The IFMSA and the European Alcohol and Health Forum

Founded in May 1951, IFMSA now has 102 national member organisations from 95 countries across continents. Its mission is “to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues”. Through various programmes, IFMSA provides opportunities for medical students to become culturally sensitive and aware of transnational inequalities that shape the health of the planet. About 10,000 medical students each year participate in international medical student exchanges. Some 600 - 800 medical students from national member organisations gather twice a year at the General Assembly. They also gather at regional meetings.

The Federation is officially recognised by the UN and the WHO as the international voice for medical students, and is invited to annual conferences organised by the various UN agencies, most notably the World Health Assembly, to represent the views of future physicians when it comes to International Health concerns.

IFMSA has a number of Standing Committees, one of which is the Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH). Members of SCOPH have been very active in encouraging support for the global strategy and assiduously followed the three year debate before the World Health Assembly (WHA) endorsed the strategy. The statement made at the 2008 WHA sums up the reason why IFMSA considers alcohol to be an important issue to tackle: “Young people’s health is seriously affected by alcohol related harm. That is why we feel that it is an important health and social issue that has to be addressed. For youth it is the largest risk and mortality factor, since in some regions, about a quarter of all deaths among young males, and one tenth of deaths of young females are caused by the use of alcohol. It is also a significant factor contributing to violence and unprotected sex among young people.

As a Federation of future health professionals, we share the belief in the importance of establishing partnerships and networks of community agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Through such inter-disciplinary networks, youth NGOs can provide care and support for alcohol addicts and their environment, sensitise the public and especially empower vulnerable groups, advocating against alcohol abuse and raising awareness of its harmful consequences.

During the last year within the Federation we have scaled up to the existing need, by cooperating internationally as a founding member of the Alcohol Policy Youth Network, focusing our activities on ‘Youth and Alcohol’ and ‘The role of International NGOs’.”

When, in 2010, the WHA endorsed the strategy, IFMSA made the following statement:

“We welcome the endorsement of the strategy since young people, including its 1.2 million medical student members, are affected by the harmful use of alcohol. We will work towards its implementation since an effective global strategy could reduce this burden. The alcohol attributed disease burden lies more with younger people than older people. Of all years lived with disability attributable to alcohol, 34% is experienced by persons aged 15-29 years, 31% by those 30-44 years, and 22% by those aged 45-59. It is also a significant factor contributing to violence and unprotected sex among young people.

“As young people and the next generation of health professionals, we are concerned about the manipulative marketing of the alcohol industry. Consequently, the global strategy should advocate ways of protecting the young generation from such marketing.”

IFMSA has been keen in its support for the European Alcohol Policy Youth Network and the more recent Nigerian Youth Initiative.

In April 2011, IFMSA, presented itself to the 8th plenary session of the EU Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF), a platform where bodies active at European level can debate, compare approaches and act to tackle alcohol related harm. The overall objective of the Forum is to provide a common platform for all interested stakeholders at EU level that pledge to step up actions relevant to reducing alcohol-related harm. As a new member of the Forum, the IFMSA has to submit an active commitment with which they will engage themselves to fulfill the aim of the Forum and the EU Strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

International Federation of Medical Students (IFMSA)
team of officials together with GAPA at the Assembly in Geneva

IFMSA will create a project, the Alcohol Initiative Project (AIP), which is going to run in three directions, namely the training of medical students on the harmful use of alcohol, public outreaches to raise awareness in the general population of the harmful use of alcohol (which will be conducted utilising the above mentioned trained medical students) and interventions for school students of different ages, keeping in mind evidence on the effectiveness of such interventions at different ages, with a view of raising awareness among school students on the harmful use of alcohol. The workshop will be a two-day workshop. During the first day of the workshop, issues will be addressed such as statistical data, the history of alcohol, the effects of alcohol on people’s health, effective alcohol policy, communication skills to interact with people, international work that is being conducted on the harmful use of alcohol, intervention techniques etc. During the second day of the workshop, the issues addressed will be the presentation and dramatisation of the intervention guide for school students, the presentation and dramatisation of the project on outreaches to the general population and other interactive activities that will help the medical students absorb effectively the information received during the first day.

The project will start later in 2012 at a General Assembly meeting where it will be fine tuned and evaluated. Medical students, the future health care professionals and future leaders in the public health field, are already working in their student years with a view of creating a world with as few burdens due to alcohol as possible, a world free of the harmful use of alcohol.