFMSA’s of- the recent IFMSA officials in name, number of different topics and ficers reported about their work, position and photograph and the experiences, like wandering shared their thoughts and feelings table of contents. The last two pages around the world picking up that regularly in an honest and convinc- shall be preserved for a list of up- could be found beneath the coming manner. On the other hand a coming events and a list of abbrevia- mon path. whole lot of busy bumble bees of col- tions. umnists and voluntary authors were The need of having someone for contributing to our newsletter. We Looking ahead the aim of VAGUS taking care of VAGUS lead to an ap- are proudly looking back to more only can be to reach a broader read- pointment by the Executive Board than 130 different articles, contribu- ership. A dream shall become true – in October because the Vice Presi- tions and presentations. The V- every single medical student in the dent of Internal Affairs wasn’t Team was focussing on exchange as world asking each other : “Did you elected during the General Assem- the most important part of our work, already read VAGUS?” bly in Porto. Due to the late appoint- violence as part of human nature, ment we missed the chance to ac- IPPNW’s campaign on small arms complish the usual four issues of and light weapons, a huge number VAGUS. As a kind of compensation of projects running in our National we spend much more time in the fi- Member Organizations, safe sex, nal layout and finalized three amaz- understanding foreign cultures (ar- ing and beautiful issues. The whole ticle: Cross Culture Medicine) and team of editors, columnists, writers the 50th anniversary of IFMSA, of and supervisors consisted on about course. The Flies as permanent col- 70 medical students and profession- umn reflects on topics touching the als. The printing was completed in world. Malta as well as in Estonia that saved a fortune due to missing shipping Throughout the year we achieved costs and quite cheap offers of print- to establish multilingual pages in ing prices. The overall time for com- Greek, Spanish and French, always pleting one single issue is a three going along with the English trans- Clemens Henze, months period including calling for lation. A crucial point was to find a Germany deadlines, collecting articles, edit- catchy and nice layout as well as es- IFMSA Editor-in-chief 2000-2001 ing, lay outing and printing. tablishing standards in the layout to [email protected]

www.ifmsa.org 81

Peace, Refugees and Human Rights

Standing Committee on Refugees and Peace: Active all over the Globe Fighting for Human Rights for All, Against Violence and for Forgotten Refugees 84 Refugee Health – Addressing the Challenges 85 The Collaboration between IFMSA and IPPNW Working Towards a Focus on Local Networking 86 The Peace Test 87 The Palestinian Refugee Project in Lebanon 88 Declaration 91 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers STANDING COMMITTEE ON REFUGEES AND PEACE ACTIVE ALL OVER THE GLOBE FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL, AGAINST VIOLENCE AND FOR FORGOTTEN REFUGEES

In the past year the Standing Com- Injury Prevention. This will prob- on “Children and War”. The devas- mittee on Refugees and Peace con- ably result in a survey on violence tating impact of war on children was tinued its series of human rights and injury prevention in the medi- the topic and this included the situ- trainings (which started in 1997 in cal curriculum. ation of orphans of war and child Uganda, Africa), when SCORP-Peru soldiers. These participants also organised “EdhucaSalud: Making As a pilot-project, IFMSA has started made plans to become actively in- the Links”. Almost 100 students an Action Group on Disasters and volved in the activities to improve from the field of medicine, law and Emergencies. This group will ex- the situation of children in or after a psychology from 7 Latin American plore the possibilities in this field and war. countries attended this 5th training will investigate what we as medical on health and human rights. With students can do in case of a disaster In conjunction with SCORP, a spe- this training, already 4 continents or emergency. Later the decision will cial session on landmines was held, have been covered by the IFMSA be made if this Action Group will be to focus the public’s attention at this human rights trainings, namely Af- discontinued, if it will be incorpo- important topic. rica, Asia, Europe and South rated in an already existing Stand- America. It will be only a matter of ing Committee or if a new Standing I am confident that next year will be time before we have covered all con- Committee will be created. also a wonderful year for SCORP, tinents and we have more trainings when the action plans that were coming up. SCORPions were also very active in made during our 50th Anniversary the area of PR & Marketing. The are coming into reality. I hope you In the year 2000-2001, a lot of atten- SCORP webpage has been updated are as much looking forward to that tion has been given to new areas of and a wonderful SCORP poster has as I am! interest like that of “forgotten refu- been created to attract even more gees”. SCORPions are very eager to students to SCORP. I wish my successor, Hannu Vessari, start working in this area, that needs all the best, and I am confident that more attention. A new refugee Our aims and objectives have been he and the rest of SCORP will do a project has been set up, this time fo- critically studied and revised. tremendous job! cusing on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The first rotation will A SCORP Handbook is now ready We will keep on showing to the hopefully take place in the summer for all students who want to become world that WE DO HAVE THE of 2001. Other students are re- active in SCORP. POWER TO CHANGE ! searching the possibilities of starting a similar project in Pakistan for Af- During the General Assembly in Au- Love, peace and happiness, ghan refugees. But this idea needs a gust, two workshops with topics re- little more time to develop. lated to SCORP were organised.

SCORP has renewed and strength- Participants learned about the situ- ened its collaboration with several ation of refugees in today’s world, external organisations. The United what is a determinant of health, es- nations High Commissioner for pecially with regards to refugees. Refugees and the one for Human They also made action plans for Rights have been contacted and vis- their own country to improve the ited to ensure future co-operation situation of refugees in their coun- and support. SCORP is also in good try (or anywhere else in the world) contact with many other NGO’s in and to raise awareness among medi- the field of conflict prevention, refu- cal students and the general public gees and human rights. on refugees issues. This was all done Marieke van den Ham, in the workshop “Refugee Health: The Netherlands Also, SCORP has started co-operat- Addressing the Challenges”. IFMSA SCORP Director 2000-2001 ing with the World Health Organi- [email protected] sation department of Violence and Other participants focused five days

84 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

International Training Congress for Medical Students

REFUGEE HEALTH ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

From August 4-12, 2001, the Inter- • The global refugee situation national Federation of Medical Stu- and human rights dents’ Association (IFMSA) cel- • Health care delivery in a ebrated its 50th anniversary by or- refugee camp ganizing an International Training • Mental health issues of refugees Congress for Medical Students in • Determinants of health of Aalborg, Denmark. As part of this refugees in a new society event, we coordinated an interna- • Conflict prevention tional workshop for medical students entitled “Refugee Health: Ad- Each of these topics was addressed Workshop session. dressing the Challenges”. Our work- through a common format: interac- shop was designed to improve par- tive lectures, a detailed small group addressing specific refugee situa- ticipants’ understanding of refugee case study, brainstorming sessions, tions around the world. health issues, and to give medical and facilitated small- and large- students the skills necessary to initi- group discussions on potential The workshop featured two special projects which medical events. The Refugee Walk was an students could under- all-night, role-playing exercise that take. allowed participants to live some of the frustration, anxiety, and fear Participants had the op- faced by asylum seekers in Western portunity to engage in society. The Seminar on Human- discussions with experts itarian Mine Clearance gave from a variety of inter- participants an appreciation of the national NGOs includ- complexities surrounding the global ing MSF (Médecins Sans campaign against landmines by Frontières), UNHCR featuring talks from a physician Participants of the workshop (United Nations High advocate, an army member involved ate, coordinate and manage refu- Commissioner for Refugees), in landmine clearance, a business- gee-related projects at the local, na- IPPNW (International Physicians man involved in advocacy, and a tional and international level. for the Prevention of Nuclear surgeon helping victims in the field. War), and MedAct (UK). Partici- Each day of the workshop was pants also had the unique oppor- Each participant left the workshop devoted to one of the following focus tunity to learn from each other with a concrete action plan for de- areas: about medical student initiatives veloping one or more refugee-related projects in his or her home country in the coming year. Follow up of their initiatives and ongoing support will be provided through internet contact and the next international meeting of the IFMSA, which will occur in Yugoslavia in March 2002.

Liv Lyngå, Denmark Workshop Coordinator [email protected] Tara Kiran, Canada [email protected] Darrell Tan, Canada Landmine session [email protected] www.ifmsa.org 85 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Officers THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN IFMSA AND IPPNW WORKING TOWARDS A FOCUS ON LOCAL NETWORKING

The continuous collaboration be- nally, we put down a couple of cri- with experience from the IPPNW tween IFMSA and IPPNW have had teria for the next LO, in order to Dialogue meetings I’ve attended opportunity to develop even further facilitate for the next IFMSA EB: and with support from collaborative this year, as I continued as liaison partners of IPPNW, hold the train- officer and could carry on the work • Familiarity with IPPNW – ing parts on dialogue and on inter- from last year. There has been a structure, membership, work, action with mass media. Piji will also regular exchange of articles for each goals, etc. support the workshops, and the other’s newsletters, in order to commemoration of the Hiroshima spread the knowledge of the collabo- • Familiarity and interest in bombings of the 6th of August. We ration itself and also about the or- IPPNW’s major issues/cam- will also have the opportunity of hav- ganisations as such. We have also paigns – disarmament (nuclear ing one of IPPNW’s co-presidents had good representation at each weapons, landmines, small Dr. Mary Wynne Ashford present at other’s meetings. With Caecilie arms) and war prevention the August meeting to give lectures Buhmann, one of two international • Good communication skills – in the workshops. student representatives within time availability and punctual- IPPNW, and Piji Propotsaltsis at the ity (mostly email) As a summary, I’d like to under- Central Office I’ve had very good line the importance for IFMSA to discussions and continuous email • Availability to attend major reach out to the expertise of contact. We have tried to focus on IPPNW meetings – Board of IPPNW and for IPPNW to reach the national and local networking Directors and World Con- the student network of IFMSA. between the organisations, both gress The two organisations have now aiming at mapping the existing con- • Availability to visit IPPNW developed a deeper level of co- tacts and building new ones. Central Officez in Boston operation, but this can be taken further. A challenge for next year As one common project of this year • Consistent communication is also to complete the map of ex- was the European IPPNW student and collaboration with isting contacts between the organi- meeting, held in Uppsala, Sweden, IPPNW’s two international sations and to focus even more on 19-23 of April 2001. There were student representatives and strengthening the local bonding. many IFMSA students who for the Central Office student contact first time participated in an IPPNW person meeting, and had the possibility to • Understanding of relation be- learn more about the organisation. tween IPPNW and IFMSA and The same goes for those IPPNW stu- commitment to building dents who had never heard of stronger ties – linking students IFMSA before. to doctors, spreading the word about peace and disarmament In the beginning of June, I went to to IFMSA students, etc. the Central Office of IPPNW in Boston for two days to evaluate • Understanding of and fol- our collaboration. There was an low-up to 7 resolutions/steps agreement upon the fact that hav- for building stronger rela- ing a liaison officer has facilitated tions between the two organi- the communication very much, zations. and has secured the participation in each others meetings as well as Furthermore I’ve been co- the publication of articles in the ordinating and preparing the TRD newsletters of each organisation. on Advocacy, to be held during the Anna Hellman, We also planned the mapping of August meeting and 50th Anniver- Sweden the local collaboration of IFMSA sary of IFMSA in Denmark. This will IFMSA Liaison Officer for IPPNW and IPPNW, as well as where we be done much with help from 1999-2001 could help each other with con- IPPNW. Piji Propotsaltsis will give a [email protected] tacts to new medical students. Fi- lecture on campaigning and I will, 86 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Official Project

THE PEACE TEST

IFMSA the University of Texas Department of Public Health Physicians for Social Responsibility, Finland National Institute of Public Health, Finland

Today violence is considered to be a tonia, Russian Federation, Romania References public health problem (J. Mytton et and Finland the same year. In the al., 2001). From being an adult ques- year 2000, many countries partici- • Baker SP, O’Neill B, Ginsburg MJ, tion it nowadays involves most age pated in Peace Test.(Austria, Den- Guohua L. The Injury Fact Book. groups, being witnessed and some- mark, Finland, France, Ghana, Oxford University Press, 1992. times even performed also by school Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Peru, Po- aged children. For example, homi- land, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, • Bandura A., Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of cide is the second most common Taiwan, UK, USA and Yugoslavia). Inhumanities, Personality and So- cause of death among 15-24 year Some did an extended version, vis- cial Psychology Review, 3(3)193- olds in the United States (Baker SP, iting secondary schools and univer- 209, 1999. 1992). Exposure to violence in child- sities around their countries, whilst hood is associated with adult vio- others did a short form about mili- • McAlister, A., Sandström, P., Puska, lence, which calls for preventive tary violence. In some countries P., Veijo, A., Chereches, R. and work to be done. media covered the results as well. Heidmets, L.-T. (2001). Attitudes towards war, killing and punish- Aggressive responses to local and The results have been and are cur- ment of children among young international conflicts are partly de- rently under analysis. An article on people in Estonia, Finland, Roma- termined by a process called moral the pilot study has been published nia, the Russian Federation, and the USA. Bulletin of the World disengagement, in which collective in the Journal of Peace Research, Health Organization. 79 (5), 382-387. violence is justified by public judge- and the WHO Bulletin 2001, while ments of conflict, choices and en- the first articles on the Peace Test •Mytton J., DiGiuseppi C.; School emies (Bandura A., 1999). Moral dis- 2000 have been submitted to the Based Prevention Programmes for engagement occurs when one be- Journal of Peace Psychology and to Reducing Violence (Protocol), The gins convincing oneself that violence the Journal of Social Psychology. Cochrane Library, Volume(Issue1) is excusable and justified under cer- 2001. tain conditions. It is a way of putting The Peace Test internet site the moral standards that restrict ag- (www.peacetest.org) which first was gression in everyday life to the back- created in the spring of 2000 has ground, which leads to “normal”, lately been developed to become not “good” people committing atrocities only a way of letting any surfer test with a clear conscience. and innoculate themselves, but also a forum for educational purposes in Thus, it may be possible to reduce schools around the world, for the the degree to which violence is sup- presentation of results and a practi- ported in particular situations by cal guide and database for those who helping people learn to resist argu- wish to test their fellow students and ments that are commonly used to other countrymen. advocate the use of force. In other words, there might be a way to im- All in all, the Peace Test seeks to be a munize against “war fever” by psy- continuous opinion poll, gradually chological inoculation (McGuire covering more and more young peo- 1964; McAlister et al. 1980; ple all around the world, trying to McAlister 2001). raise debate and new thoughts by asking the crucial questions, like: “is The idea of doing a Peace Test it right to kill in order to defend your project came up at the GA in property? “The young are the fu- Hurghada, Egypt in 1998 and a pi- ture and only the future can be lot survey was done in the USA, Es- changed. www.ifmsa.org 87 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

IFMSA Official Project THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEE PROJECT IN LEBANON

After two years of research and the refugee children, giving English The project was well advertised in preparation, this project will finally reinforcement lessons, giving health Denmark through the project fair see the light in summer of 2002. The awareness lectures and many others. and through the distributed book- idea behind this project is for inter- Activities also include medical clerk- lets. national students to come and work ships in the camp hospital in the de- in a Palestinian refugee camp in partment of choice. The foreign stu- Already some people have showed Lebanon in the fields of social work dents will be able to communicate interest and started sending emails and health awareness and medical with the refugees through an accom- Asking questions about participa- practice. SCORP Lebanon already panying local SCORP member who tion. New updates will hopefully be have the experience in these fields will translate for them whenever always updated listed on the with the refugees in this camp and needed. webpage and the IFMSA-SCORP in collaboration with the NGO’s list. working there. Thus, SCORP Leba- Participants’ number and non and Switzerland conceptualized accommodation the idea of an international refugee camp where the international stu- The project will run for a period of dents could come and work. one month every year and five international students will be accom- Profile of the Camp modated in this month only. They will be staying in a hotel in Beirut This project will take place in a camp 15 minutes away from the camp by called EL-Burj in the outskirts of car. The students will be taken to the Beirut, where a population of camp and back by a car everyday. A 16,000 refugees reside. Unlike caterer will provide food for them other camps over the world this daily during lunch and breakfast. camp is more than 50 years old and houses there are all made out of con- In order to participate, the students crete. Despite the fact that the third should fill an application form that generation is living in this camp, the will be posted on the project’s refugees have not yet adapted or in- webpage and it by mail to any of the tegrated with the society they are liv- names listed below. ing in. They are still deprived of the right to work and hence poverty is The organizers and their work quite prevalent among them. The educational system, the health sec- After the project became an offi- tor are under-privileged, and camp cial one in the GA in Denmark, infrastructure (sewers, electricity, the international and local or- packed houses, water) are signifi- ganizing committee started shift- cantly underdeveloped. The mental ing the words put on paper into health of these people is quite un- real work. The IOC, which is stable due to the situation they are headed by Philippe Ghibou living in. ([email protected]) from France and Rola Darwiche Work of the participants ([email protected]) from Switzerland, are currently working The preponderance of these prob- on the creation of the webpage and lems have alerted many NGO’s to on fundraising. focus on these issues in the camp. The international students who will The LOC, headed by Samer Nasser come through SCORP will be work- ([email protected]), are Samer Nasser, ing hand in hand with these NGO’s working on the organizing the activi- Lebanon to help the refugees in the many so- ties and accommodations for the stu- Local co-ordinator cial activities. Ideas of work include dents coming to Lebanon and on the [email protected] doing art and music workshops with formulation of the application form. 88 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

NMO Event HOMed – The National MedSIN Conference on Homelessness NMO MedSIN-UK Contact person Neil Datta Email [email protected] Dates 24th - 25th November 2001 Location London Number of Participants 100 Nationalities British and others Collaborating Organisations Shelter (UK Charity on (these had representatives Homelessness) speaking at the conference) Crisis (UK Charity on Homelessness) Description (150 words max) On the weekend of November 24th /25th a Homelessness workshop entitled HOMed is being organised in London in association with MedSIN-RUMS. Its aims include actively raising awareness and participation in issues concerning the homeless that are not currently covered in the curriculum. Issues such as health and a return to normal life, which are briefly mentioned above, will be featured as well as many mind ex- panding and thought provoking ideas. Charities such as Crisis will provide expertise in terms of what the current situation is regarding homelessness, as it is a dynamic subject. At the end of the weekend it is envisaged that students that have attended the weekend will contribute towards the take up of a MedSIN Homelessness Project on a national scale. Planned Follow-up National Committee on Homelessness Issues

NMO Event SCORP Week NMO MSA-ROC (Taiwan) Contact person April Fan Email [email protected] Dates December Location Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien Number of Participants 50 Nationalities Taiwan Collaborating Organisations Description (150 words max) During a week in December, several universities organized special lectures, fairs, poster exhibitions discussing topics related to refugee and peace, and introducing IFMSA and SCORP to Taiwanese medical students. Planned Follow-up

www.ifmsa.org 89 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

NMO Event Fundraising for Earthquake victims NMO MSA-ROC (Taiwan) Contact person April Fan Email [email protected] Dates April-May Location Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien Number of Participants 40 Nationalities Taiwan Collaborating Organisations Description (150 words max) A fair was organized in several universities to fundraise for earthquake victims. There was also a poster exhibition introducing various Taiwanese NGOs dedicated to refugee and peace on an international level. Planned Follow-up The amount of money collected is still under estimation; the money will be donated to earthquake victims in El Salvador and other countries through international NGOs.

NMO Event International Workshop on the Effects of War on Children – A Generation at Risk NMO BoHeMSA – Bosnian and Herzegovinian Medical Students’ Association Contact person Selma Mujezinovic Email [email protected] Dates October 2000 Location Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Number of Participants 70 Nationalities 16 Collaborating Organisations IPPNW Austria Description (150 words max) The idea was to bring medical students from all over the world to learn more about children trauma and PTSD, especially by children who have experienced war. About 70 medical students from all over the world attended the Seminar which took place on Bjelasnica mountain near Sarajevo, from 19-23 October 2000. Planned Follow-up Conference held in Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 2001

90 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

DECLARATION

Recognizing that health is a fundamen- well as in its freedom of speech and reach the people’s biopsycosocial tal human right of everyone, and know- in the free exercise of the profes- well-being. ing the existent limitations in the exer- sion. 2. It is intolerable that health profes- cise of this right for many inhabitants of sionals become instruments of Hu- our region, the participants of the First EDUCATION man Rights violations, participating Permanent Latin American Workshop in practical such as torture, steril- “Health and Human Rights: Making the 1. It is necessary to increase the efforts izations without the appropriate in- Links”, consider that: to assure the right from all the formed consent, mistreat to psychi- people to a education in Human atric patients or any act that at- GENERAL ISSUES Rights, in all the formation levels. tempts against people’s life or dig- 2. It is vital to begin and/or to nity. 1. It is necessary to address the impor- strengthen efforts for the incorpo- 3. The corporatist culture of the tance and fulfilling of the United ration of the Human Rights con- health professionals expressed in Nations International Covenant on tents in the formation of the profes- “loyalties” in front of cases of medi- Economic, Social and Cultural sionals, particularly in health re- cal negligence and other Human Rights and, especially, in the recog- lated careers. Rights violations should be eradi- nition of the health like a right of 3. It is necessary to offer tools to the cated. It should be avoided that the all the people without any distinc- health professionals to detect and to associations and professional tion. intervene in an integral way in front groups are used as mechanisms to 2. It is indispensable the creation of a of cases of Human Rights abuses, avoid responsibilities in these acts. culture of Human Rights in all the with emphasis in the topics of vio- 4. It is necessary to promote a culture sectors of the society and, especially, lence in their different manifesta- of respect and horizontality in the among the professionals related to tions, having present the particular relationships among the health per- the health. characteristics of each region. sonnel and the ones who look for 3. Every person has the duty of con- 4. Populations of special attention for these services. Any use of health tributing in the health promotion, the promotion from the right to the professionals power against the considering in the first place his/her health in our region are women, rights of people should be eradi- own health and of his/her environ- children, indigenous or peasants cated. ment. communities and people with 4. It is fundamental the formation and physical and/or mental disability. PARTICIPATION strength of multidisciplinary 5. The student and civil society orga- groups that work with the objective nizations should participate actively 1. People involved in the design of that the health is understood as a in the design and evaluation of cur- public policies and programs Human Right. ricular proposals and of education should recognize and promote the plans for health related profession- participation of the communities STATE’S ROLE als that include the Human Rights and the organized civil society. perspective and specific contents of 2. It is necessary to foment the com- 1. The States should commit to de- this field. munication and the work coordi- velop a legal and normative mark nated among institutions linked to that assures the recognition, exer- PRACTICES IN THE HEALTH human rights and health. cise, respect and promotion of the FIELD 3. It is indispensable that the orga- right to health. nized civil society is involved in the 2. The States should revise the distri- 1. Health professionals should always monitoring of policies and health bution of its budgets, making sure have present that their knowledge programs, aiming to assure the ful- that the amounts assigned to the and abilities have for objective to filling of the right to health. health sector is adequate to respond to its population’s necessities. 3. The States has the duty and the ob- ligation of guaranteeing the full ex- ecution to the population’s integral health right, considering among other aspects primary and secondary prevention policies, equipment, services, inputs and qualified personnel. This effort includes monitoring activities and evaluation of the quality of the services, in which the participation of the civil society should be looked for. 4. The States should assure a working policy for the health professionals that protects its Human rights, in the level of its health protection, appropriate conditions of work, as EDUHCAS Human Rights Workshop, Peru (February 2001). www.ifmsa.org 91

Financial Report

Explanation on IFMSA fFinancial Report 2000-2001 94 IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001

EXPLANATION ON IFMSA FINANCIAL REPORT 2000-2001

Income Executive Board External and internal relations IFMSA is generally funded by mem- Expenses from the year 1999-2000 Expenses from 1999-2000 is ac- bership fees only, which cover the were in general predicted and accounted this year. Expenses this year administration of the organisation. counted for in 1999-2000. Minor includes costs for lecturers and ex- We have tried to increase the in- expenses from the budget 1999- ternals to attend the IFMSA meet- comes for administrational purposes 2000 are accounted in this financial ing in Malta in March 2001. by seeking funds in the European year. The budget for the Executive UNESCO has covered the costs for Commission. Unfortunately our ap- Board has not been exceeded for the IFMSA leadership training at the plication was rejected for the second year 2000-2001 and a few expenses IFMSA August meeting in Denmark time. Furthermore too little out- are expected to be hold in the next 2001. Furthermore, the expenses come is gained from sponsorships financial year and these expenses for our relations to other student on homepage and in newsletters. A are reserved as deferred liabilities. organisations and other NGOs have fundraising task force has been es- Furthermore the EB has been ex- been increased this year. We decided tablished this year and hopefully this tended to consist of 5 persons. Only to join the NGO Forum for Health will benefit for the organisation in 4 persons have been in office this and the Global Health Council with the coming year with some positive year. Travel costs takes up a substan- further costs to membership fees. results. tial amount of the costs for the EB. Furthermore we made an agreement with the European Student However, funding received this Standing Committees Conference and a new improved year has been primarily for differ- We had quite a few unpredicted ex- agreement with the European Medi- ent projects. World Medical Asso- penses from the year 1999-2000 to cal Students Associations (EMSA), ciation has helped the EB to get account for this year. This explains which also has led to, increased costs established in Geneva by funding the high costs of the standing com- under this budget point. living expenses for 1 EB member mittees this year. The budget for the in Geneva. UNAIDS has funded a standing committees in 2000-2001 Print and Publications project with productions of con- has not been exceeded. All predicted We have had a large increase in the doms. UNFPA has supported an expenses for the standing commit- expenses to production of publica- issue on Medical Students Inter- tees have been accounted in this fi- tions. A substantial amount of the national. The grants for these nancial year and these expenses will printing costs from last financial year projects are all earmarked for the be held in the first few month of the have been carried out in this finan- specific projects and are ac- financial year 2001-2002. These pre- cial year. Furthermore all predicted counted as liabilities. dicted expenses are deferred as expenses to printing of annual re- short-term liabilities. Travel costs are port and newsletters have been ac- far the heaviest costs of the standing counted this year and deferred as EXPENSES committees. short time liabilities to next financial year where the expenses will be car- GS-expenses Support divisions ried out. A lot of expenses from last years Only a few expenses from the previ- budget as been accounted in this ous financial year have been ac- Furthermore the expenses for pro- year. These expenses were not accounted in this year. We have had an duction of AFs and certificates are an counted as deferred liabilities. This extra position this year – the IOC expense from the financial year year we predict a substantial amount Chair. This accounts for the higher 1999-2000. of our GS expenses to be held after costs of the support divisions com- the closure of the accounts on the pared to previous years. The IOC The production of marketing mate- 30th of June 2001. Expenses have chair is only functioning for one rial this year has been IFMSA post- therefore been deferred to the next year. There has been a change in the ers and leaflets and the budget allo- financial year. This accounts for the composition of the support division cated for this has been kept. relatively large difference compared compared to the previous year. We to previous years. Furthermore, we have moved the functions as PR and Internet will have an expense for assistance marketing director and Newsletter During the year 2000-2001 we have to the financial report done by Ernst editor to the EB positions. This will had a company to develop online and Young, which give an additional increase the EB expenses in the fu- databases and electronic online ex- expense compared to previous ture and lower the costs to support change systems for our student ex- years. divisions. changes. No expenses have been

94 www.ifmsa.org IFMSA ANNUAL REPORT 2000–2001 held so far, but a substantial amount ing the result the following must be these grants all represent ear- in the budget for 2000-2001 was al- taken into consideration: marked money for specific located for this purpose. The ex- projects. They represent li- penses will be held in the financial 1) A large number of expenses abilities on the IFMSA ac- year 2001-2002 and they are de- from the year 1999-2000 have counts. ferred as a short-term liability to been accounted in this finan- 2001-2002. The expenses are ac- cial year. Last year showed a We must during the next year effec- counted for this year. surplus of approximately tively reduce our expenses. The re- 12000 Euro, which can explain sult will not be a big loss next year Specific Projects these missing expenses. because an extraordinary large Includes the Ageing and Health amount of expenses have been ac- workshop held in August 2000 in 2) Most expenses for this year counted this year. However, a lot of Porto. All expenses from this project have been accounted in this liquids are available for the different are from the liabilities reserved for year and these expenses are projects and this accounts for the this specific project. deferred as liabilities. The ex- high amount of current assets. We penses are therefore predicted need more liquids to maintain the The Travel Assistance Fund is raised in the next financial year. general administration of the or- from membership contributions ganisation and we will have to cut from the organisations in the devel- 3) We are missing some income down on the expenses in the com- oped world to assist meeting partici- from advertisements on ing years if the incomes are not pation of delegates from the devel- homepage and in newsletters. raised. oping world. Expenses for travel as- Furthermore we have not got sistance does not exceed the travel the support from the EU as we assistance income for the year. have hoped for. Jesper Schmidt, Result 4) Income from various projects Denmark The year result is a loss of –27056 has not been added as rev- IFMSA Treasurer 2000-2001 Euro, which is high. When evaluat- enues for the organisation as [email protected]