Newsletter 155
Contents
Action of the week
Currently, the UK Government Minister responsible for UK Arms legislation, Malcolm Wicks, is reviewing the Export Control Act (ECA), which sets out the UK's laws on exporting arms. This review provides an opportunity to close the "loopholes" in the existing act that currently allow UK made arms to legally fall into the wrong hands, fuelling conflict, poverty and human rights abuses.
Help close the loopholes.
Improving the way that the UK Government stops weapons getting into the wrong hands is only one of the ways that you can help end poverty and suffering.
You can help.
Recently the Prime Minister has made some very positive statements about how his government will tackle poverty, but to make sure he delivers, we must let him know that the UK public are there ready to hold him to account if he fails.
Jenny
National News and Events
- Could your branch host the National Conference 2008?
- Voting at National Conference 2007, Dundee
- Child Protection policy
- AB Newsletter
- Working Together
- Sexpression National Conference
- London Co-ordinator
- Refugee Health Crisis Imminent - Get your branch up to speed!
- New SKIP Branches - International Projects Opportunity
- Stop AIDS Speaker Tour, and Driver wanted!
- Overriding Trident Bike Tour/ IPPNW Meeting
- Join a delegation of IPPNW doctors and students (medAct)
- FASLANE Grand Finale
- Nuclear Weapons: The Final Pandemic conference
- Torture, turkeys, typhoons and trident
International News and Events
- IFMSA March Meeting Applications NOW OPEN!
- IFMSA Alumni
- International Students Conference on Humanitarian Action
- Medical Peace Work online course, volunteer testers wanted
Website and News
The website is for YOUR events being held by YOUR branches, projects and campaigns. It is really, really easy to submit events and news, so please do, and let everyone know what wonderful things you are up to!
National News and Events
Could your branch host the National Conference 2008?
Organising a Medsin conference is an essential part of the network's annual activities and gives your branch the opportunity to play a really important role in raising awareness about global health issues amongst students.
Guidance is available form the National Committee throughout the process and we hope that you will benefit from the experience of branches who have previously organised conferences on behalf of Medsin.
If your branch is interested, you will have the opportunity to bid to host the meeting at the voting session that will take place on the Saturday afternoon of this year's National Conference in Dundee. You should think about getting a team together, have some ideas of themes and your capability to host the conference and present these to Medsin members at the voting session.
If you are interested or have any questions about organising the conference, please email the committee.
Voting at National Conference 2007, Dundee
An extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly of Medsin will take place at the National Conference in Dundee.
In other words, branch presidents, campaigns and projects coordinators will have a chance to represent their members by voting on issues central to the running of Medsin as an organisation.
The deadline for submission to changes of Medsin's constitution and bylaws is Friday 12th October 2007.
This is also the deadline for new project, campaign and branch proposals. If you would like to vote in a new project, campaign or branch, please get in touch with the national committee
Child Protection Policy
The Child Protection Policy, Implementation Policy and Incident Report Form have been added to the website following being accepted by the AGA in Southampton at the weekend. Any questions regarding this or how to implement the Child Protection Policy then get in touch with Emily.
AB Newsletter
The activities board is hoping to start a bi-annual newsletter to let you all know about the great things that the projects and campaigns have been getting up to over the previous 6 months. Find out more here.
Working Together
New (academic) year, New ideas - why not share these ideas with other Medsin projects on your local level or other Medsin branches? As they say two heads are better than one!! A presentation with ideas on working together, composed by the activities board at their meeting in January, can be found here.
Sexpression National Conference
Sex in the Steel City 12-14th October in Sheffield. This promises to be a brilliant weekend with great talks and workshops and loadsa Sexpression fun too! This is YOUR LAST CHANCE to attend Sexpression National Conference - applications close THIS Friday (28th September). Applications to be made via your local Sexpression branch. More details can be found at http://www.sexpression.co.uk. If you don't have a local sexpression branch but would like to come, e-mail Emily
London Co-ordinator
Congratulations to Oliver Johnson who was appointed London Co-Ordinator this weekend at the AGA. Contact him here.
Refugee Health Crisis Imminent - Get your branch up to speed!
It seems very likely that in October the government will announce plans to take away the right to primary health care from a large group of refugees resident in the UK. With no voluntary sector to speak of in this country, this is going to be a disaster. Does your branch know about the changes? Will you be ready to fight them? If you would like a Medact or Medsin speaker to come to your branch to talk about the issues, please email Tom from the Global Health Advocacy Project here
Medact have produced a critical briefing pack on the issue, available here
New SKIP Branches - International Projects Opportunity
We are pleased to inform you that SKIP will be expanding its infrastructure to set up new branches at our up and coming conference this October.
What is SKIP? SKIP (Students for Kids International Projects)is a student run charity, working to support the health,welfare and education of vulnerable, through empowering healthcare students to establish and maintain international, sustainable, community integrated developement projects. Our ultimate aim is to not be needed…...For vulnerable children to be well supported and cared for by their communities... ...For healthcare students to be compassionate and well educated on the truths and realities of global and cultural health issues.
Unfortunately we are limiting the number of new branches to 3. This is to ensure that the charity can grow at a steady pace and that all new branches can receive the level of support and input, from the National Committee, required to effectively establish a SKIP branch and international project.
If you are interested in establishing a branch of SKIP at your university, please read the SKIP Briefing Pack for Prosepctive New Branches, and then fill in the new branch application form. (both available online at www.skipkids.org.uk/download.php). The deadline for applications is the 28th September 2007. All applications can be emailed to skipnational@hotmail.com.
After this date, the SKIP National committee will select the 3 most enthusiastic and committed Universities from the applications to set up a SKIP branch. Successful applicants will then be invited to the SKIP National Conference on 20-21st October at the University of Birmingham.
At the conference, you will receive all of the relevant information, skills and training to effectively establish your branch and subsequent project. Thus, attendance at this conference is mandatory in order to establish your SKIP branch.
The Briefing Pack provides a comprehensive background to the charity and our work. If you should have any further questions, then please feel free to contact us here
We look forward to hearing from you soon :-) Claire Thomas and Stacey Mearns SKIP National Coordinators
Stop AIDS Speaker Tour, and Driver wanted!
The Stop AIDS Speaker Tour urgently needs a driver aged 23 years or over.
If you are available from 14th-27th October 2007 and would like to drive the amazing Speaker Tour Team around the country please get in touch ASAP. We will not be able to pay you but will give you a £35 daily allowance to make sure you're not out of pocket.
Goes without saying that you'll need a clean license and to feel confident driving as there will be lots of that to do!
Any leads at all please let me know. Any friends, relatives… You can call 0207 490 0152 or drop me an email and I'll call you back.
Overriding Trident Bike Tour
To raise awareness about Trident and as a run up to the ground breaking conference by The Nobel Peace Organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the British Royal Society of Medicine - "Nuclear Weapons - the Final Pandemic: Preventing Proliferation and Achieving Abolition" in London, October 3rd-4th, 2007. The conference will present the latest scientific evidence on the health effects of nuclear weapons.
From September 28th-30th of 2007, a group of medical students, doctors and political activists will cycle the English countryside from Dover to London in order to reach this conference, informing the public on their way about the dangers of nuclear weapons, holding Target X installations and meeting with mayors and media on the way.
Take a look at the website and register online. You will then receive all necessary information, including the meeting point and time, further information on what to bring with you, some advice on bicycle gear and information concerning accomodation.
Click here for more informtaion.
Dialogue with Decision Makers
An INCREDIBLE opportunity.... Join a delegation of IPPNW doctors and students on:
- Thursday 4 October 11am Delegation to the Foreign Office
- Thursday 4 October 4 pm Delegation to the House of Commons with MPs
- Monday October 8 10am The European Commission
- Monday October 8 3pm NATO HQ
- Tuesday October 9 10am The European Council *Tuesday October 9 2pm The European Parliament
What you need to do: Send us passport info, and get briefed at the Nuclear Weapons Conference in London on 3rd or 4th October. Please contact ippnw.
FASLANE Grand Finale
Join medical students, doctors and other anti nuclear weapons campaigners for the final day of FASLANE 365 on October 1st. FASLANE 365 was the year long blockade of the Trident Nuclear Weapons Base @ Faslane, Scotland. If you haven't yet been to Faslane, and you are for a nuclear weapons free future, then try and make it to this grand event. Contact Leslie Morris (Medact). Leslie will be coordinating accomodation etc
Nuclear Weapons: The Final Pandemic Conference
Preventing Proliferation and Achieving Abolition, an International Conference hosted by the RSM and IPPNW. When: October 3 and 4, 2007. Where:London Complete programme is available here Registration is now open, and is available online here.
Fees- students/nonstudents: two-days £45/£200, one-day £25/£130. Lucky you're students eh! (apart from the alumni... :p)
Torture, Turkeys, Typhoons and Trident
How are these relevant to your everyday professional life? How are these major global threats ? Are doctors part of the cause or the cure? Find out some answers and widen your clinical knowledge. Meet leading medical experts in the fields of conflict, refugee and torture care, environmental change, avian flu. Restore your professional morale – there is more to life than MTAS. A study day addressing global health issues and their impact will be held on Thursday 11th October 2007 at Charles Hastings Education Centre, Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Worcester. Registration & Coffee 8.30 for 9.00am. STUDENTS £5! If you would be interested in attending please e.mail Jenny Murray
Many Thanks, Dr. Frances Hogwood – Course Organiser.
International News and Events
MM08 Registration NOW OPEN!
The IFMSA March Meeting will be held in Monterrey, Mexico on 1-7th March 2008.
If you're interested in going to Mexico, learning about global health, meeting people from other cultures and developing skills please fill in the application form available here and email it to the committee by midnight on Friday 5th October.
There are always many more applications than places. For that reason you should spend time on your application form - you need to sell yourself. Feel free to change the sizes of the boxes in the word document, but bear in mind that the National Committee have to read lots of forms, so it's not advisable to waffle.
If you have any questions please email Gemma and have a look at the work of IFMSA. All Medsin members are invited to apply to be part of the Medsin delegation attending this meeting. Further details are available here
IFMSA Alumni
As part of the new services that IFMSA Alumni is giving, there is a new service being offered to our IFMSA Alumni members.
Now, you can get your e-mail account as IFMSA Alumni and have yourname@ifmsalumni.com!
If you are an IFMSA Alumni, and you want to have IFMSA Alumni e-mail, then contact us at alumni@ifmsa.org
IFMSA, a life long relationship.
International Students Conference on Humanitarian Action
Invitation to International Students Conference on Humanitarian Action 2007 (ISCHA07) from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th of October in Cologne, Germany - This is a great chance to learn more about humanitarian aid work with the chance to meet and greet with experts from big NGOs such as IRCC and MSF and hear speakers from the likes of the UN and the Worldbank. There is also the opportunity to present your project as well as hearing about other projects from many different countries and work together to come up with innovative ideas for humanitarian work. The conference will be in English and you can also get a chance to explore Cologne. For more information check out www.ischa07.de or email the team
Call for volunteers to test the Medical Peace Work online course
Medical Peace Work is an EU-funded project with aims to strengthen a new field of medicine and health sciences that deals with the role and professional responsibilities of health workers in violence prevention and sustainable peace building. The main focus of the project is production and collection of internet resources for medical peace education. They are currently finalising the e-learning course and are looking for volunteers who are willing to test the site and fill in an evaluation form.
If you have any questions regarding the project or would like to volunteer, please give them an e-mail
Anything Else
The following are not affilliated with Medsin, but we thought you might be interested.
The St Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical School
Ethiopia is amongst the world's poorest countries and has less than 1800 doctors to treat over 80 million people. Most doctors qualifying from the country's five medical schools leave on graduation to work in the United States.
St Paul's Hospital is a new medical school which will open in 2008. At least 30% of the intake will be from the poorest areas of Ethiopia and at least 30% will be women. A new integrated curriculum to produce doctors fit for purpose for Ethiopia has been developed.
The problem is finding doctors in Ethiopia to teach and train the students. I am looking for volunteers, either medical students or doctors, who are available for a minimum of two weeks, to teach and train both clinically and in the basic sciences.
Modules in 2008 will include: the foundation of health and disease, the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, the gut and nutrition. In addition, the opportunity to provide assistance with community based health and research projects will be available. Experience of IT and long distance learning would be great appreciated.
Volunteers will need to be available for a minimum of two weeks starting in early 2008. At the moment we are not in a position to pay expenses although we can offer accommodation. We are looking for grants from the Royal Colleges and institutional donors, but in the meantime volunteers will need to be self-funding.
For more information please contact Professor G Williams, Dean of the medical school at gwillians@hhnt.org until 12 October and then gorwilliams@yahoo.com thereafter.
Last updated on Tuesday 04 December 2007 at 00:49.
