Youth Multi-Stakeholder Forum kicks off here in Bali

It’s 9am here in Bali and youth from around the world have gathered as part of the multi-stakeholder forum. Tomorrow we shall be attending HLP meeting with the High-Level Panel, and sharing the views of young people from around the world on the post-2015 development agenda. The IFMSA team are here in force:

For those of you unfamiliar with the Post-2015 process it is in essence in two components. The UN Secretary General launched in September of 2012 a high level panel on Post-2015 which is meant to assess the successes & failures of MDGs and suggest ideas for a framework to replace them. This process has had multiple meetings a number of both online and thematic consultations via the world we want website. The blog below is from our Presidents trip to the thematic health consultation in Botswana this month. The other part of the process is the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals which had their first meeting in NYC last week you can read more here.

Back to the High Level Panel and this meeting, the High Level Panel have been tasked with producing a report for the UNGA to be published in May. There have been two key meetings so far the one in London on poverty at the household level, and one in Monrovia, Liberia on poverty at the national level. This meeting is meant to define:

• Framing A New Global Partnership for Development

• Identifying Thematic Priorities for Goals

• Defining Means of Implementation

• A Framework for Monitoring Progress 

So how does this all tie to health.

MDG 8 was the goal on global partnerships, it is unlikely there will be a new goal on partnerships. However the HLP will probably suggest a new framework on global partnerships, the goals will also hopefully be universal and we will move beyond the classic north-south view of development. MDG8 included a target on access to medicines, clearly issues of technology transfer and issues of trade are intimately tied to health as well as many other areas. So far there seems to be little new coming out of the panel beyond realising the world has changed since the year 2000, we really new ideas on both trade and also tech transfer.

Health almost certainly will be a thematic priority and within the health constituency Universal Health Coverage is almost certainly going to be the health goal. Though there is a lot of work on the details of this to go and how social determinants of health. There is still no clear answer as to whether the HLP will propose a set of goals since, there are already rumours about the UK government and DFID trying to produce a whole set of goals, targets and indicators, yet it is unclear whether the HLP has the mandate to propose goals as it is not a body of eminent people not member states.

Means of implementation again has little new on the table, a global financial transaction tax is being ruled out by the UK. Where is the money for development going to come from? How are we going to implement future development goals and who is going to pay for it? Should we be seeing global alcohol and tobacco taxes?

We will be posting more blogs over the coming days and would love to hear your thoughts on what a new partnership for development would look like and how can we implement future development goals. 

 

Situation SYRIA- Help for Health

The conflict started in March 2011 with civil unrest. It progressed and now it is a full-on civil war. On the 12th of February 2013, the United Nations stated that the wars´ death toll had exceeded 70.000.
With time there has been a dramatic increase in the number of refugees fleeing to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. In Jordan there are 53,299 Syrian Refugees. (UNHCR). The lives of the Syrians have been disturbed. The health care systems have also taken a hit. The shortage of and increased costs of medicines in Syria is just the tip of the iceberg. A recent WHO report stated that “the hospitals and health centers that are operating are overwhelmed with
patients”. Of the country’s 88 public hospitals, half have been partially or completely destroyed and 23 are non-functional. Of the 1919 health centers, 106 are no longer functional and 186 have been
destroyed.

IFMSA for Humanity – What if it was your brother?

IFMSA was created to make an impact on the world and to empower its members in taking their vision and ideas, and making them a reality. IFMSA has inspired generations of medical students to develop the leadership abilities and skills to take on challenges and to improve the world around them. IFMSA Jordan has initiated a project which aims to help refugees from Syria who has been fleeing to the neighbor Jordan. This project is an epitome of the humanitarian work of IFMSA. As the unrest intensifies and there are an increased number of refugees, there is also an increased need for humanitarian assistance. As such, this IFMSA campaign: Help for Health – Situation SYRIA has been created to enable each IFMSAian to play his or her part. During this GA-MM2013, the Situation SYRIA Campaign Working Group will provide you with additional information on the situation in Syria. You may read blogs, articles, flyers as well as listen as we present more information to you. At the close of MM13, we hope that each delegate will have fulfilled the humanitarian responsibility and made a contribution to this cause. As such, there will be an opportunity at the Closing Ceremony for each person to make a contribution. In playing our part, IFMSA has selected the international aid organization, Médecins Sans Frontières  (MSF-Doctors Without Borders). MSF is one of few similar organizations that aim to help civilians in  areas with turmoil. Since June 2012, MSF has for Syrian refugees provided medical care for over 11,000 persons including for violence-related injuries such as gunshot wounds and explosion caused injuries.

In this time, greater than 1,200 surgical procedures have been done. (http://www.msf.org.uk/syria.focus)

MSF has been requesting assistance in continuing its work of providing medical care to the Syrian refugees. IFMSA has now stepped forward to offer some help through the General Assembly. So, we urge you to think of our Syrian brothers and sisters. Remember, this could have been you or your sister or your family. Wouldn’t you like to have helped if you were in this position?

See you all in Baltimore!
On behalf of the Syria Refugee Campaign Working Group,
Marta Azevedo (PorMISC- Portugal) and Sachalee Campbell (JAMSA- Jamaica)
For more info: Project Coordinator Moa Herrgård, situation.syria@gmail.com, FB: Situation SYRIA

IFMSA at WHOs 132nd Executive Board Meeting

Greetings from a cold Geneva

The first one and a half day of the WHOs Executive Board Meeting have been very intense for IFMSAs delegation. Before going into some specifics let me explain what the WHOs Executive Board is, the WHO EB as it is also called is composed of 34 individuals technically qualified in the field of health, each one designated by a Member State elected to do so by the World Health Assembly. The Board members are selected for a 3 year period. The WHO EB is the body who selects and proposes the topics and resolutions that are put on the agenda for the World Health Assembly. This year, the WHO EB has an extremely long and packed agenda, amongst other things it will discuss WHO reform; noncommunicable diseases; promoting health through the life course; preparedness, surveillance and response; communicable diseases and health systems.

Myself, Roopa and Chantelle are representing IFMSA in this meeting, and we have been working on drafting specific statements on different agenda items. Given that IFMSA is in official relation with WHO, we are allowed to speak during the governing body meetings.

Today IFMSA will speak for the first time in this meeting on Social Determinants of Health (SDH) and the progress since the political declaration on SDH. You will find below that we are glad to see the progress, but are still critical on some issues. Enjoy the reading, and please make sure to comment if you have any!

Follow us live on IFMSA Facebook and Twitter as well
Until next time!

Usman Mushtaq
————-
IFMSA statement on Social Determinants of Health Agenda Point 7.3

IFMSA would like to acknowledge the work of WHO in supporting member states with the
implementation of the Rio Political Declaration. It is also pleasing to see the commitment from the WHO Regional Offices in this effort. Beside this, we also welcome the engagement with other UN bodies on highlighting health in all policies approach. However we are still compelled to point out that one of the three overarching recommendations of The WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health is to “Tackle the inequitable distribution of power, money and resources”. It is perhaps strange to see that the report does not identify the root causes for health inequities and also fails to deliver on a concrete action to address these causes.

We recognize that changing and defeating inequalities worldwide is a challenging effort, partly due to the inequitable distribution of power and wealth at the international level. Action on social determinants of health will require substantial funding and therefore it is essential that members states and the WHO work for innovative funding schemes that will propel reduce the inequality gap.

As early as now, young people need to be made to understand the principles of equity and
social determinants. This will not only provide an avenue for smooth transfer of knowledge to but eventually ensure the sustainability of this global movement. Youth today has the sheer capacity to effect positive change, a capacity that remains largely untapped. With their innate energy, fresh vision, and advanced grasp of technology, young people, who will be inheritors of global health sooner rather than later, can largely and meaningfully contribute in advancing the movement for “health and equity for all.”

We would like to end with the words of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health
- “reducing health inequity is an ethical imperative. Social injustice is killing people on a
grand scale.”