Attachments
- Rotblat Essay Competition (419kB)
Newsletter 162
Contents
National News and Events
- Christmas Cards!
- National Conference 2008 Applications
- Defend Primary Healthcare
- E-vote Alert!
- UAEM Talks
- Control BAE Speaker Tour
- Sexball
Anything Else
- Cambridge International Development Course
- Essay Competition
- Climate Change and Health conference series
- 3rd Alma Mata Conference
- Child Health
Of the Month
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! Join in Medsin discussions at http://www.medsin.org/discuss
National News and Events
Not just any old Christmas Cards
Every year, many of you Christmas cards to send to family and friends. This year please help Medsin without spending any extra money, and buy your Christmas cards from www.studio51.com. We receive a ground-breaking 51p in every £1 you spend…..
Studio51 have a fabulous collection of high-quality cards at fair prices; starting at £3.99 for 20 and up to £6.50 for 10. The website is very easy to use: just select your cards, select Medsin as your chosen charity, pay online or by cheque and the cards will then be delivered to you by first class post within a few days.
Please, please support us by shopping here, and please pass this on to all your family and friends so they can support Medsin too.
National Conference 2008 Applications
The deadline for applications to be sent to the National Committee is 18th November.
Application forms are available here
Proposals will then be made available on the website and circulated to the voting members, who will have until Sunday 2nd December to cast their e-vote.
All proposals need to include the following information:
- The proposed theme
- Budget
- Venue
- Cost of travel to the venue
- Maximum number of delegates
To make life a little easier, a standardised candidature form is available.
If you would like more information about what is involved, please contact the committee
Defend Primary Healthcare
Hi folks,
If you would like to help with the Defend Primary Healthcare campaign, a shiny new list of things you can do is now available at www.medsin.org/defendprimaryhealthcare. Click here to go there now!
Thanks, Tom
E-vote Alert!
Look out for an E-vote coming your way this week about Climate change and the Climate and Health Council Declaration. The deadline will be 15th November, and the background information, declaration etc is available here
UAEM Talks
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines has a two-fold mission:
- To determine how universities can help ensure that biomedical end products, such as drugs, are made more accessible in poor countries and
- To increase the amount of research conducted on neglected diseases, or those diseases predominantly affecting people who are too poor to constitute a market attractive to private-sector R&D investment.
We are delighted to announce that on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th November Ethan Guillen, Executive Director of UAEM, will be visiting the UK to talk about the work and success of UAEM in America, and how to start a UAEM chapter at your university.
Monday 19th November -
Where: University of Edinburgh, LT1 Appleton Tower, Main Campus.
When: 7pm.
Tuesday 20th November - Where: London (venue tbc). When: tbc.
For more information please visit us here or contact Vanessa.
Control BAE Speaker Tour
- Tues 13th Nov - Hull
- Wed 14th Nov - Sheffield
- Thurs 15th Nov - Manchester
- Wed 28th Nov - Edinburgh
- Thurs 29th Nov - Newcastle
The talks are organized by the Campaign against the Arms Trade" as part of their "Control BAE" campaign. This campaign is looking to expose some of the business dealings of this arms company and keep up the pressure on the Government to reopen the Serious Fraud Office enquiry into the massive Al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
The talks will look at the impact of the arms trade and corruption on development and human rights.
Details of times and venues can be found here
If you are interested in getting involved in Medsin's Arms Trade campaign please let us know. Our address in armstrade@medsin.org
Nick and Jen Arms Trade Co-Ordinators
SEXBALL - 24th November, Birmingham
Sexpression will be hosting an afternoon of great speakers on sexual and maternal health globally at Birmingham Medical School. We have speakers lined up to talk on everything from Female Genital Mutilation to HIV/AIDS.
This interesting afternoon will be followed by a evening of Sexpression fun! The evening starts with a champagne reception followed by 3 course dinner and disco. Dress code is black tie with a splash of red with World AIDS Day collections throughout the night.
Tickets are £35 for all of this. For more information or to buy your tickets contact Emily.
Medsin joins the National AIDS Trust's Campaign on Access to ARVs for Vulnerable Migrants
Medsin have signed to become part of the National AIDS Trust's campaign on access to treatment for vulnerable migrants. This was in relation to GHAP's campaign on Defending Primary Healthcare for vulnerable migrants. For more information and to join the campaign, click here
Anything Else?
The following aren't officially affilliated with Medsin, but we thought you might be interested.
Cambridge International Development Course
Interested in international development? Want to advance your knowledge and understanding with help from top academics and professionals? The IDC is for you!
Welcoming participants from all disciplines and levels of experience, this single-day programme provides an introduction to issues in international development.
The programme includes lectures about the state of development with reference to the past, present and future of development thinking and practice. These lectures are complemented by a choice of interactive workshops, tackling specific issues such as the environment, poverty and inequality, humanitarian relief work, and global citizenship.
The December International Development Course promises to be both inspiring and challenging, while focusing on introducing the main areas that international development addresses. This is also the chance to interact and learn from development professionals whose daily work puts theory into practice. Not a day to miss!
Cambridge International Development Course Saturday 1st December 9.00am- 4.30pm, Law Faculty Booking is obligatory £8 (includes buffet lunch and refreshments)
For more information, and to book your place, go here
This event always SELLS OUT, to avoid disappointment book early.
Essay Competition
The British Pugwash Group has launched an essay competition, as a way to encourage students to think creatively about the UK's possible role in promoting disarmament. To find the 2 options for titles and application details, see the attached file.
Conference Series: Climate Change and Health at the Royal Society of Medicine, London
There is now overwhelming evidence that global warming is rapidly progressing, and major climate changes are already being experienced in many parts of the world. This series of evening meetings at the Royal Society of Medicine aims to examine and forecast the effects on human health, with the intention of increasing awareness of the serious threat to our planet.
- Monday 26 November 2007 - Action for the health consequences of climate change
5:45 pm – 8:00 pm
For more information and to register online please visit http://www.rsm.ac.uk/diar/diary.php or contact Sinem Gocmen. Tel: 020 7290 3856 fax: 020 7290 2989
3rd Alma Mata Conference
Global Health Directions 3: Commercialisation and Health
Alma Mata Global Health Conference and International Health Careers Fair
Saturday 24th & 25th November 2007 UCL Institute of Child Health, London
Tickets are now available online for the third Alma Mata conference and International Health Careers Fair!
Interested in a career in global health? Join us for a weekend of world class speakers and workshops discussing major global health issues, followed by our first International Health Careers Fair. Please visit the conference website or see the medsin site for more details.
Child Family Health International (www.cfhi.org)
Socially responsible, financially just, global health programs for Medical & other students of the health sciences in Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Nicaragua and South Africa.
- Choose from 17 program sites around the world.
- Programs are 4 to 8 weeks long & run every month of the year.
- Clinical rotations with local preceptors in a variety of settings
- Housing with local home-stay families (guest houses where home-stays are not available)
- Spanish language instruction (including Medical Spanish) in all Spanish-speaking programs
- Fundraising resources (including scholarships) available
- Academic credit arranged upon request
Of the Month
Campaign Focus: Stop AIDS
The first half of 2007 was a great time for the Stop AIDS Campaign. To keep it brief, the two main things that happened were:
- At the training day in Birmingham back in February, we set up a nationwide steering committee made up of regional representatives, so that local groups could contribute more easily to the national campaign.
- On March 20th, almost 100 students descended on Parliament (red t-shirts, infamous pill costumes and all) to lobby their MPs and the Secretary of State on the issue of access to treatment, specifically for Thailand who were trying (against much opposition from big pharma and elsewhere) to provide their citizens with more affordable treatment. The lobbying event was a huge success since the UK government subsequently spoke out in support of the Thai government, ultimately leading to the provision of medicines for 8000 more people in the country.
More recently, October saw the hugely successful ‘Unite to Fight AIDS’ Speaker Tour visiting 18 different universities in the UK. About 1500 students attended local events to listen to inspirational and moving talks on HIV/AIDS and activism from Ntenje Katota (19, Zambian), Shahada Kinyaga (24, Tanzanian), Will Horwitz (22, British), and Katy Athersuch (24, British). We also took the tour to Parliament, where we were welcomed by the All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS. Here, the speakers were told by one MP (who had been working on HIV/AIDS for 20 years) that it was ‘the best presentation on AIDS’ he had ever seen. Unfortunately, despite the positive feedback only 3 MPs were present, and the Department for International Development (DFID) did not send a single representative. This signaled a worrying change in attitude from Brown’s new team, and presents a great challenge to campaigners for the coming year, especially in terms of lobbying MPs.
World AIDS Day, the biggest event on the Stop AIDS calendar, is coming up on December 1st. As always, it should be a fantastic day for raising awareness, having loads of fun, and getting our message across. If you’re stuck, we will soon be sending out packs with info and films etc that you can use if you want. In the meantime, please bear the following things in mind while planning your WAD events:
- Stay informed: the briefing pack is a great resource to use, available at www.medsin.org/campaigns/stopaids.
- Book your MP to come to your event, or go to their surgery so you can tell them what they can do to change things.
- Collaborate as much as possible with as many different groups and societies at your university.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY, don’t stop there! Use WAD as a platform for activities and campaigning throughout the rest of the year.
Medsin has already had a big influence on the Stop AIDS Campaign this year, for example by ensuring that demands for health systems (as well as for financing and drug pricing) are prominent at all levels of the campaign. Over the next year, the government are putting together their new 3-year plan for AIDS. There’s so much more to do. Let’s make sure we influence them too!
For more information, contact me at Stopaids@medsin.org. You can sign up to the monthly newsletter by emailing katy.athersuch@spw.org, and check out our website at http://www.stopaidssocieties.org.uk/.
Take care, and have a happy November!
Rafi
(National Coordinator)
Last updated on Monday 12 November 2007 at 19:45.
