Newsletter 181

Contents

Action of the Week

Al Gore recently launched a drive to mobilise 10 million volunteers to force politicians to act on climate change - twice as many as the number who marched against the Vietnam war or in support of civil rights during the heyday of US activism in the 1960s.

During the next three years, his Alliance for Climate Protection plans to spend $300m (about £150m) on television advertising and online organising to make global warming among the most urgent issues for elected American leaders.

The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection - a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. Their ultimate aim is to halt global warming. Specifically, educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable.

The new website wecansolveit.org has loads of petitions, ideas and information about the problem.

You can keep up to date by signing up to their website, and join what has been called the most ambitious public campaign on global warming yet.

National News and Events

Anything Else

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

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National News and Events

Apply to go to Jamaica!

The IFMSA March Meeting will be held in Ocho Rios, Jamaica on 7th - 13th August 2008.

If you're interested in going to Jamaica, 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 19th April.

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

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SGA08

Medsin's National Spring General Assembly, for a great weekend of.....

  • Mass Debating,
  • Training,
  • Networking,
  • Elections of next year's national committee
  • More Voting, including the NAME CHANGE!
  • Only £7 exc. socials. Saturday 26 April- Sunday 27th April 2008

And of course, socialising! (2 Nights of socialising!)

All of this is happening in lovely Leeds!!!!

How to get involved NOW:

  • Register! Download the registration form here, fill it in and send it back to sgaregistration@medsin.org.

  • Regarding the agenda: please e-mail any suggestions for mini-meeting topics to committee@medsin.org. There's a provisional agenda available here - we don't forsee it changing much, but it may do depending on the number of bylaws, candidates for National Committee positions, Campaign Co-ordinators etc we recieve.

  • I'm sure you're all dying to know about bylaw submissions. The deadline is Midnight on the 10th April, and I'll send out the motions for prioritisation on the 11th. If you have an idea or vague thought about something that needs changing within the Medsin Network, have a look at the voting resources page here: http://www.medsin.org/resources, and send it to committee@medsin.org by Midnight on the 10th April. Don't forget to include a rationale, or it won't be accepted.

If you have any problems, questions or comments let us know at committee@medsin.org and we'll try and help.

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MSC Motions News

You may remember Medsin submitted some motions to the BMA conference a few weeks ago. It was the voting session this weekend, and here's a synopsis of the motions that passed:

  1. Policy on compulsory and more inclusive Sexual and relationship education. (Information on Sexpression can be found here)

  2. Policy on access to health care for undocumented migrants and failed asylum seekers(Defend Primary Healthcare)

  3. Policy on access to essential medicines and UAEM. (UEAM information.)

  4. Policy on arms investments and foundation trusts (The Arms Trade Campaign information is here.)

  5. Policy on direct consumer advertising disguised as patient information. (Pharmaware campaign)

  6. Policy on strengthening WHO and more democratic procedures and transparency in elections of senior officers - from Medsin motion generating workshop

Go Team Medsin :)

More information will be on the website (news section) soon! Gemma

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Be on the National Committee

Still Wanted: Publicity and Webmaster. Please think about applying to be on the National Committee 2008/09.

Have a read of the official job descriptions, and of the current committee's take on their role here, and follow the instructions! The Extended Deadline for these positions is Thursday 10th April at Midnight.

If you'd like more information on what each of the roles includes, please contact James - publicity@medsin.org, or Matt - webmaster@medsin.org. Full handover will be given.

Next: Print and sign the form, appear at the Spring General Assembly on 26th-27nd April in Leeds, and tell the voting members (branches, nationally recognised projects and priority campaigns) why they should vote for you in 2 minutes.

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Become a GHEP Co-Ordinator

It's all in the title really... GHEP, the Global Health Education Project are looking for people enthusiastic about getting global health into curricula to co-ordinate the project next year. More information about the project and contact details for the current co-ordinators can be found here. To apply, send a brief statement of why you're the person for the job to committee@medsin.org by midnight, 10th April, and come to the SGA in Leeds where the network will vote!

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GHC08 Page Now Up

Did you miss the Global Health Conference? The minutes of the voting session, presentations from speakers, and general write up etc are up on the website if you'd like to catch up. They're available here.

If we didn't have time for your motion at the session, please re-submit it (if appropriate) for the SGA.

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GHC Blogs and Podcasts

The annual Medsin Global Health Conference took place this weekend in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford The conference was a massive success with over 450 students and 50 speakers, many of them world experts. The organising committee were able to use the “Oxford Pull” to encourage many huge names in the field of global health to attend the conference.

Over the course of two days there were two keynote speakers, four plenaries and over 50 workshops.

Gerard has been busy and blogged what went on: Part 1, and Part 2.

Gemma Owens and Simon Lex have also been busy podcasting [here]( http://www.thelancetstudent.com/2008/04/04/conference-season/).

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Enormous Exciting Pharmaware Debate!

"This house believes that the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and doctors is detrimental to health"

With speakers including

  • Peter Mansfield - world famous Pharma campaigner all the way from Australia
  • Assoc. British Pharmaceutical Industry
  • .....and other exciting people!

Friday 25 April, 18:30-21:00, Leeds.

This event is perhaps going to lead to Leeds becoming the first pharma free med school in the UK, following the example of some in the US such as Penn State and Standford...witness policy change in action!! And all this the evening before the Spring General Assembly in Leeds so you'll be in Leeds anyway!!! so come along! For more information, contact Medsin Leeds

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Campaign Coordinator Applications - Open Now!

Want to be part of Medsin's enthusiastic, exciting and dynamic campaigns team? Medsin has a number of important campaigns, and we need people to coordinate them for the academic year 2008-09. NB - even those campaigns who currently have a coordinator will be up for re-election unless elected by their own general assembly this academic year

Campaigns:

  • Save Our NHS
  • Arms Trade
  • Universities Allied for Access to Essential Medicines
  • International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
  • Save Our NHS
  • Stop AIDS
  • Water4All.

To find out more about this campaigns please see www.medsin.org/campaigns or contact the current coordinators or jen - campaigns@medsin.org

Campaign coordinators are responsible for the overall running and organisation of their campaign. Depending on the particular campaign you're coordinating, this might be overseeing a team of people and working with branches where the campaign is currently running, as well as promoting the campaign within the network and recruiting more students to the cause. You're also likely to have some contact with other organisations and individuals who run similar campaigns. Campaigns coordinators are supported by the Campaigns Director on the National Committee and come together with other campaigns coordinators and Medsin members to form the Campaigns Team. The Campaigns Team works closely with conference organising teams to plan campaigning at Medsin conferences and support each other's campaigning with ideas and action throughout the year. Campaigns Coordinators also sit on Medsin's Activities Board with Medsin's projects.

So... all in all - it's a blast!

If you're interested - write a 200 word statement and send it together with your phone number and address to campaigns@medsin.org as soon as possible You will then stand for election at Medsin's SGA in Leeds.

If you have any questions at all about this process, please don't hesitate to contact Pete or jen - campaigns@medsin.org

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Passionate about global health? Join the Think Global Team

Think Global is an International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) initiative project. It aims to educate medical students on global health issues and empower them to set up global health education projects in their countries.

The Think Global team is currently expanding. We are looking for people to fill the following positions:

* European Regional assistant
* Database coordinator
* Survey coordinator
* Web coordinator

Further information about these roles can be found here

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TNT Full!

The upcoming course for Training New Trainers is fully booked! Congratulations to everybody who got a place, commiserations to those who missed out. There will be more courses coming up next year, keep an eye on this newsletter and the website for more details.

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Malaria and Neglected Diseases Talk

Malaria affects 40% of the worlds population threatening 2.4 billion people. It is estimated that it ills a child every 30 seconds. 90% of these cases occur in Sub Saharan Africa with the incidence rising in Latin America and Asia. As such Malaria is limiting development in some of the poorest countries in the world.

Dr Ben Stone, a SpR in Infectious Diseases at the RHH has kindly agreed to lead a talk this coming wednesday evening (April 9th) which is set to be both thrilling and enlightening. Dr Stone will be taking a broader look at the wider effects of various neglected diseases and how they impact on developing countries. He will explore why inequalities exist across the globe with regard to access to vial medicines but focussing on Malaria as a key theme throughout.

This lectures comes as part on brand new campaign Medsin Sheffield is launching where we aim to promote awareness of 'Malaria and Neglected Diseases'. At the end of the talk you will be able to find out how you can help with the campaign and get involved with the sponsored SWIM AGAINST MALARIA we are going to be hosting at Goodwin Sports Centre on Thursday May 8th to raise money for mosquito nets.

This will be a valuable lecture for all, especially those embarking on a medical elective in Africa/Asia/South America this summer.

Where and when?... See you at MLT2 on WEDNESDAY APRIL 9TH at 6:30PM!!!!

If you would like more information, please contact Laura and the Medsin Sheffield Committee at sheffield@medsin.org

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Marrow News!

  • Marrow Central www.marrowcentral.co.uk We need your help. We've set up a replacement for the old marrow central. We need you to help us make it better. Please take time to have a look around and register yourself (use the sign in link in the top right hand corner. Individual Marrow groups can also get an e-mail address @marrowcentral.co.uk if you want one. Many thanks, Al and Michael (webmasters) al-tahoor.butt@student.manchester.ac.uk and mfinegan@doctors.org.uk

  • After an extensive democratic vote, You Have Decided – the Marrow AGM will be held on 4th and 5th October 2008. We heard back from 53% of the groups – so if you didn’t vote then tough  However, you can still have a say about what will be happening at the AGM (don’t forget, I want a giant cake and the more people who agree, the more likely our dreams will come true!) If you have any suggestions then please email your regional coordinator or Louise and Shobha (they love all the emails, keep them coming)

  • As I’m sure you’re all aware (and if not then clearly you didn’t see our pink t-shirts in November) it will be Marrow’s 10th birthday at this AGM. To mark this wonderful occasion we’d like a special logo. And we’d like a Marrower to design it. We’d ideally like it to show something ‘Marrow-y’ and the number ‘10’. As we’ll be printing it on lots of things then we’d like to stick to 2-3 colours (preferably the marrow blue, yellow and white but we don’t want to limit you too much)

For the less technical of us, just design it and send it to the webmasters and they can make it fit their technical specifications, but if you ARE technical then just email them and they can tell you what you need to do (I don’t understand it all, so won’t pretend here)

  • Please send all contributions to the next Marrow newsletter to tammy.n.towers@student.manchester.ac.uk by 25th April 2008

Thanks, Tammy

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Anything Else?

The following aren't officially affilliated with Medsin, but we thought you might be interested.

Student humanitarian event at the Royal Society of Medicine

On 25 April 2008, the Royal Society of Medicine will be hosting Medicine Overseas, aimed at doctors in training and medical students with an interest in aid work abroad.

The RSM regularly stages talks at which inspirational speakers encourage younger members of the medical profession to become involved in the humanitarian field and the aim of this conference is to introduce those enthusiasts to organisations which could utilise their talents and to show them where they can gain the training and skills to competently embark on fieldwork.

The programme will feature speakers on subjects including education, training and preparation for work abroad, different types of work and organisations and how to get involved. There will also be time to explore the stands and find out more from the organisations present during extended breaks and over drinks afterwards.

Medicine Overseas will be a great opportunity for those interested in global health to steer their preparation suitably and offer their services now or in the future. More details can be found online at www.rsm.ac.uk We do hope to see you there.

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Child Family Health International

Click here for more information.

Socially responsible, financially just, global health programs for Medical & other students of the health sciences in Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Nicaragua and South Africa.

Attend CFHI's workshops on Socially Responsible Electives at the Medsin GHC; March 29th and 30th

  • 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

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Global Health Council Membership

As an IFMSA member, you can sign up for free GHC student (associate) membership here

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IFMSA-WHO paediatric collaboration

  1. We are working on a joint collaboration between the WHO and IFMSA to find out how paediatrics is taught at different medical schools around the world.

We would really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill in the online questionnaire about paediatrics teaching at your university. It can be found here

user name : pediatrics password : pediatrics

  1. We are also recruiting students to write evidence based medicine reviews during their SSM attachments. The research would be used to update a WHO pocketbook on child health. To find out more please visit here

If you are interested in finding out more about either of these projects, please email me at alasdair.ford@gmail.com

Thank-you Alasdair and Fina

Medsin-UK and Center for Indonesian Medical Students' Activities

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Another Essay Competition!

The Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet are holding their third joint essay competition for the under-30s on the theme:

Climate change and health: research challenges for the health of vulnerable populations

Rules and guidelines

  • Authors must have been born on or after 1 January 1978.
  • Each author may submit one essay only.
  • Essays may be submitted in English or French and should be 1500 words maximum.
  • Essays must be based on the author's own ideas and not be derived from another source.
  • Essays must not have been previously published.
  • Entries are individual (i.e., the work of a single author).
  • They should include original, even provocative ideas and not be technical or academic texts: tables, charts and figures are probably not necessary; references should be limited.
  • Authors are free to be idealistic, passionate, to take established practices to task, albeit in a constructive fashion.
  • Within the context of research for health, the theme allows authors to include any aspect that interests them particularly – for example, extreme weather, natural disasters, fuels and energy, transport, water management, vectors, food production, demographics, urban planning, security.

Deadlines

  • The deadline for receipt of entries is 30 April 2008.
  • A shortlist will be announced by the end of June. Shortlisted authors will be asked to provide a high quality photograph and to confirm original authorship and date of birth.
  • The winners will be notified by the beginning of August 2008. The judges' decision will be final.

Prizes

  • A selection of shortlisted essays will be published in an anthology as well as on the Global Forum and Lancet websites.
  • Winners will be invited to take part (with all expenses paid) in the Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health, which will take place in Bamako, Mali, from 17 to 19 November 2008.
  • Staff members of the Global Forum or of the Lancet or their immediate families are ineligible to enter the competition, as are authors of shortlisted essays published in 2006 and 2007.

For any questions, please contact: Susan Jupp mailto:susan.jupp@globalforumhealth.org

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Seminar on "Global Substantive Health Issues"

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) will hold a seminar on "Global Substantive Health Issues" on 5 and 6 June 2008. The seminar will take place at the University of Warwick.

For more information, click here.

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In Question: The "Right to Health"

Merlin invites you to an interview between Professor Paul Hunt, the UN Special Rapporteur on the "Right to Health" and Edward Stourton, Broadcaster and Merlin Patron

Join us for an evening of questions and debate on the "Right to Health" and the opportunities for making it a reality.

Date: 9 April 2008 Time: 6pm Venue: The Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1Q (nearest station Paddington)

Please note that the evening is free but participants should register in advance RSVP: ben.twitchin@merlin.org.uk

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The Hague International Model United Nations

The Hague International Model United Nations Youth Network are looking for two people to run their project on Mental Health and Youth for their conference, due to take place in JUly. The project aims to design a mental health youth awareness campaign that will be enacted by the participants in their schools and universities. It should contain information about mental health, good mental health practices, and aims to reduce prejudice.

It would entail working with about 10 people over email for about 4-6 months from April, and in person at the THIMUN Youth Assembly from 6-11 July in the Hague. Unfortunately, the organisation has very little money, so coordinators are expected to pay conference fees of €175 (which covers lunch, a couple of dinners and a Hague travel card), as well as hotel and transport costs. There are apparently some opportunities for funding however.

There's some information on the website www.youthassembly.org , although it should apparently be treated with caution, as quite a lot of it may be out of date. The official deadline is Friday but anyone interested needs only state their interest and desire for an extension before Firday to be considered as they may be having trouble filling it at the moment.

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Of The Month

Marrow

ETHNIC MINORITY? MARROW NEEDS YOU.

Did you know that if you’re from a black or ethnic minority community, you are less likely to find a match from the bone marrow register?

For every 10 people needing a bone marrow transplant, only 3 will find a match from within their own family. The remaining 7 rely on unrelated donors: people like you and me, who have signed up to the bone marrow register.

What’s more tissue transplant is not random, but genetic – so patients in need of a transplant are most likely to find a compatible donor within their own ethnic community. The African-Caribbean community is the most likely source of a donor for an African-Caribbean patient, for example. The same is true for all of us - Chinese, Asian, Caucasian, Mediterranean, Jewish, whichever ethnic community we belong to.

Yet ethnic minority communities are severely underrepresented on the register, making it much harder for these groups to find a match when needed. This is why we urgently need donors from all ethnic backgrounds. So, if you are from a black or minority ethnic community, please give this some serious thought: your community needs you, and you might just need it one day. Marrow is one of Medsin’s projects; we recruit students and young people to the bone marrow register by running bone marrow clinics at universities throughout the UK.

To find out how to join the register, or for forthcoming clinic dates, email marrow@medsin.org or go to www.jointheregister.org

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Pharmaware

My name is Omar Jundi, I am the co-head of a group called PharmAware at Leeds University, which I'm sure you've heard of. In April we will be holding a big debate at the Medical School entitled "The Interaction between the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry is detrimental to patient health." The talk will involve members of the association of the british pharmaceutical industry, a speaker from australia, and a member of the Leeds teaching hospitals trust.

After the debate there will be a vote held amongst the members of the medical school, and if we receive a positive result, a new policy will be enacted that will allow the implementation of a new policy, making Leeds the first 'Pharma-Free' Medical School in the country.

We feel that the current level of interaction with the industry undermines our profession, as there is a strong conflict of interest inherent in this interaction.

The debate is open to all, and will be held on the Friday of the weekend of the Medsin General Assembly, We invite all medsin members to come and take part in what will hopefully be a historic occasion!

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Last updated on Wednesday 09 April 2008 at 16:07.