Welcome to IFMSA’s inaugural E-newsletter!
Dear IFMSA Family,
Please click on the title above or use the link below to view our first IFMSA E-newsletter ever! In it, you will be able to find out about upcoming events and exciting new developments taking place within our NMOs, Standing Committees, Regions and more!
http://kuwait-md.org/ifmsapub/NOV12/full.pdf
Enjoy reading!
With best regards,
Bronwyn Jones (on behalf of the IFMSA International Publications Team)
This weekend I had the pleasure to attend the first ever General Assembly of the Alcohol Policy Youth Network (APYN). APYN currently unites fifteen different youth organizations in their efforts to prevent and reduce harmful use of alcohol. It has only been established two years ago and therefore, this young network is still in an exciting phase of creating structures and developing working procedures. IFMSA has been a part of this from the very beginning and we were also invited to join this first General Assembly.
So on Friday I took the train to Frankfurt where this meeting took place. The General Assembly was attended by representatives of thirteen APYN-members, one representative from EUROCARE and a few people, who have been involved in work on the field of alcohol although their organizations are not (yet) part of APYN. In total, we were seventeen young people from all over Europe.
On the first day of the GA Jan Peloza who has been a leading figure in APYN since its foundation gave us an introduction about the background and history of the organization. After that, we elected the first official executive board and two members of the monitoring board. The APYN executive board consists of the president, secretary general and three vice-presidents leading the three APYN committees.
These committees represent the focus areas for this organization and are the following:
I am happy to tell you that two of the elected positions are taken by IFMSA-members:
Simona Stankeviciute from LiMSA will be leading the committee for youth research and Nathalie Rodriguez McCullough will be a member of the monitoring board.
After the elections, we discussed the APYN constitution that has been created in a extensive consultation process. IFMSA proposed a number of amendments to the proposed document and after some long hours of discussion, we were abled to adopt a constitution with some significant improvements.
Having that done, we enjoyed a nice evening out in Frankfurt.
On the second day, Jan introduced three projects that APYN is hoping to organize in the upcoming years if grant proposals are accepted. If so, IFMSA will be deeply involved in those and try to contribute to their success. So stay tuned for more updates on that J
This was followed by a presentation of projects APYN members are conducting. I presented our plans to create an IFMSA-wide project on alcohol in line with our commitment to the European Alcohol and Health Forum, which will happen at the SCOPH pre-GA in Mumbai, India. This preGA will be conducted in close collaboration with APYN and the participants showed great interest in our plans.
Before the closing of the General Assembly, we had an ideas café were we were able to give input to the Strategic Plan of APYN.
Last but not least, after the GA, I had a meeting with the newly elected executive board to discuss IFMSA’s plans concerning projects on the field of alcohol and APYN involvement in our upcoming preGA on substance abuse. They are really happy to collaborate with us on this project and plan to send two APYN representatives to our GA in Mumbai.
All in all, this was a very productive meeting and I was happy to be able to give lots of input to help the development of this young and dynamic network.
Considering the public health implications the harmful use of alcohol has it is encouraging to see youth across Europe unite to work on this issue.
I look forward to contributing to this together with SCOPHians and everybody else who is interested in joining our efforts!
Anna Klicpera
Director of the Standing Committee on Public Health 2011-12
World Blood Donor Day 2012
Every Blood Donor Is A Hero
Around the world, medical students are celebrating June 14th as World Blood Donor Day. Under the theme “Every Blood Donor Is A Hero” they are organizing local, national and international activities to promote Voluntary, Non-remunerated blood donation culture.
Background:
Voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors are considered to be the source of the safest blood and blood products for patients. Their donation is an altruistic gift and NOT a marketable commodity. This places them in a unique position, demanding special respect and care; it also places a responsibility on all involved in public health care to treat voluntary blood donors as VIPs. And hence World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) has been established to celebrate and thank voluntary blood donors for their gift of life.
On June 14, countries worldwide celebrate World Blood Donor Day with events to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood. The theme of the 2012 World Blood Donor Day campaign, “Every blood donor is a hero” focuses on the idea that every one of us can become a hero by giving blood. While recognizing the silent and unsung heroes who save lives every day through their blood donations, the theme also strongly encourages more people all over the world to donate blood voluntarily and regularly.
IFMSA’s Perspective:
In this same mindedness, the IFMSA is getting ready to celebrating the first Mega edition of its new Project: Ping-Pong, A Game For Life, a concept designed by SCOPH Tunisia on September 2011 in order to rekindle joyfully the spirit of the blood donation campaigns.
The aim is to unit all IFMSA in this international Day, under the same cause, by organizing an inter-NMOs competition for blood donation, Which one of them will be the most generous and collect the bigger number of blood bags.
After opening a Call to invite all the interested National Members,
We received responses from namely: Argentina, Colombia, Nepal, Brazil, Libya, Sudan, Lithuania, Peru, Ghana, Chile and Tunisia.
All these countries showed their Big motivation to join, to unit, to play and to give for life, and who knows to be the winner of this First International Edition, which we hope to continue from one year to another.
On D-Day, All the game will be synchronized thanks to our main dynamic plateform: our Facebook event Page: https://www.facebook.com/PingPongAGameForLife where every 45 minutes from the time of the game start in each country until the end of the competition, our Central Unit of synchronization settled in Tunisia, will be posting updates on the general progress of the game. Thus, You are welcome to join us and share.
Hope to see you all among us
Your involvement and support will help to ensure a wide impact
for World Blood Donor Day 2012, increasing recognition
worldwide that giving blood is a heroic life life-saving act of solidarity. The enthusiasm and participation
are welcome at all levels to make World Blood Donor
Day a success.
Objectives of this year’s campaign are to:
All this in order to get closer to edge of the target set by WHO and which states that if at least 1% of the national population donates blood, it is sufficient to cover its basic needs for secure blood.
As noted by the WHO, here are 10 Reasons for coming and share:
1. Blood transfusion saves lives and improves health.
However, many patients requiring transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood. Every country needs to ensure that blood supplies are sufficient and free from HIV, hepatitis viruses and other infections that can be transmitted through unsafe transfusion.
2. Transfusions are used to support various treatments.
In high-income countries, transfusion is most commonly used to support advanced medical treatment and complex surgeries like open-heart surgery and advance trauma care. In low- and middle-income countries it is used often for management of pregnancy-related complications, childhood malaria complicated by severe anaemia and trauma-related injuries.
3. An adequate supply of safe blood can only be assured through regular donation by voluntary unpaid blood donors.
Adequate supply of safe blood can only be assured through regular donation by voluntary unpaid blood donors, because the prevalence of bloodborne infections is lowest among these donors. It is higher among donors who give blood only as a replacement when it is required for a family and among those who give blood for money or other forms of payment.
4. Voluntary unpaid donors account for 100% of blood supplies in 62 countries.
Since the inception of World Blood Donor Day in 2004, 111 countries have reported an increase in the number of voluntary donations. But in 40 countries, less than 25% of blood supplies come from voluntary unpaid donors.
5. Around 92 million blood donations are collected globally every year.
About 50% of these are donated in low- and middle-income countries where nearly 85% of the world’s population lives. The average blood donation rate is more than 13 times greater in high-income countries than in low-income countries.
6. Collections at blood centres vary according to income group.
About 8000 blood centres in 159 countries report collecting, on an average, 10 000 blood donations per centre (range from 20 to almost 500 000). The average annual collection per blood centre is 30 000 in high-income countries, 7500 in middle-income countries and 3700 in low-income countries.
7. People in high-income countries donate blood more frequently than in low- or middle-income countries.
The median blood donation rate in high-income countries is 36.4 donations per 1000 people. This compares with 11.6 donations per 1000 people in middle-income countries and 2.8 donations in low-income countries.
8. Donated blood should always be screened.
All donated blood should always be screened for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis prior to transfusion. Yet in 39 countries not all donated blood is tested for one or more of these infections. Testing is not reliable in many countries because of staff shortages, poor quality test kits, irregular supplies, or lack of basic laboratory services.
9. A single unit of blood can benefit several patients.
Separating blood into its various components allows a single unit of blood to benefit several patients and provides a patient only the blood component which is needed. About 91% of the blood collected in high-income countries, 72% in middle-income countries and 31% in low-income countries is separated into blood components.
10. Unnecessary transfusions expose patients to needless risk.
Often transfusions are prescribed when simple and safe alternative treatments might be equally effective. As a result such a transfusion may not be necessary. An unnecessary transfusion exposes patients to the needless risk of infections or severe transfusion reactions.
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