Sunday 16th May

It’s been a good while since the tour ‘officially’ came to an end, since which I’ve been to meet Medsin Barts (more below) and we’ve had our Spring General Assembly.  Continually raising and discussing a future structure, vision and framework for Medsin paid dividends at the SGA with our plans reaching fruition.  We now have a fantastically improved structure for the network and charity, a new vision and mission, a wave of great new leaders elected and willing to take Medsin to greater heights, a mandate to write a new strategy for the long-term future, and many, many great other things and ideas.

I want to thank everyone who made the tour possible in any small or large way.  It’s been without a doubt one of the most challenging but also promising highlights of the year, and has set I hope a precedent for how the future of Medsin could be orientated.  If you came along for only an hour, if you put yours truly up for the night, or any other small or large show of generosity, please accept not only my but the network’s gratefulness since without you the organisation would not be in the great state I believe it will now continue to be in.

We shall be writing a report on the Branch Tour sometime soon so keep your eyes peeled for that and read below for some feedback from the Barts leg of the tour!

Jonny

Medsin Barts Branch meeting

Barts held a speaker evening with a discussion afterwards about what we were proposing as the future framework for the network/organisation.  A few really great ideas were raised, all of which will go into the final write-up of the tour:

• Publicity & descriptions of Medsin neglect the online aspect: the resources available via Medsin Discuss, the network around the country.  This should be featured more prominently on the website and elsewhere.
• Vision, mission and descriptions on the website and elsewhere heavily focus on medical students.  We need to display our ambition for diversity far more widely.
• Medsin resources: the website should feature resources uploaded by others from around the country (leaflets, posters, files, videos etc).  Powerpoint presentations for Medsin Explained nights would be great!
• The name change was raised: is Medsin an accurate name to be using?
• Campaigns need to consider and develop ways of making themselves more accessible to the grassroots: briefings, explanations, jobs etc
• Could Student Global Health Network be a by-line for Medsin?
• Professionalism in Medsin: should we carry ourselves with more authority?  Do we play too many games and icebreakers?  Food for thought!

Friday 26th February

The tour hath come to an end!  Well, almost.  There remain to be a small number of branches still due a visit but in the main this Wednesday marked the completion of the Branch Tour with an energetic and fruitful meeting with Medsin UCL.  Read on for an update of our interactions with Imperial and UCL, and some final words on the tour as a whole!

Imperial College London

Differing slightly from our other branch visits, our Imperial stop on the tour coincided with a ‘Global Health Forum‘ event on access to healthcare for vulnerable migrants.  Members piled in to hear from Medicins de Monde of the complex policies behind current entitlements to healthcare for ‘overseas visitors’ – rules which healthcare professionals themselves will often fail to comprehend.  We outlined the developments in policy over the last few years, and our efforts in Medsin to lobby to preserve access to primary care for this patient group.

Imperial benefits from a strong local network of projects and campaigns, complementing these with their regular Global Health Forum events to build awareness and enthusiasm for the issues they see as important.  Our conversation afterwards built on previous proposals for development in Medsin, raising the suggestion of a Board of Trustees, reformed National Committee and sustainable development plan to guide the future success of the charity.  Overall a refreshing change as a Branch event, and sign of inspiring success on the ground

Medsin UCL

Our industrious hosts of the National Conference back in 2008, this London branch again attested to grassroots ambition.  Speaking to an audience of 10 or so, I made clear my belief in the current necessity for a united student movement in global health.  As the 20-something or so occasion of giving the talk, the need for notes had by now vanished!

Medsin UCL’s global health magazine

The semi-final visit of the tour gave further evidence for creativity and passion: UCL prints their own global health magazine ‘Perspectives’ which features a wide variety of great writers, reviews and calls for engagement by other students in global health issues.  Proposals for further local magazines, or alternatively regional magazine collaborations were put forward to encourage student involvement in global health education, writing and eventually into the activities we run in Medsin.

Further suggestions provided food for thought and will be considered in our future plans, including more frequent opportunities for high-level advocacy with politicians; expanding a professional base to create a backbone for the Medsin network as other student organisations such as StopAIDS have managed, and using our proposal for Action Committees to merge a connection between local and national figures were all highlighted.

That’s all folks!

It’s been a rapid and exhilarating exploration of our Medsin network, but fully worthwhile in the ideas, inspiration and connections created.  What I’ve found most intriguing is the natural tendency of branches towards the same destination; despite any lack of prescription or dictation by others, the similar ideals and activities of each branch have much in common.  I would say the ability of our network to fluidly share ideas around itself is responsible for this, making our Educate, Advocate, Act framework an apt summary of the synthesis of our efforts.

The opportunity of opening a conversation for change in advance of making the decision has allowed for a greater scrutiny of proposals than would otherwise be allowed in years gone by.  If only government policies were to go through the same sort of scrutiny before implementation, the world or country may be a healthier and better place.  The tour therefore has taught much about leadership: seeing local leaders mobilising their army of teams across the country, whilst engaging people in a mass movement for global health has forced me to rise to the challenge of seeing Medsin through to a stronger and sustainable destination.

Global Health: Local issue?  I think Medsin is finally in a place to confirm this widely vaunted catchphrase in our network.  The coming months will define our progression to a ripe force for change – after witnessing the strength of our movement I now relish the chance to build a new, united and prosperous Medsin for 2010.

Jonny

Sunday 21st February

It’s 5 weeks tomorrow since I began the tour, just 2 more branches to visit this week and it’s all lights out for the current phase.  That doesn’t include the 3 branches we couldn’t fit in to the schedule though, and another 2 new additions to the network, showing how wide our efforts are now spreading along the lines of student activism and solidarity.

The past week wrapped up the Branch Tour outside of London – visiting Southampton, Brighton and moving on to our compatriots in Kings College London on Thursday.  Another enthralling set of ideas, projects and members all geared up and ready to struggle for justice under the umbrage of Medsin.  Read on for the synopsis!

Southampton

A healthily large crowd assembled in the university for an evening of conversations revolving around the history, the present and the future of our student movement.  Southampton has been intensely active in past years, focussing on areas from global health education through to a variety of public health projects.  Campaigns have continued apace on issues ranging from climate change through to access to medicines.  Enthusiasm for global health and development has been so great that students locally have elected to arrange a International Development conference for students around the South East to learn new concepts and approaches to development.

The range of reasons people joined Medsin was intriguing and inspiring: several of those confirmed their previous lack of trust in NGOs following dubious experiences with gap year projects and deciding to join a movement with an altogether more radical and alternative paradigm for change.  Other justifications included wishing to act or lead on climate change, yet lacking the confidence to do so.  Joining Medsin and undergoing an intense bout of inspiration or motivation at our conferences gave the self-confidence that students can take the lead in following their gut instincts for change.

Brighton

Over 600 miles from our most northerly branch in Scotland, our presence on the south coast by no means showed any disconnect to the enthusiasm, energy and dedication manifested elsewhere across the UK shores.  Our evening meeting comprised members new and old, even including some junior doctors to add to the mix.  I lay out the reasons I saw for why our united movement is needed at this time, explaining the tide and structures of injustice which are preventing communities around the world from realising their right to health.  The potential to strengthen our movement took the audience’s interest, with a great range of suggestions being put forward.  Ideas included:

• Greater communication between Branches to allow members to discover what’s worked or been achieved
• Regional Campaigns Days in addition to Branch days to share strategy, ideas and plans
• > advice on managing groups through branch training & resource packs
• Promoting regional Medsin trainers being available to support + train branch members
• An opportunity at General Assembly or conference meetings for Branches to show their ideas and achievements, e.g. 1 x powerpoint slide

All of those attending appreciated the proposed changes we raised: creating a Board of Trustees composed of professionals who operate for a longer term than 1 year; reforming the roles on the National Committee and network to suit our needs; and constructing a development plan for the charity which outlines our plans over a 2-3 year period.  Brighton has fired up a strong interest since coming into being only in 2006 and is iconic of the desire to learn and act on global health injustice amongst students of today.

KCL

This time around, the venue of Sonia (KCL Branch President)’s living room gave an altogether more cosy environment to talk Medsin and global health.  Yet, the relaxed milieu by no means precluded us from inspiring thoughts for the future of the Medsin network.

Medsin at Kings underwent a re-think of its vision and structure 2 years ago, bringing a focus to the work it concentrates on.  Interestingly, this extended to a stipulation that projects must be re-proposed annually, forcing coordinators to create rejuvenated plans for a project year after year, and ensuring those standing for election are committed to a plan of action.  Since then, global health education evenings and a small range of projects have provided the chief areas that Medsin members have engaged with.  Current focus areas include HOMED (health & homelessness project), Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, a new Healthy Planet group, the Global Health Education Project, and further initiatives including work with detainees at an immigration centres in London, and support to Médecins du Monde’s Project:London.

Members expressed a whole host of ideas and requests: ideas for how to diversify outside of the medical student population was repeatedly raised, as was the proposition for a Medsin census to gather details of who our members are.  Creating a forum for discussion in addition or instead of Medsin Discuss was suggested; the high traffic of our mailing list preventing many from participating.  An alumni network was said to be vital for the retainment of knowledge and experience in the network, as was the potential idea for local Advisory boards.

Final wrap-up!

With just 2 more branches left in the tour I feel we’ve armed ourselves with an impressive variety of changes and alterations which we can make to improve our network.  Visiting members in their space to me has seemed of far greater use than inviting proposals via e-mail, rushed decisions or discussions at a business General Assembly meeting, or the typical way in which we organise as a network.  Further, I do believe we now have a far greater understanding of the true nature of our network, arguably vital to taking steps forward or developing the charity.  I’ll be following up this week with a final blog entry and video synopsis of the tour this week coming, after which we’ll be writing up a new set of plans for the future development of our student movement.  Thanks to all of those who participated in the events this week and keep following our blog updates

Jonny

Thursday 11th February

It’s been almost 4 weeks since I began the tour, almost unbelievable considering how fast the time has passed, as well as the vast amount that’s been crammed in.  Have just completed another round of Branches, having attended Cardiff, Bristol, Peninsula and Bath.  Approaching the end of the tour has given an even greater range of ideas to share from Branches previously visited.  It’s just the South East to go now before the tour wraps up so read on for what the most recent leg had to show!

Also, apologies for the rather lacklustre visuals of the blog but unfortunately my camera may have been left in Liverpool – to be reunited in London this weekend.  Will add photos as they arrive from the Branches.

Cardiff

Another newly reformed and invigorated Branch, Cardiff put on a Medsin Explained for the evening to invite students to discover what Medsin can do for them.  Local Branch President Libby gave a great presentation to grab and engage all of those present; dispelling previous myths about Medsin either fully consisting of hippies or managing its subsidiary projects in the process; before a presentation by local committee members on the Haiti disaster.  50 people attended (Libby counted!) who then got to hear why I feel we now need a united movement for global health justice, and what steps we can all take to engage in making this vision a reality.

Once again, the vibrancy and energy of a new branch came forcefully across, with plenty of new ideas for how Medsin can grow and develop.  Ideas included creating Regional coordinators for each Medsin region; individuals ‘graduated’ from a local branch but still available to coordinate events, campaigns and idea sharing.  Accessibility of national campaigns and discussions to local members was repeated as vital to inclusion of Medsin to all, whilst we also discussed whether Medsin could run TED talks in its conferences.  Let us know your thoughts!

Bristol

Visiting my old branch was a special moment personally, as I found the chance to see how its grown and expanded.  Activities in Bristol have abounded and evolved: the local Universities Allied for Essential Medicines branch is striving to transform the university’s research policies to facilitate greater access to drugs in the global South; overseas community projects range from Kenyan Orphan Project, through to SKIP in South Africa and a HIV awareness project again in Kenya with the Kenya Acorn Project.

We met in a cold corner of the Student Union but the energy of the evening soon took hold – to warm me up at least!  I described why on joining Medsin I found a refreshingly innovative approach to global health and development, far from the unethical gap year tourism that had first brought me to care about global justice.  We all spoke of other reasons why people became involved, including a need to find space for tackling global problems in light of the abysmal lack of these issues in medical curricula.  Suggestions raised throughout the evening provided great food for thought: we speculated whether overseas project participants could return to the UK to ‘testify’ to the injustices they’d seen, to give weight to the need for campaigning and student engagement from the UK.  More factsheets and digestible information on campaigns was requested, as was generic presentations on global health and Medsin, to be shared around our Branches for their local events.

Peninsula

Peninsula is a widely spread Branch with campuses in Exeter, Truro and Plymouth all housing a locality of our student movement.  We gathered in Exeter with an energetic group (I’ve never found such keen interest in breakfast during an icebreaker..) to share ideas about the future of Medsin.  After I spoke about how Medsin has evolved into the powerful force we enjoy today, we identified a range of areas Peninsula saw as important to address.  For Project-Medsin relations, I repeated our ‘Educate, Advocate, Act‘ concept which underlines the importance of community, political and educational activities for global health improvement in Medsin.  Activities locally can benefit from an Activities Board which involves regular meetings to share ideas, skills and support between similarly-minded project groups.  We discussed local fundraising ideas, initiatives from Branches around the country and on where Medsin-UK should go nationally in future.  Members were keen to receive more promotional material particularly on starting the year, a resource pack on how to run Medsin at a branch level, and were very keen on a Global Health speakers database currently under preparation.

Bath

Our non-medical student Branch in the network is proof Medsin need not cater only to one audience.  We spoke of where Medsin started, where their focus has been locally, and what they’ve appreciated since joining the national network.  Members emphasised the use of regional meetings to support and share advice, a starter pack on how to initiate Medsin locally, more information on Medsin campaigns and contact details for the National Committee and network, in addition to campaigns not related to medicine or healthcare.  The StopAIDS speaker tour was agreed as a successful way to build interest locally and something Medsin should consider whether regionally or as a broader national tour.  Publicity materials for Fresher’s fairs, for instance leaflets and generic powerpoints was again highlighted as vital to convey the national network behind the Branch.  National fundraising ideas could unite the network into raising funds for a charity of Medsin’s consensus choice.  Finally, a Branch forum was put forward as a way in which branches could share their achievements, challenges and ideas on an internal online forum which would built the community we already have.

Final thoughts

The particular achievement I found in the South West was the strong collaboration between the branches.  Each branch was arduously working towards an upcoming Regional Campaigns Day – a day to rally all members from the region behind the Medsin Entitlement campaign and train themselves in campaigning skills and knowledge.  Feeling you are part of a wider collective is essential to any movement and the strong bonds between the branches really highlighted why people gain from this solidified network.  I left the South West gaining even further ideas for the development of the organisation, and buoyed with the conviction that our movement is armed for the change it seeks to create in the world.

Sunday 7th February

Another week’s passed since the last update and lots to feedback.  Relaxing on arriving in England after Belfast didn’t last for long with 5 branch meetings since I last blogged.  Have had the last few days since Friday taking some time to reflect on passing the halfway mark of the tour and recharging batteries for the last 2 weeks!

Lancaster

One of our newer branches this year, a group of us gathered in the campus university late last Sunday evening.  Activities are flourishing from Teddy Bear Hospital and Sexpression through to a new Marrow group.  The StopAIDS speaker tour joined the city for the 1st time in 2009 which brought an impressive series of actions and images to recount the event’s success.  Lancaster hope to branch out to students other than medicine, to build their branch’s reputation and to develop their global health education events already running.  Developing campaign plans and actions for branch committees, National Committee attendance at local events and further establishing a cental point for the network to build upon were all proposed suggestions from the branch committee.  Lots of energy coming from this newly created branch which came across very strongly!

Liverpool

It wasn’t long in Lancaster before the tour sped on further south towards the port city of the North West – where members of Medsin new and old as usual spoke about why we became involved in Medsin and what we hoped to get out of our student global health network.  Everyone agreed on the need to confront project fragmentation by discovering a reason and binding ethic which activities in Medsin can revolve or rally around.  Promoting local attendance at national conferences was suggested to be the best way to engage people in Medsin, through promotion at lectures and in publicity around the Branch.  It was highlighted that campaigns prove challenging to run in the same organised fashion as projects which can make them less easily geared to Branch involvement.

Nottingham

Our conference hosts from last year proved to be as successful in recruiting attendees to the local meeting with a packed out room arriving to hear what Medsin is and how we can build a stronger network for global health improvement.  Pathways to Medsin varied widely, from gap years spent abroad in Africa and India, through to coming to the UK from a developing country and hoping to address health inequalities through the action and initiative of passionate students.  Members expressed a wish for universal Medsin aims to run for the annual calendar, and allow branches to understand what Medsin is hoping to achieve within each year period.  An annual Medsin or Global Health calendar circulated in advance of the beginning of the year would allow branches to arrange events, meetings and plans around this nationally coordinated calendar, for instance in running campaign actions.  More branch tours, non-medical student members, firmly established goals in campaigning and continuing Medsin following graduation from university were further ideas, in addition to a proposed Schools programme for members to run outreach educational programmes to high schools in their local area on global health issues.

Oxford

The last branch of the week was our Oxford Global Health Group branch – meeting with Anna the local Medsin representative was a fantastic opportunity to construct a vision for how Medsin can best serve the ideas of local students who have a well-built passion for global health.  The group runs regular and well-attended speaker events such as their global health Masterclasses. We agreed that building on the conscious awareness of global health injustice steadily created through these classes would be best done through regular campaigning. Expect to see great things coming from Oxford in the near future!

Past the halfway post

Discovering everything that I’ve written about so far (and more!) has been a great revelation to me, as never before have I had such a detailed insight into what Medsin is around the entire country.  The diversity is enormous – with a huge range of different ideas being formed and played out from city to city.  Indeed, this is what Medsin should be; a creative space in which people build their capacity to address health inequity at their local level.

Yet, the similarities are even greater: everyone has expressed a desire in a unified network, working alongside other like-minded people around the country and taking the same steps they are at the same time.  People want leadership, they want a vision of where Medsin is going to and how we can all contribute to it getting there.  They want support in putting these plans to action, and feedback on where their efforts have taken us in getting to our final destination for change.  With just over 2 weeks remaining on the tour I’m looking forward to the fruits of our efforts and am continually inspired by the work of all those around me for positive change in global health.

In solidarity,

Jonny

Sunday 31st January

The frantic pace of moving around and recovering from the Belfast crossing has conspired to prevent regular blog postings – but that by no means the tour has slowed down or screeched to any sort of halt!

The tour has been an astonishing feat of kindness by local members and demonstration of student power in the potential we all have for tackling global health injustice. Not only have we discovered a multitude of suggestions for how our network could best serve its purpose – we’ve also began to aid our understanding of what Medsin really is.

Leeds

After arriving in Leeds on Tuesday it was off to a talk by Miri Weingarten from Physicians for Human Rights Israel. An impressive audience turned out to hear how the atrocities of the military intervention by the Israeli authorities a year ago are yet to be challenged by the international community. The day following, we gathered to discuss why Medsin was the natural outfit to absorb our energies for health improvement. “Encapsulated everything I stood for”, a “family” feeling to the community and feeling unengaged with the solely biomedical perspective offered by Medicine were all offered as reasons for joining. One great story I won’t forget – of one member willing to challenge his local council as a teenager about the lack of a skate park in their neighbourhood – was a brilliant example of young people feeling driven enough to rise up and call to account our leaders for the policies they use.

Successes which compelled people to continue their work were plentiful: seeing relatively uninformed students go on to study International Health purely because of a passion started in Medsin; our growing reputation amongst professionals and doctors and seeing a detained patient with Sickle Cell anaemia eventually released owing to local members’ advocacy.

People mentioned a frustration with the current vision of Medsin – hoping to see a new statement this year which reflects the work that we do. Recruiting non-medics was another challenge, for which new ideas and promotion would arguably be needed. Finally, assistance in campaigning through further ideas for actions proposed weeks or months in advance, well-planned campaigns and a feeling that the whole network was campaigning in solidarity at the same moment were suggested as ways to assist the effectiveness of our activism.

Sheffield

Assembling in Lulia’s living room – packed out with the local Branch committee – we went around recounting the pathway that took us to Medsin. Positive experiences included witnessing how accessible our political democracy is, feeling as though we can de-mythologise or expose the truths behind the NGO industry and call into question at times unquestioned actors such as the Gates Foundation, the lively and inspiring conferences we’ve put on in our history, and gaining a different insight into the city you live in through the community projects we run were all highlighted.

Sheffield’s activities spanned a range of well-known projects such as Save a Baby’s Life, Marrow, Teddy Bear Hospital and MedSex, but also small and new initiatives including Medaid – transporting old equipment still functioning to hospitals in the global South, PubMedsin – informal chats about global health issues (not necessarily at the pub!) – and Assist – a local Crossing Borders project fundraising and volunteering for a support service for local asylum seekers.

Areas which were highlighted as in need of our focus included the fragmentation of our projects and managing to achieve the involvement of non-medical students. People raised though that conferences could become a fantastic way to reach out to non-medics. An electives and internships page was requested which we’ll do our best to get on to!

Newcastle

The host of our next Global Health Conference (GHC) in March, Newcastle was our next stop despite the torrential downpour of snow which ensued overnight before travelling. Gathering in the medical school common room after traversing the snow topped streets of the town, old and new members alike discussed the successes and challenges of running Medsin locally. Ranging from trying to understand what global health means to people, through to why several of us joined Medsin after lamentably failed gap year or overseas community projects, it was clear the current and previous GHC hosts have achieved a vibrantly active branch. Unifying our projects and reaching out to 6th form students through education projects, explaining what global health is and means, creating clear goals for Medsin campaigns and facilitating the creation of new projects locally were all cited as necessary to growing in strength as a branch and network.

The tour!

At a third of the way through the tour and despite the fact that constant travelling has a wearing effect, the greatest motivating factor has been the positive reception of Branches feeling valued enough to come to their territory. Every city I travel to ingrains further a feeling that Medsin is a proud movement to be part of, but also that with just a slight few changes, our impact could be exponentially improved. As we’ve joined each Branch we’ve lain out our development plan for the organisation which through nationwide scrutiny should achieve the best consultation a charity could hope for. By the end of the tour there’ll be little standing in our way to becoming the strongest student global health movement the world has ever seen!

Keep letting us know your thoughts as we go and look out for a video update coming very shortly

Jonny

Wednesday 27th January

Writing this from Leeds where after an altogether ‘interesting’ journey (more later) back to the mainland, we now move on to our journey around the Northern region of Medsin Branches.

Spent 2 nights in Belfast staying with our local Medsin Branch President Maria – whose housemates and friends asked for a specific mention that I ought not to do, since now everyone will ask or expect it!  Nevertheless, Maria and Anna were fantastic hosts and their local Publicity coordinator Claire cooked a welcome meal on arrival in the Emerald Isle.

Despite the vast sea lying between Medsin Queens and its mainland counterparts, the energy and strength of our Medsin Branch in Belfast was as strong as any other.  Running an array of projects from Teddy Bear Hospital through to Marrow and CPR in Schools, Queens portrayed a great wave of interest from medical students to engage in local health improvement.  Great new initiatives included a 6 week Global Health course, a series of short lectures geared to inspire students to become aware of global health inequalities and learn how they might tackle them.

Suggestions for change were discussed including how to draw an overarching series of links between Medsin and its constituent activities, reforming the Medsin website to include a central area where Branches can see the ideas and achievements of others, promote each others’ events, as well as creating a succinct description for what Medsin is and does were all highlighted as areas we could tackle.

Departing from Belfast and embarking on the trip to Leeds made me consider the challenges our network faces in traversing the country.  To anyone facing a 3 hour ferry, followed by three 2-3 hour buses throughout the night (a definite low point of the trip!), the question would be how we can surmount the difficulty of maximising support to those branches which aren’t to be found immediately nearby to London, England or the usual outposts of Medsin events, meetings and training opportunities.  It seems anathema to our vision of a united network, and to our recognition of the inverse care law (that the availability of good social or medical care tends to vary inversely with the need of the population served) that our most flourishing and supported Branches are those at the southern end of the British Isles.

It would make most sense I believe to embrace the opportunities video conferencing, conference calls and the communications media of the 21st century have, to building better links with our Branches.  Second, to strengthening our Regions in order that peripheral Branches can gain from the resources and knowledge of those around them.  Third, that we do all we can to bring our network to the entire breadth of the country through Branch Training, Regional days and further events in order that Medsin doesn’t become a luxury for the few, and instead is provided on an equal basis to all.

After this quiet few days of respite it’s on to the branch event for Leeds this evening, followed by a swift series of events throughout Northern and Central England.  Watch this space for further updates and content and make sure to leave your comments below!

Jonny

Saturday 23rd January

Writing this from the west coast of Scotland; soon to depart for our Belfast branch after an accelerated tour of all our Scottish branch campuses. In even a short amount of time the energy demonstrated around the country has been impressive and really hit home that we’ve built an impressive movement in our short history.

It’s also forced me to think how we can best support the ambitions of members from one end of the country to the other. Recurrently, the issue of attendance at national meetings and events emerges as a huge barrier, as Scottish members struggle to tap into the wide range of training and education services Medsin and its sister organisations offer. We really do need to push north of the border as often as we can.

St Andrews

Here we discussed the role of partnerships in bringing witness to the challenges and successes in global health straight to the doorstep of students: their medical school had initiated a link with Malawi to share resources between both schools and develop a strong collaboration. Eventually, project and campaign achievements will be reflected back to St Andrews students through showing how their efforts for global health improvement have made a substantial and local impact through the Malawian link. Members hoped for more global health education on their curriculum, to understand how health systems work in other countries compared to their own, and for assistance with establishing the link. An interesting idea raised by Anand (St Andrews Branch President) was for further Project and Campaign events to be handed to local branches to arrange – making more events accessible to members unable to attend conferences and generating further national interest in the activities Medsin coordinates.

Aberdeen

Our next stop, with a packed room full of local members and activity coordinators, from a new mental health project to Sexpression, Pharmaware, Teddy Bear Hospital and a local project sponsoring children for schooling in Ghana drew further achievements for our tour. As always, our talk covered the strengths and history of Medsin – explaining the connection between our ambitions for global health justice with a struggle for universal rights that has gone on for centuries, culminating in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that emerged from the 20th century. Members expressed their desire for vibrant and well-planned campaigning, mobilising students for global health advocacy and calling attention to the wide disparities that exist in the world. The patent pool campaign was suggested as a great example of how a small action, described with video and education materials, became rapidly acted upon by hundreds students very willing to campaign. Challenges included how to inspire an interest in global health, updating those who participated in a campaign, and creating succinct messages for global health and campaigns.

Dundee

Our last stop in Scotland was the port side city of Dundee, a newly rejuvenated branch in the network. Coming together early on a Friday evening, we shared the reasons and backgrounds of what brought us to Medsin, and how Medsin could ripen itself as the force for change we hope it to be. Monthly talks and events had brought an impressive audience together which members hoped now to mobilise for action: both in starting a new series of community projects, and also through targeted and regular campaign actions. To do so, they requested campaigns training and goals to begin so as to feel in a position to lead others to action.

As we’ve moved around, we’ve discussed the future of the network. To my mind, a new vision statement, framework as previously described (Education, Advocacy and community Action) for Medsin and development strategy are all needed, so as to guide the efforts of successive members and committees in the years to come. Requests coming to us for coordinated and supported campaigning, in my opinion require a supportive base to operate from which would house a support or part-time staff member. We’re going to be refining this development plan for the network as we go along, but eventually and by the end of the tour we hope to have a strong sense of the direction our members want us to embark on.

Wednesday 20th January

Watch Jonny’s Video Diary update here:

Good morning!

Writing this blog from the city of Edinburgh – soon to depart for the 3rd leg of the tour in St Andrews and continue around the rest of Scotland & Northern Ireland!

It’s been an awesome couple of days already with visits to Medsin Glasgow and Edinburgh both providing Medsin food for thought and a realisation of what strength lies out there in our global health network.

In Glasgow, we shared stories of how and why we got involved in Medsin, and what drove people to engage in a movement for global health.  One member initially found difficulty in engaging with her branch as an undergraduate in Leeds – believing Medsin to be a medic-only society – but later was to learn of the diverse students we attract when she joined Glasgow University.  Several members spoke of the desire to see change in the world, and the belief that a small group of people can be the instigators of this.  We spoke of the fact that recruiting students from a non-medical background posed challenges; as did providing opportunities for local members in the movement.

Above all the enthusiasm and perseverance of our Glasgow members was outstanding – a positive fact for me particularly given my birthplace in the city and awareness that local inequality and deprivation are unfortunately rife.

Keep up the great work guys!

Pictures from our Glasgow & Edinburgh stops!

Edinburgh was our next stop with a visit to the Branch’s Freshers Fair followed by an evening meeting with the local committee.  Members again expressed their journeys into the network: ranging from an awareness of injustice abroad to a continuation of young people’s natural and frequent charitable inclinations, Edinburgh demonstrated the strong ambition to serve those in need of assistance.  Among others, one story stood out: coming from China, experiencing privatised and inequitable healthcare at its apparent worst, one member explained how witnessing how healthcare may not always be most accessible to the poor drove her to engage with Medsin, campaigning for a right to health throughout her student career.

We discussed how Medsin can better support Scottish branches – in circulating the energies and events that drive members to get involved down south further north across the border.  Members spoke of their wish for training in campaigning, in guidance for how they can tackle injustice through their voice in advocacy, and leadership from national figures in the network to identify the crucial Bills, processes and decision-making processes that local members can best act upon to win in campaigning.

Almost recurrently, the issue of links and relations between Medsin and its activities sprang up in each Branch.  I believe we find strength in a broad network, in demonstrating the vigour of our hopes for global health justice through an array of activities from the local right up to the global corridors of power.  That said, we need a unified movement if we are to present a strong force for change; and must do all we can to solidify the links, partnerships and communication throughout the local, regional and national activity areas.  In my belief, establishing a ‘One Programme’ of Education, Advocacy and Action would encapsulate that broad range of ways in which we tackle global health, and begin to re-build the links we seek in Medsin.  Training, education, skill-sharing and support would then become natural ways in which activities can partner with Medsin, with the ultimate hope that local projects can serve to inform our campaign issues.  More on this later though!

So it’s off to St Andrews today, tune in soon for a video update with some interviews of local members!

Jonny

Sunday 17^th January, 4pm

Watch Jonny’s video intro to the tour:

Thirteen years since the creation of our Medsin network – there has I believe never before now been a greater interest in global health and social justice amongst students in the UK.

History tells us that social movements can play a critical part in the struggle for global health and social justice.  The 18^th century saw a group of committed abolitionists orchestrating the first international campaign to end the trade in African slaves between nations and plantations.  In 5 short years, the campaign made an unprecedented win, against all economic interests, and despite the absence of democratic systems of election and participation.

Am I Not a Man and a Brother?  The logo of the Abolitionist Movement.

Our own student movement for global health was itself originally spawned from the International Federation of Medical Student Associations, a federation generated following the intolerable injustices of the 2^{nd World War.  From violence, persecution, hundreds of years without liberty, equality and a just democratic process, the end of the 2nd World War made mankind realise the folly of its ways, leading world leaders to sign and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; rights to which each and every human being was to be granted irrespective of race, gender, belief or background.}

Looking around the world in 2010 however, the evidence of these rights is yet to be seen.  Injustice seems the more the trend; with international and domestic institutions seemingly unable to meet even basic needs of vulnerable populations from Aberdeen to Addis Ababa.

Whatever the challenges the world has set for us, our efforts prove the value of committing ourselves to action.  Student apathy is by no means rife; every week armies of student volunteers in our network from all over the country train, prepare and run community projects, serving their communities and acting on their compulsions for change.  As our movement has evolved, our voice has grown louder, with our vocal demands on government resonating around the political corridors of power.  Our impact on global health injustice is growing, and we will stop at nothing until our vision of a fairer world is made a reality.

So what’s the tour all about then?

We feel it’s come to a time to bring the energy, the ideas – all those other things that drives Medsin nationally through its conferences, activities, campaigning and training - all to a local level with the intention of demonstrating the vitality and impressive nature of our movement to all local members.  Medsin began with an international vision being brought to its shores; it’s time to take it a step further and focus on the local.

The tour will also be a journey of discovery in finding out more about how branches run around the country, taking the Medsin microscope to point towards local ideas and initiatives. If global health is local, we want to understand the motivations, the stories, the ambitions that may go unchecked at a local level, profiling each Branch as we tour via this blog and aiding our understanding of the network in doing so.

Finally, we believe the time has come to consider how Medsin can go forward as an organisation.  Change in the world can only come with internal strength and determination; and any movement must have the foundations for success that will arm it to tackle the injustices it chooses to face.  With the opportunity this year to take stock of how far Medsin has come and what our members want from the network, we wish to start a conversation between now and the next General Assembly to spark interest in how our network can be strengthened and developed into a true force to be reckoned with in global health.

Keep reading the blog, sign up for e-mail updates via the right-hand side, and leave us your comments as we travel around!