European Regional meeting 2018

Dear friends world wide,

In the end of April, medical students and healthcare students from all around Europe gathered for the European Regional Meeting (EuRegMe) in Austria.

Even before the meeting has started, nearly 100 Global Health youth volunteers gathered in the city of Graz, Austria. Under the motto of new and innovative, National Member Organizations (NMOs), the Regional Team and IFMSA Officials proposed new creative workshops.  Eventually seven of these were picked for members to attend. Participants had the chance to attend the following workshops:“Europe in Action”, “sPRead it”, “TACSE – Training Advanced Comprehensive Sexuality Education”, “Young Advocates in the Global Health Workforce”, “Policy; the word to change the world”, “Peace and Conflict Resolution Capacity Building workshop” and “How to train the dragon”.

In the workshop “Europe in Action”, participants had the chance to gain knowledge about the structures and work  of the IFMSA European Region Subsequently they dived in the differences between the European Union (including European Commission) and Council of Europe. Beside all of this hard-skill knowledge, “Europe in Action” participants have been encouraged and taught on how to start and conduct meaningful youth lead activities based on the shared values of European youth.

“sPRead it” was a new and creative workshop. Participants were taught the basics of impactful Public Relations (PR) for Youth Organizations (e.g. working with Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro). Additionally they learned a variety of skills from Logo & Web Design aspects to filming techniques.The unique aspect of this workshop was that ,  it lasted for the entire the duration of the EuRegMe and not for 3 working days like all the other workshops.

In times of “digital bathhouses” (in other terms: dating apps), Comprehensive Sexuality Education becomes a more pressing issue in the European Region and the world. One of IFMSA educational fields is covered with the Standing Committee on Sexual & Reproductive Health including HIV/AIDS (SCORA). During the “TACSE” workshop, members who are currently working in this field had the opportunity to develop their skills, to share good practise, to explore the field more in depth with their peers  and develop new ideas to bring CSE to youth.

In  the “Young Advocates in the Global Health Workforce” workshop our members, the future healthcare workers, were taught about the Health Workforce obstacles  the world, specifically Europe, is currently facing . As health is of interest of every human being, it is of utmost importance to provide young professionals with the skills needed to advocate to improve their working environment for ideal care for their patients.

In “Policy; the word to change the world” we presented our members the opportunity to increase their skills in policy making and advocacy. During the event, participants developed a draft document on Peacebuilding & Conflict transformation in healthcare and developed an implementation strategy to bring this knowledge to a national level.

Human Rights and Peace is a recurrent topic to be reminded all the time. With “Peace and Conflict Resolution Capacity Building workshop” we provided our members with  the insight on the importance of incorporating peacebuilding and conflict in their future healthcare profession . Different topics e.g. ethics in medicine, international health law, demoralization, radicalization and terrorism have been discussed.

The 7th workshop was called “How to train the dragon” and focussed on the self development in regard to emotional intelligence of all participants. Participants had the chance to discover their inner self, search for conflict within and find a solution to develop into a direction that they want to go to.

After the workshops finished, many participants took the Bus to travel to the Steinschaler Dörfl to meet up with their fellow delegates of their National Member Organization to attend the EuRegMe 2018.

Under the motto of “Walk the Talk”, the organization committee took care, that the EuRegMe 2018 was Eco Friendly and sustainable.To  ensure good practice, a contract with the venue was signed to organise a green sustainable event..

The sustainability of the EuRegMe was not only influenced by the location itself (e.g. by providing food in a sustainable manner, reduce waste by switching from single use products to reusable cups/cutlery and the provision of one vegetarian day), but furthermore by  promoting to travel to the venue by public transport and avoidance (if possible) of flights (taking into account the carbon footprint of travel).

During the meeting itself, delegates from 44 (out of 48) European NMOs had the chance to follow the morning session of their beloved Standing Committees or develop future regional policy papers at the President Sessions.

In the afternoon, participants had the chance to engage with the Theme event of “Climate Change & Health” or visit different training sessions offered by our members ranging from Salsa classes and 中文 101 (Chinese 101) to topic and NGO related sessions.

After dinner, networking, learning and socialising did not stop . Open spaces were  hosted by our members with topics ranging from Rare Diseases, a European VPE guidebook and a discussion about the integration and management of Alumni in the Organization.

In summary, the European Regional Meeting 2018 hosted by AMSA-Austria was a hub for members of the European Region within IFMSA to network, learn new skills, develop ideas and teach others about their personal good practises. It has been an event of diversity with 44 organizations, and additionally one of the biggest regional events with nearly 300 people attending.