Introduction
The Global Priorities are a group of focus areas and overarching concepts in which the internal and external work in IFMSA Standing Committees will be focused on. This will help us to have a streamlined and a strategic approach towards our deliveries on a global level, and act as a guidance to ease up our daily collaboration between the different working groups in IFMSA.
IFMSA started working with this system in August Meeting 2018, by adopting the first proposal for Global Priorities for the term 2018/2019. Furthermore, the Global Priorities were officially introduced to our bylaws in March Meeting 2019, through a set of bylaws which regulates their proposal, adoption and monitoring. IFMSA Executive Board will propose the Global Priorities in the August Meeting, and any NMO and Official may advise the Executive Board of what Global Priorities shall be proposed. Each year, a consultation process is held prior to creating the proposal in all Standing Committees to determine which Global Priorities shall be proposed for the upcoming term, and IFMSA members, Officials, and even partners participate in this consultation process.
The Global Priorities Proposal contains a set of Global Priorities, a theme description for each Global Priority, internal and external goals with at least one indicator for each proposed Goal.
IFMSA Officials are responsible for working on IFMSA Global Priorities as the following:
- Standing Committee Directors coordinate IFMSA’s work on the internal goals and indicators of the relevant Global Priority.
- Liaison Officers coordinate IFMSA’s work on the external goals and indicators of the relevant Global Priority.
- IFMSA President monitors and reports the work on IFMSA Global Priorities internally
- IFMSA Vice President for External Affairs monitors and reports the work on IFMSA Global Priorities externally
Health in all policies
Promoting healthy communities through multidisciplinary collaboration.
Meaningful Youth Participation
Involving young people in all levels of decision-making
Sustainable Health Workforce
Planning and forecasting an adequate health workforce for stronger health systems.
Focus Fields
The Focus Fields are the main areas of Global Health, in which IFMSA will work during this term.
Gender Equity
- Support internal advocacy efforts on gender empowerment and equity through training, sharing good practices as well as establishing recommendations on supporting gender equity for the NMOs
- Support gender representation, gender and equality-related policies and practices within IFMSA
- Address at least 3 out of 6 gender equity pillars by IFMSA externally
- Have IFMSA represented in external events relating to Gender Equity
- Showcase IFMSA collected data on gender representation
and empowerment externally.
Global Health Education
- Promote the inclusion of Global Health in NMOs’ exchange programs.
- Equip and build the capacity of IFMSA members to work on global health in their exchange programs.
- Ensure that Global Health is integrated in all IFMSA SCOPE related international events, by including it in sessions and training workshops.
- Promotes the inclusion of a Global Health Education perspective in the medical curriculum.
- Global Health Education is reinforced by increasing opportunities to learn about it through SCORE Exchanges.
- IFMSA continues to seek recognition for its Exchanges programme by international and respected medical organizations
- IFMSA becomes a global advocate for the importance of Global Health Education for the medical profession
Health Emergencies and Humanitarian Action
- Build internal capacity in developing local and national initiatives, and equip IFMSA members to advocate for disaster risk reduction, tackling health emergencies when they arise
- Foster experience and knowledge sharing and collaborations between members on humanitarian action, disaster risk reduction, and health emergencies
- IFMSA to be recognized as a leading advocate in the field of Health Emergencies
- Continue IFMSA’s strong involvement in the global health emergencies agenda
Health, Environment and Climate Change
- Promote knowledge on Health, Environment and Climate Change, and equip IFMSA members to actively advocate for the adaptation and mitigation to climate change effects on health in their communities
- Implement the IFMSA vision of Climate Change in the Medical
Curriculum - IFMSA continues to be a leading youth-led health organization in the global climate change and environmental discussions.
- Implement the IFMSA vision of Climate Change in the Medical
Curriculum.
Open Science
- Build the capacity of IFMSA members, especially Research Exchange Officers, worldwide about the topic of Open Science and its connection to medical research
- Provide NMOs with updated content in order to carry out high quality Educational Activities related to Open Access, Access to Research and
Evidence-Based Medicine to their members - Promote the importance of Open Science to IFMSA members worldwide, and its direct link to research, health and education
- IFMSA becomes a leading advocate for the Open Science movement and Access to Research in Healthcare
- Promote IFMSA’s external presence related to Open Science and Research Education in relevant meetings and organizations
The Right to Health
- Increase general awareness among medical students about the issue of violence against healthcare and its effects on the right to health
- Increase general awareness among medical students about peacebuilding and medical peace work, and their importance to the right to health
- Foster experience and knowledge sharing and collaborations between members on democratic, legal, governing, and political processes in the realization and fulfillment of the right to health
- IFMSA continues to be a leading youth-led health organization advocating for the importance of safe and timely access to healthcare, protection of health services, and the improvement of emergency and hospital preparedness
- IFMSA continues to advocate for peacebuilding and medical peace work, and the protection of the right to health
- Strengthen IFMSA’s involvement in discussions pertaining to health systems and health governance in the context of various political infrastructures and support its national member organizations do the same on a national level
Health Workforce 2030
- IFMSA promotes students’ meaningful engagement in the accreditation processes of medical schools
- IFMSA addresses the medical students’ perspective on the global
mobility of medical graduates - IFMSA continues to advocate for meaningful student engagement in accreditation and quality assurance processes
- IFMSA continues to advocate for strong health regulatory mechanisms that safeguard the quality of healthcare
- IFMSA promotes interprofessional education practices alongside healthcare students’ organizations
- IFMSA continues to be represented on global key education boards that influence health workforce education and training
- IFMSA is meaningfully represented in key external meetings pertaining to education
- IFMSA continues to be a strong advocate for the advancement of health workforce education
- IFMSA promotes student-led action in regards to valorizing family medicine and primary healthcare
- IFMSA develops a set of recommendations to adopt a patient-centered approach to Medical Educationas career options for medical students
- IFMSA promotes IFMSA Exchanges as a powerful tool to build cultural competence among medical students
- IFMSA continues to address the healthcare needs of vulnerable groups
- IFMSA builds the capacity of medical students to lead community-based research projects in their respective communities
- IFMSA remains a leading force in the global discourse on Social Accountability in Medicine and strengthens the involvement with other relevant, leading international organizations
- IFMSA continues to advocate for the integration of Social Accountability in medical and health professions’ education and prompts its members to do so as well
- IFMSA extends its scope and identifies as a key advocate for patient
safety and patient-centered education - IFMSA promotes building the competence of medical students in rural
health practice - IFMSA continues to be represented at key meetings and groups pertaining to Rural Health
- Strengthen Advocacy on the importance of Rural Health towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage
- IFMSA raises members’ awareness on medical students’ rights in healthcare settings
- IFMSA promotes students advocacy actions related to violence
against health workers - Continue IFMSA’s representation in the Global Health Workforce Network (GHWN) Youth Hub Steering Committee and actively contribute towards its development
- IFMSA continues to advocate for decent working conditions of the young health workforce and the importance of safe working environments
- IFMSA addresses the approach to gender in medical curricula worldwide
- IFMSA continues to be a strong advocate for gender equity in the health workforce
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