IFMSA

PRESENTATION

The IFMSA is an independent, non-governmental and non-political federation of medical students’ associations throughout the world. In 2006, IFMSA consists of 98 national medical student associations in 91 countries on six continents. Our members represent around one million medical students worldwide.

Since 1951, IFMSA has been run for and by medical students on a non-profit basis. Officially recognized as a Non Governmental Organization within the United Nations’ system, it is recognized by the World Health Organization as the international forum for medical students.

IFMSA is registered as a charitable organization in the Netherlands.

MISSION

"Our mission is to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues.

Through our programming and opportunities, we develop culturally sensitive students of medicine, intent on influencing the trans-national inequalities that shape the health of our planet."

OBJECTIVES

To expose all medical students to humanitarian and global health issues, providing them with the opportunity to educate themselves and their peers;
To facilitate partnerships between the medical student community and international organizations also concerned work on health, education and medicine;
To give all medical students the opportunity to take part in clinical and research exchange around the world;
To provide a network that links active medical students across the globe, including student leaders, project managers and activists, so that they can learn from and be motivated by each other;
To provide an international framework in which medical student projects can be initiated, carried out and developed;
To empower and train medical students to take a role in bringing about the necessary changes to improve the health of all people of the world.

MEMBERSHIP

IFMSA consists of national medical student associations of 88 different countries. Each National Member Organization has its own identity, reflecting the national needs and culture.

IFMSA is a federation which respects the autonomy of its members. The majority have Local Committees at the medical schools in their country. These Local Committees coordinate IFMSA activities at the local level. Through these Local Committees, our members are in direct contact with hundreds of thousands of medical students.

FUNDING

Revenues for the central budget of IFMSA are generated largely from membership fees, charged to member organizations. The fees are calculated based on both the GNP/capita and the population of each country. Alternative sources of income include private donations, grants, corporate sponsorships, and gifts-in-kind.

Fields of Activity within IFMSA

“It is health that brings us all together.”

For more than 55 years, IFMSA has existed to bring together the global medical student community. All over the world, medical students are working on global health issues through IFMSA. Hundreds of activities are planned, designed, and carried out each year on local, national and international levels.

Projects, programs, conferences and workshops are organized everywhere in the fields of medical education, public health, reproductive health and gender issues and violence prevention, bringing to life for medical students the critical health care issues of the modern world.

The IFMSA experience shows students that they are not passive subjects in a rapidlyglobalizing world, but are valuable individuals with a potentially powerful role to play in global health. They learn that their idealistic goals can be achieved with readily attainable knowledge and commitment.

In IFMSA, the emphasis is that the students return to their local environment with new ideas and the skills to implement them. As the doctors of tomorrow and future leaders of health, we feel confident that our students will carry this spirit with them throughout their professional lives.

True to its foundation, Student Exchanges remain the backbone of the federation. Every year IFMSA enables around 8,000 students to experience the practice of medicine or health research in a different country through our exchange programs. The students gain invaluable insights into other health systems and cultures, enabling them to view the more familiar environment in their own hospitals and communities with fresh perspectives. The exchange activities of the last 45 years have created the stable structure around which the organization has been able to grow. Over this time, activities have developed in many other fields, four of which are particularly well established.

Around the world, medical students have a unique authority on Medical Education issues, thanks to their first-hand experience of current systems. United, their role within medical schools gives them an unrivalled potential to reform medical education; locally, nationally and internationally. As a result, they have a huge contribution to make for the benefit of their peers, their patients and whole health systems. With this in mind, IFMSA helps students to educate themselves and their peers about relevant issues and empowers them to obtain greater influence over all dimensions of their own education.