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- AMSA Global Health Newsletter 🌏 July 2024
AMSA Global Health Newsletter 🌏 July 2024
Welcome to the July edition of the AMSA Global Health monthly newsletter!
We're delighted to share the July edition of the AMSA Global Health newsletter, designed specifically for you. As medical students, we have the unique potential to shape a more equitable and healthy world. This newsletter will equip you with the latest updates, resources, events and opportunities in global health. Whether you're passionate about a specific cause or just starting to explore this field, we'll help you translate your ambition into action.
As we continue to grow our newsletter after its resurrection, please send this on to anyone you think may be interested, and to your medical student cohort at large. AMSA Global Health wants YOU to be part of our network! Subscribe to stay up to date with us and access exclusive global health content, tailored to the Australian medical student.
You can also follow us on social media for more (info, events, memes, resources, et al) - we’re @AMSAGlobalHealth everywhere, or you can click here for direct links.
Global Health adventures 🌟
Here’s what we’ve been up to in July:
AMSA Global Health Community Engagement Survery 2024
IT’S HERE! It’s strategic planning season, and we need your help to decide the future direction of AMSA Global Health!
🌱 Survey link: https://forms.gle/1VFymnjsX4fr3kvSA
As part of our community, whether close, extended, or oblivious, your insights are all CRUCIAL for understanding our strategic priorities. The survey takes 10-15 minutes (or just 3-5 mins if you prefer to whizz through the short version), and everyone who completes it is eligible to enter our prize draw 🎁 The survey will remain open and accepting multiple submissions until midnight AEST on Friday 16th August.
Thank you in advance for your input 💛 we greatly appreciate it!
AMSA National Council 2
Another AMSA Council has flown by, and with it our new policies and updates! Emily, our 2024 Chair, presented AMSA Global Health’s midyear report, and the updated Global Health Vaccination Policy was successfully voted through. You can find all our global health policies via the AMSA website here.
AMSA Global Health 🤝 Australian Global Health Alliance
The Australian Global Health Alliance is delighted to welcome the Australian Medical Student Association (AMSA) Global Health as the newest reciprocal member of the Alliance.
AMSA Global Health is the peak representative body for the global health interests of Australia’s 17,000 medical students. It is the largest subcommittee of the Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA). AMSA Global Health seeks to connect, inspire, and empower medical students to effect change towards global health equity through tangible, unified, responsible, and sustainable action.
Our partnership with AMSA Global Health is crucial to our commitment to investing in the future generations of global health leaders. By engaging with student networks and fostering opportunities for emerging professionals, we aim to seek guidance (or learn) from the younger generation and ensure the continued growth and development of innovative solutions and practices in global health. This partnership aligns with our broader mission of “Looking in” to Global Health in our place, reinforcing our dedication to nurturing a dynamic and forward-thinking global health community.
We warmly welcome AMSA Global Health to the Alliance and look forward to the impactful collaboration ahead as we strive to support the local global health community to create a more strong and equitable global health ecosystem.
Keep an eye out for our AMSA GH x AGHA Global Health film festival coming up in October! 👀🎥
Gaza Advocacy Action Toolbox
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Given the scale of the current crisis in Palestine, it can be understandably overwhelming to know how to help and where to begin. AMSA Global Health is committed to educating on and taking action for threats to global health. As such, we are addressing this crisis due to its devastating impacts on health and wellbeing. This document, collated by our Reactive Advocacy team, reflects our ethical and moral responsibility to take a stand.
This document has been endorsed by the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW).
If you have trouble accessing the toolbox via the attachment, it’s also accessible via our official linktree here: https://tr.ee/3HSUibsT58
What’s on 📣
EVENTS:
AMSA Code Green x Academy of Child and Adolescent Health (ACAH) webinar ➡️ Childhood Diseases and Climate Change at 6:30pm AEST on Tuesday 13th August (online)
AMSA Healthy Communities ➡️ Park Run in Albert Park, Melbourne at 8am on Saturday 17th August (details here)
AMSA Sexual & Reproductive Health ➡️ Sexual Health Series, 6:30pm AEST on Thursday 15th August and Tuesday 27th August (online)
Global Health Forum 2 ➡️ Saturday 7th (Elections) and Sunday 8th (Career Pathways in Global Health) September (online, with state-based nodes)
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Keep up with our events, the finer details and updates here 🗓️
RECRUITMENT:
 | Callouts for our 2025 Executive Team and our 2025 Management Team will start opening from late August! Executive Team elections will be held on Saturday 7th September! |
Please keep an eye on our social media for updates - our 2025 Executive Team callouts will open in late August, and our 2025 Management Team callouts will open in mid September!
The AMSA Global Health Executive Team is elected each year at Forum 2, which in 2024 will be held on Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th of September with elections taking place on the Saturday (online via Zoom). All shortlisted applicants will be eligible to present their vision and relevant experience to the AMSA Global Health community (made up of our current Executive and Management Teams, subcommittee members, and Global Health Group representatives), who will then vote to elect successful applicants to each role.
The AMSA Global Health Management Team is elected each year by application, interview, and selection by the AMSA Global Health Executive Team (incoming and outgoing) and Management Team (outgoing).
All roles are officially held from 1 Dec 2024 to 1 Dec 2025, with an extended handover/shadowing period from Sep/Oct to 1 Dec each year.
AMSA Global Health Structure
Executive Team Chair Vice Chair External (VCE) Vice Chair Operations (VCO) Treasurer Secretary National Coordinators (x2) | Management Team Code Green National Coordinators (x2) Crossing Borders National Coordinators (x2) Healthy Communities National Coordinators (x2) Sexual & Reproductive Health National Coordinators (x2) Reactive Advocacy National Coordinators (x2) Global Health Policy Officer Education Officer Communications Officers (x2) AMSA Journal of Global Health Editor-in-Chief AMSA Global Health Intensive Coordinator Partnerships Officers (x2) |
AMSA Global Health team structure schematic, 2024.
Colours indicate streams, tree indicates direct reports.
If you think you might like to apply for one of these roles, we encourage you to reach out to the current role holder to ask questions and discuss your ideas to assist you in your application (this is not a requirement, although it is looked on favourably).
If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.
SAVE THE DATE: AMSA’s annual Global Health Conference ‘Inception’ is NEXT MONTH in September!
Global Health Conference — AMSA’s biggest global health event of the year — is rapidly approaching and YOU need to be ready.
Imagine inspiring academic sessions, hands-on breakout activities and superb social nights, which you learn from and enjoy with the most awesome group of people from all around AMSA and all around Australia.
It’s your Global Health Group scaled up to 4 jam-packed days days and 400 delegates!
Our theme this year is Inception, which means the establishment or starting point. As explored in Christopher Nolan‘s famous film, it’s all about navigating layers of complexity in systems that are difficult but not impossible to change.
Ticket sales are OPEN NOW - get yours at https://www.ghc.amsa.org.au/registration and join us September 20-23 for Inception.
A cheeky reminder that only AMSA members can attend AMSA events (such as GHC)! If you haven’t officially joined yet, click here to sign up 🧡
External opportunities 🪐
Upcoming conferences:
AMSA Global Health Conference | 20-23 September 2024 | Adelaide, Australia
World Health Summit | 13-15 October 2024 | Berlin, Germany (hybrid event)
Global Model WHO | 29 October - 1 November 2024 | Geneva, Switzerland
World Extreme Medicine Conference | 16-18 November 2024 | Edinburgh, Scotland
Eliminating Cervical Cancer Conference | 27-29 November 2024 | Melbourne, Australia (hybrid event)
Got something you’d like us to share or promote in our newsletter? Reach out to us via [email protected] 📩
Book of the month 📖
Our Education Officer, Julia, runs monthly book club exploring key takeaways from relevant global health books. The best part? You don’t even have to read the books to participate (though you’re most welcome to), because Julia will read them for you and then give you the lowdown. Effortless learning? Insightful and engaging discussions? We love to see it.
The Education Team will collaborate with the Global Health Conference in August on the topic of mental heath in a global health context. Julia’s book of the month is 'Girls Burn Brighter' by Shobha Rao, where two female protagonists experience a variety of individual, family, community and structural challenges that can all impact upon mental wellbeing.
If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, head to our instagram ➡️ you can join our book club group chat on Instagram to get in on the discussion!
What in the world? 🌏
Want to learn more about global health? Check out Harvard University’s free online global health courses! More info here.
WHO releases first-ever clinical treatment guideline for tobacco cessation in adults. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a comprehensive set of tobacco cessation interventions, including behavioural support delivered by health-care providers, digital cessation interventions and pharmacological treatments in a first guideline on tobacco cessation. Read more here 🚬
Drs4Drs presents new webinar series, in collaboration with AMSA Mental Health! Medical students and doctors in training are invited to a webinar series featuring personal experiences and stories from doctors on topics such as the Ahpra notification process, anxiety or burnout. See more here.
The Legalities of Consultation Transcription Software: As speech recognition and language processing technology improves, new software has recently come onto the market which automatically transcribes patient consultations into structured clinical notes. What are the legalities of using this software in a medical practice? read more here from the Winter 2024 edition of VICDOC.
Unpacking Biases: Alex Ikanovic, President of the Medical Student Council of Victoria, explores and unpacks the typical medical student's biases about working in rural and regional areas. Read his thoughtful opinion piece here.
In Bridging Worlds: A Journey Through Global Health, Dr. Sharon Chekijian talks with Professor Harriet Mayanja-Kizza, a distinguished figure in medicine and education. With her extensive work at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and her pivotal role in fostering international collaborations, Dr. Mayanja-Kizza’s contributions have left a lasting mark on medical training and research across continents. Listen to the podcast from the Yale Institute for Global Health here.
The Australian Global Health Alliance (AHGA) is Australia’s peak body for global health organisations. They are working for a strong, equitable and sustainable global health ecosystem, and driving change through national and global connections, partnerships, research and innovation, promoting best practices in global health, and advocacy.
Want to stay in the loop? Sign up to the AGHA newsletter here.
Medical students’ placement poverty remains unaddressed in the federal budget. Read more from AMSA here and the ABC here. You can also sign the petition to include medical students in paid placements here!
Some old school AMSA Global Health: A few years ago, in collaboration with AMSA MedEd, we developed AMSA Academy online modules on various global health issues. These modules involve a variety of topics such as climate change, tropical medicine, and refugee and asylum seekers. Our aim is to encourage medical students to critically think about and engage with the complexities of health on a global scale. Check them out here: AMSA Global Health online modules at AMSA Academy
That’s a wrap for July! Thank you for reading our newsletter - we hope it’s been helpful!
Don’t forget to follow us on social media - as well as the newsletter, this is one of the best ways to stay up to date with us and with other global health happenings both in Australia and around the world.
Got any questions, comments, submissions or ideas for the newsletter? We’re always happy to hear from you - please email [email protected] or [email protected] any time. We can also be reached via our social media (@AMSAGlobalHealth everywhere).
Want more info about AMSA Global Health? We’ve got you: click here 💛
Best wishes until next month!
The AMSA Global Health team 🌏