The Hungry For Change Gala, University of Western Ontario - fostering global consciousness
In Rhona’s absence I’m posting this enthusiastic blog contribution from Kelly Anderson from a lecture given yesterday at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
This evening, I had the good fortune of experiencing an extremely progressive commentary on medical student involvement in global health.
The inaugural Hungry for Change Gala at the University of Western Ontario aimed to foster increased global consciousness and draw attention to growing disparities in wealth and resource allocation worldwide. Azad Mashari, a fourth year UWO medical student, delivered a poignant speech that illustrated the need for deep reflection regarding medical student involvement in the delivery of medical care in resource-poor settings. He began with a statement too rarely articulated by contemporary global health experts: “Our potential to harm others is rarely as great as when we are trying to help them.”
Given the rise in expert discussion on ‘medical tourism’ and global health ethics, I am always surprised (and pleased) to see the most progressive views on global health collaboration, community-based approaches and social accountability come from students themselves. More and more, we are concerned about the impact of our international electives on individuals, health systems and global health equity.
Azad continued to describe his international elective experience in Cambodia: “I was there with a year of clinical experience, out there with hungry eyes, wanting to experience medicine for the poor, wanting to help, wanting to assuage my guilt for being so privileged and using far more than my fair share of the earth’s bounty, wanting to learn and understand another way of life, wanting to do good.” Through discussion of a challenging personal experience on his elective, Azad’s talk led the audience through difficult questions challenging our desire to ‘help’, and questioning our ability to help when we do not adequately understand the communities in which we work.
“The greater the distance between us and the person in need, the less emotionally moved we are to help. The less we understand the problem. So the more likely we are to do harm.” At the end of the Hungry For Change Gala, we were encouraged to think more deeply about our global health involvement and to clarify our intentions, motivations and goals. This is a trend I hope to see build within our generation of students. We must be brave enough to ask difficult questions, admit uncertainty, and struggle to find solutions.
Kelly Anderson, National Officer of Public Health, Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS); kanderson2010@meds.uwo.ca or contact Azad directly at azad.mashari@utoronto.ca.
For more information about the Hungry For Change Gala, contact the coordinator Dax Biondi at dbiondi2011@meds.uwo.ca.
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