WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC BUREAU REGIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL COMMITTEE Fifty-fourth session Manila, Philippines 8-12 September 2003 Agenda item 12
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11 September 2003
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
STATEMENT BY MR JOEL HERNANDEZ BUENAVENTURA REPRESENTATIVE, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (IFMSA) I am taking this opportunity to share with you, with Dr Omi and with the Health Ministers of the Western Pacific Region, our humble contributions as medical students here in the region and all over the world in this global fight against the tuberculosis crisis. I am presenting the work of IFMSA, which is currently comprised of more than 90 member countries in six continents, representing over 1.5 million medical students worldwide. Its mission is to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues, like tuberculosis. It was just in November of last year when IFMSA was accepted as an official partner in the Global Stop-TB Partnership. However, IFMSA has been working on numerous activities in line with the health issue of tuberculosis even before that. IFMSA, through its Standing Committee on Public Health, has already coordinated and organized three international Medical Students' Workshops on Tuberculosis. The first one was in February 2000 in Alexandria, Egypt. Then, this was foUowed by another workshop in May of 2001 in Iasi, Romania. The third one was held just last July in Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands, wherein, aside from the workshop, there was also an International Medical Students' Paper Competition on Tuberculosis. There were a total of 27 research papers done by medical students from member countries regarding various aspects of the disease. The competition was sponsored and supervised by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases. Every year, during the World Tuberculosis Day, IFMSA, through its system of National Public Health Officers in each country, organizes various activities, which aim to increase
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medical students from all over Asia attended the World TB Day celebration here in Manila, in line with the First IFMSA Asia-Oceania Regional Meeting. Currently, IFMSA is working on two projects regarding tuberculosis. The first one is the IFMSA Anti-TB Campaign. It aims to raise awareness on tuberculosis and establish an international strategy among medical students to become involved in the global initiative adopted against tuberculosis. It is expected to create a database of all anti-TB projects within IFMSA. Another project is the Survey on the Awareness of Medical Students about TB and their Role in Controlling the Epidemic. This is being done on more than 20 countries representing all world regions. The ultimate aim of this project is to provide a basic model that can be used by universities and organizations in establishing the most effective interventional health education programs regarding tuberculosis that utilize medical students as key resources in the implementation of the program. With this, we would like to open the door and ask you for any points of collaboration and cooperation, whether locally in each of your country or regionally. We believe that medical students should be given the opportunity to be exposed to these health issues, as they will be the future physicians and health leaders in this region. Thank you very much for the time and attention.