Newsletter 192

Contents

National News and Events

National News and Events

Anything Else

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

Action of the week

Show your support for restrictions on arms trading!

From 13 - 20 September 2008, campaigners in more than 50 countries will be taking action to urge their governments to reach agreement on an effective Arms Trade Treaty as quickly as possible. You can join in! But how you say?

  1. Visit www.theyworkforyou.com and find out your MP using your postcode.

  2. Using the template letter at http://www.medsin.org/news/show/273, or email them, showing your support for an Arms Trade Treaty to avert further suffering from an irresponsible trade.

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Autumn General Assembly, 27th-28th September, Leicester

Great news.....Registration has now opened for Medsin's AGA in Leicester, 26th-27th September.

The AGA kicks off on 7:30 Friday 26th September with a free video linked conference with Skillshare International's partners in Mozambique:

'Patients, Profit and Privatisation; Winners and Loosers'

The AGA is packed full of training, mini meetings, debate and discussions....not forgetting the Saturday morning opening from Dr Gilles de Wildt.

It is for everyone who is involved or interested in Medsin Branches, Campaign's or Projects. It is always great to see fresh and new, and not so fresh and old, faces.

For the new: The newcomers session on Saturday morning will introduce Medsin's Campaigns, Projects, voting procedure and other AGA shenanigans.

For everyone: Alot of work has gone into strengthening and improving the quality of Medsin Training. There will be a variety of Training aimed at improving the skills needed to maintain Medsin activities at all levels.

Registration of £6 is payable on arrival and includes lunch and refreshments for Saturday and Sunday.

The social on Saturday will include the first Medsin Houseparty!

Please return your registration form to agaregistration@medsin.org by 22nd September

Registration forms can be found at: http://www.medsin.org/newsletter/191 and further information including motions can be found at http://www.medsin.org/conferences/aga/2008

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Skillshare International and Medsin Leicester Video Linked Confrence: 'The International Context - Patients, Profit and Privatisation: Winners and Loosers'

1930 LT1 Maurice Shock Building, University Road, Leicester

Medsin Leicester have teamed up with Skillshare International for this video linked conference to discuss the private and public funding of healthcare in Mozambique and Tanzania.

Speakers include; Lilian Kisanga, the Skillshare Tanzania Country Director Professor Kessi, Provost of the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College, Dr Sandra A. Muchanga, International Consultance in International Health, Maputo, Mozambique Dr.Patrick Okinedo, Infectious Diseases Consultant, Maputo, Mozambique.

This will be the first Medsin video linked conference, a milestone in communication!

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'SCREW THAT TABOO' - Sexpression National Conference 2008

This year the infamous Sexpression conference is being held in Newcastle on the 18th and 19th of October in Newcastle Upon Tyne. The theme is 'Screw That Taboo' and it promises to be an exciting, fun and inspiring weekend of workshops, speakers and sharing ideas. It is always a popular weekend with over 120 delegates last year from the UK and Europe. We would love to see you all there, whether you are a Sexpression/Medsex/Shag etc member, keen to join/set up a branch or are just interested in the field of sexual health.

Please look at our website www.screwthattaboo.com for more info and the application forms

don't be a fool, wrap your tool!

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Marrow AGM 4th-5th October, Manchester

Hi everyone, thank you for your patience while waiting for the Marrow AGM 2008 information booklet. Within this you will find information on:

  • Agenda's for the weekend
  • Key Speakers
  • Workshops
  • Training
  • Application for National Marrow 2008-2009
  • How to help to make the Marrow AGM greener
  • Registration for the AGM
  • Important things to remember:

Registration closes on the 22nd September. If you do not register you will NOT have place. Places are limited so groups can take up to 10 people only - NB: if groups wish to bring more then any spare places will be given to those who request them with priority to those who let us know first.

If you wish to run for national 2008-2009 then you need to send a 250 word motivation statement to us by the 15th September. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch & looking forward to seeing you all there,

Louise & Shobha xxx

Application form can be found at http://www.medsin.org/newsletter/191

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Application opens for Medsin Activities Fund

The first of this year's "Activities Fund" is now open for applicants. Medsin projects and campaigns are invited to apply for up to £250 (min £25). Application is through your national project or campaign representative, not your local branch. The top three campaigns and top three project applications recieved will be allocated funding.

Submissions must be in two weeks before the AGA: 12th September.

3 further £250 funds will be opened, around about October, March and May.

Funding for transport, socials, food, drink or conferences is not applicable. And please note that you may not recieve the full funding that you apply for.

http://www.medsin.org/newsletter/191

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We want your branch, project or campaign poster presentations for the AGA

Have you had great success this year? Do you want to share your ideas with the network?

There will be a poster presentation fair at the AGA and we want as many branches, campaigns and projects to have the opportunity to show the rest of the network their sucesses.

If you are interested, email committee@medsin.org.uk telling us what branch, campaign or project you are and what you would like to share.

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Alumini Director

This is a call to all graduated Medsin members. If you feel you want to increase your involvement in the network, and feed your skills back into it, have you thought about being Alumni Director?

If you would like to help maintain and develop the alumni network, thus keeping in contact with your old Medsin friends, please contact committee@medsin.org

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Update contact details for Crossing Borders

I am the current secretary of national crossing borders. I am trying to update branches contact details, so can you please email me if

1) you are co-ordinating a branch and what they are doing, 2) if you want to set up a branch as we are keen to help.

Tehmina Bharucha tehminabharucha@googlemail.com

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Campaigns Day Event Team

This November the 15th Medsin Campaigns will be holding yet another Campaigns Day to train, inspire and excite those already having campaigned and those wanting to find out more.

Would you be interested in helping organise this day - dealing with the venue, speakers, NGOs, decorations and much more? Contact medsin.campaigns@gmail.com if you wanna get involved!

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BMA Right to Health Symposium, 25-27 September

The National Committee have a place reserved at this upcoming event in London discussing and exploring what a 'right to the highest attainable standard of health' really means. With expert speakers from across the world and plenaries and workshops galore there's much to whet a Medsiner's appetite!

The place is open since none of us can attend - if anybody would be interested in attending on behalf of Medsin please contact committee@medsin.org

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Anything Else:

Launch of Global Health Watch 2

The Institute for Global Health at University College London, in collaboration with Zed books, invites you to attend the launch of Global Health Watch 2: An alternative world health report.

OCTOBER 16th, 2008 4.30 – 6.00 pm at Jeremy Bentham Room University College London, 30 Guilford Street.

Global Health Watch, an initiative of the People’s Health Movement, Global Equity Gauge Alliance and Medact, to bring together academics, civil society organisations and social movements to promote health and improve the performance of global health institutions. Over a hundred individuals have collaborated to produce the second report which consists of over twenty chapters, including chapters on the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and the Gates Foundation.

Speakers: Dr David McCoy, Co-Managing Editor and Steering Committee member of the Peoples Health Movement Professor Anthony Costello, Centre for International Health and Development, University College London

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Study Peace and Conflict Resolution in Europe

We wish to invite you to join a select group of 44 students from around the world in an intensive course in peace and conflict studies. All courses are taught in English, by leading specialist in their field from around the world, including Dr. Johan Galtung, one of the founders of the academic discipline of peace research and frequent mediator in international conflicts; Dr. Hossain Danesh, founder of unity-based conflict resolution and education for peace; international lawyer Dr. Richard Falk.

The EPU program is designed to provide students with the intellectual competence to analyze conflicts and their underlying causes, with practical skills in conflict transformation and peacebuilding, and with the motivation to do everything in their capacity to help create a better world. We seek to enable our students to help build a more peaceful, equitable and just global society, in harmony with nature. The Program was founded in 1988 by Dr.Gerald Mader, our President. It has so far educated about 1000 students from about 100 countries in peace studies and conflict transformation. It received the 1995 UNESCO Peace Education Prize. In addition, there are several academic excursions. For a course calendar, course descriptions and biographical notes about our faculty members, see

www.epu.ac.at

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Seminar: Will Topping Up Payments lead to the end of the National Health Service?

London Irish Centre 50-52 Camden Square, London, NW1 9XB 2nd October 10am - 4pm with Joe Farrington-Douglas, Senior Research Fellow - Public Services Institute for Public Policy Research Dr Jacky Davis, Keep Our NHS Public Dr Tom Smith, Health Policy Analyst Dr Paul Charlson, Doctors for Reform

Cost (includes lunch): Statutory and commercial organisations £85 Voluntary organisations £42, Socialist Health Association members £12 (includes members of affiliated organisations such as Unite and Unison who represent their union or pay their own way). Unfunded organisations and individuals please contact us.

Please use our booking form. http://www.sochealth.co.uk/confs/sha_conf.html

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The International Tropical Medicine Summer School annually organized by Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia

This unique summer school aims to broaden students' knowledge in the emerging tropical medicine diseases, improve their ability to perform physical examinations, increase understanding of laboratory findings, and diagnose and treat in the modified Problem Based Learning (PBL) system.

July 6th – July 26th, 2009

Main topics: Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, Malaria, Typhoid, Tuberculosis, Avian Influenza, Helminthes 350 EUR

Fee includes: Summer School academic activities Summer School merchandises 3 weeks stay at host family 2 times daily Indonesian meals

Applications will be opened from October 15th, 2008

The International Relationship Office Director Dr. M. Helmi drhelmi@fk.umy.ac.id / email: helmi@yahoo.com

www.fk.umy.ac.id

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IAVI- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative Update

This year is proving to be a remarkable year of action in redoubling our attention, efforts, and commitments in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Now eight years on since the Millennium Declaration was signed, the UN High Level Event on the MDGs, taking place in New York on the 25th September, is timely and welcome.

To illustrate how interwoven HIV/AIDS and the MDGs are, we have produced a policy brief 'Strengthening the Response to HIV and AIDS: helping make the MDGs a reality' http://www.iavi.org/viewpage.cfm?aid=26 , together with a one-page advocacy paper which incorporates our key messages for decision-makers at the New York event.

No single prevention strategy can combat HIV transmission. We need a combination of prevention strategies; with an AIDS vaccine offering significant potential in sustainably reversing HIV incidence. At the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) we are aiming to develop a safe, effective and accessible preventive AIDS vaccine for use throughout the world.

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Oxfam vacancy for Health Education for All campaign

Oxford have a vacancy for a campaigner on the international Health and Education For All campaign. Deadline for applications is Sunday 21st September, interviews will be on 29th September.

Further information can be found at: http://www.medsin.org/newsletter/192

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People and Planet Shared Earth 2008 Conference

People & Planet annual conference, Shared Planet 2008, is to be held at Birmingham University on 21-23 November 2008. Shared Planet is the UK's largest student conference on world poverty, human rights, and the environment. You can find out more about Shared Planet 2008 here:

http://peopleandplanet.org/sharedplanet

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Royal Society of Medicine Conference: Violence, the Surgeon and the Modern World

The Royal Society of Medicine invite you to the conference Violence, the Surgeon and the Modern World. It will be held at the Royal Society of Medicine on 31st October, and will address some of the social, political and humanitarian issues of violence. Its object is to encourage surgeons to take a wider view of their role in tackling the effects of violence.

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Student Action for Refugees internship opportunity

STAR (Student Action for Refugees) is recruiting an intern to join our national support office to lead in the development and delivery of our new national campaign 'Let Them Work'. This will involve engaging students with the issues of 'Let Them Work' by presenting the campaign at STAR Conference '08 and organising a national day of action in the spring term.

This is an exciting opportunity for a self-starter wanting experience of working in the charity, youth or campaigning sector.

Out of pocket travel and lunch expenses incurred whilst volunteering will be reimbursed.

To find out more www.star-network.org.uk/volunteering or call Russell on 020 8980 7036. The deadline for applications is 5pm Monday 1st September 2008.

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Does your branch want to run a book drive? Do you have Unwanted textbooks? Better World Books open a UK warehouse for donations

Better World Books are partners with the American Medical Students Association. They sell 2nd handbooks and with the money they fund literacy programmes around the world. They have just recently opened a warehouse outside Edinburgh and are for Medsin-UK branches to contact them if they want to organise a book drive.

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Last updated on Thursday 30 October 2008 at 22:19.