A Treatment Action Campaign Demonstration

Thanks to the globalisation riots in Seattle a few years ago, and the activities of some of the groups and organisations against animal experimentation, “activism” has recently become a bad word . However, my definition of activism is “doing something to make change happen,” which I hope doesn’t sound that threatening.

Some of the workshops and sessions I lead at the IFMSA conference were on activism. In these sessions, we discussed what is involved in activism: 1) Dissemination of information, 2) Campaigning, and 3) Targeted advocacy.

Dissemination of information is really important because you need the knowledge, and evidence base first before you can then take it to the next level and try to change the situation. (more…)

Just a quickie today. Back from the IFMSA conference in Canterbury and need time to reflect over everything before I can communicate it in a coherent way. 

This week’s long Lancet editorial (which is copied in full in this week’s Lancet Digest) summarises one of the important themes of the week: medical students as champions for social justice. And just to update you, the Canterbury Declaration-a consensus statement from the IFMSA to support and encourage action in access to essential medicines (mentioned in the editorial) is now a reality which is great news. We hope to be covering more on that later.

 I also just want to highlight an article we have just posted about the medical profession’s position on torture: keeping the white coat clean. Please read both of these if you can. And the picture? Well it is just so brilliant that I had to use it somewhere. This was a very special cake that helped make the launch of TheLancetStudent.com at the IFMSA conference that bit sweeter. Talk about having your cake and eating it?! R

OK- So now I am back doing my “day job” with The Lancet before returning to the IFMSA conference in Canterbury tomorrow, let me update you on what has been happening. As I mentioned in my last entry, the theme of the conference is access to essential medicines. However, what I didn’t tell you is that I used to work for Medécins Sans Frontières Access to Essential Medicines Campaign so I have my own particular (very strong) views on this which I have already shared with the conference. (I recorded the whole debate on an audio file but it is about 2 hours long so am not sure if you want to listen to it all so haven’t done anything with it yet. Please let me know if you would like to hear the whole thing, or an edited version, or are not bothered about hearing it at all!)

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Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, gave an inspirational speech at the opening ceremony of the IFMSA Conference in Canterbury on 4th August. He challenged medical students to be the champions of social justice. You can listen to it here.

You won’t often get me lost for words but it is difficult to articulate the incredible atmosphere of enthusiasm, international cooperation, and fun (!) at the IFMSA conference in Canterbury. I have been reliably informed that there are 903 medical students from 92 countries, and it looked like all 903 were there for the opening ceremony in a stunning marquée where Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, gave the keynote speech. I am not just saying this because he is my boss, but it was an incredible, and inspiring, rallying call for medical students to get more involved in doing something to address the social, political, and economic determinants of health, and being the barometers and champions of social justice. But don’t just take my word for it. I recorded his speech so that you can hear it for yourself so please listen and be prepared to be challenged. (more…)

Just a quick scribble today as I am in Canterbury for the start of the IFMSA Conference. It is going to be FANTASTIC-there are loads of enthusiastic medical students from all over the world descending on a beautiful campus in the glorious sunshine to hear more about global health. What could be better?! I will fill you in on all that is going on a bit later but for now, I want to give a massive plug to this week’s issue of The Lancet which focuses on health and human rights to mark the start of The Lancet series on health and human rights. I have summarised the highlights in this week’s Lancet Digest but I just want to make sure you know about the podcast interview with the lead author of the series, Ed Mills, that he did especially for theLancetStudent.com and is a rallying call to medical students everywhere to get more involved in defending, supporting, and campaigning for, human rights. Must go now-places to go and people to see. Talk later. R

So here it is! The first posting on Rhona’s blog-not a very imaginative title I know so please send your suggestions for another name. I am Rhona MacDonald, one of the editors here at The Lancet ,and I’m also absolutely delighted to be running TheLancetStudent.com with Richard Lane, web editor.

The Lancet has wanted to do something for medical students for a long time especially as many of you have already told us that you would like us to do something more geared towards your interests and needs. So TheLancetStudent.com is it. It is a beta, ie. a pilot or experimental site, so we can try out new things and see what works and what doesn’t maybe work so well-and we are relying on you to let us know your thoughts and views. So let me tell you more about TheLancetStudent.com.

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