Welcome to the AMSA Global Health monthly newsletter!

We're super excited to launch the inaugural edition of the revived 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.

For this inaugural edition, you may have received this newsletter even though you have not subscribed to it. As our previous mailing list has been lost to the internet void (😭), we’re starting from scratch and thought we’d best send this out to everyone… but just this once. If you’d like to subscribe to our newsletter and receive future month’s editions, please click the button below (or this link, if the button proves troublesome):

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 @AMSA Global Health everywhere, or you can click here for direct links.

What’s on 📣

AMSA Global Health Forum will be running at UNSW in Sydney from the 19th to the 21st of April. This is a major event in the Global Health calendar and we’d love to see you all there! It’s an amazing way to not only learn more about global health and develop your skills in the area, but also to meet likeminded people and expand your social circle. Also, no biggie but Professor Talley (yes, THAT Professor Talley, of Talley & O’Connor fame) is coming, so… be there or be square, friends.

Forum is running concurrently with AMSA National Council and AMSA Careers Conference this year, and you’re welcome to pop between all three events over the weekend (they’re all in the same venue). We also have combined social nights - bring your party pants and prepare to have the night(s) of your life with us! 💃🕺🥂🪩

Tickets are only ❗️$30❗️ for combined access to all 3 events, and are open now ➡️ https://amsa.org.au/calendar/ghf-council-careers-con/ 🎟️

Finally, a reminder that only AMSA members can attend AMSA events! If you haven’t officially joined yet, click here to sign up AND go into the running to win FREE REGO! 💸✨

Global Health adventures 🌟

Since this is our first monthly newsletter for 2024, we’ve had to cram in the whole year so far… here’s what we’ve been up to:

January

• Recruited our management team! You can meet them all here 💛

• Created our 2024 Strategic Plan

• Represented AMSA at the Invasion Day Rally

February

• Ran our annual Management Team Retreat

• Attended the AMSA Advocacy Retreat

• Worked on updating AMSA Global Health policies

March

• Our Executive National Coordinators, Charlie and Manasi, have been hard at work organising Global Health Forum!

• On top of that, they ran our annual GHG Retreat for our Global Health Group reps 👏 

• Our Crossing Borders National Coordinators attended Palm Sunday rallies ➡️ incredible reel by CB NatCo Vania and more info here 🌴

• We recruited majority of our Global Health subcommittee!
  (Pssst! Interested in joining the AMSA Global Health team? We’ve got our last few callouts releasing soon… keep an eye on our social media so you don’t miss out, as these will be our final callouts for the year! 😱)

• Our Global Health Secretary just returned after participating the Emory Global Health Case Competition in the US 🏆 well done Shikofa!

Whew! Stay tuned for our April updates next month - it’s going to be a doozy 😎

Book of the month 📖

Our Education Officer, Julia, has launched a new 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.

This month, she read Pharmanomics by Nick Dearden which explores how big pharma destroys global health. If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, head to our instagram ➡️ not only does Julia have her March book club reel up for you, but you can join our book club discussion group chat on Instagram to get in on the discussion!

What in the world? 🌏

• Sunday 7th April was World Health Day! The theme for 2024 is ‘My health, my right.’ Learn more about it here

• WHO recently launched a new toolkit to empower health professionals to talk about climate change. You can find out more about the toolkit here: WHO launches new toolkit empowering health professionals to tackle climate change 

• Cholera cases are on the rise globally with 700,000 reported last year (a striking rise from 473,000 in 2022). Global vaccine shortages mean preventative vaccines programs are being delayed as the vaccines are needed for emergency outbreak control. Learn more: Millions at risk from cholera due to lack of clean water, soap and toilets, and shortage of cholera vaccine 

• Genetic tests are often inaccurate for people who are not of European ancestry. A new method for calibrating genetic tests using data from people with many different ancestries could improve the accuracy of tests for people from all backgrounds and reduce health disparities. Read more: Researchers optimise genetic tests for diverse populations to tackle health disparities

• 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 March! Thank you for reading our newsletter - we hope it’s been helpful, and most importantly we hope to see you at our Global Health Forum in just under 3 weeks time!

Don’t forget to subscribe - 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.

NB: If you are part of the AMSA Global Health team already (either Executive, Management, Subcommittee, or GHG representative) then you have been automatically subscribed as part of your role with us. If this is not you, then you will need to manually subscribe to continue receiving our monthly newsletter.

Got any questions, comments, submissions or ideas for the newsletter? We’re always happy to hear from you - please email [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 🌏