A report by Carlen (Kay) Fung – UBC Global Health Advocate (1st year medical student)
Recently, as part of my role as UBC’s Global Health Advocate (GHA), I participated in a training weekend in Ottawa, Ontario, along with other medical students from across Canada. We had the opportunity to connect with leaders in the global health field and learn how to improve our advocacy skills, especially surrounding issues of injustice within healthcare. Going into Ottawa, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; UBC had not previously sent a Global Health Advocacy representative to the training weekend and being a first year medical student, I had minimal knowledge of both the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) and its Global Health Advocacy Program (GHAP). Nevertheless, I was excited to connect with other medical students interested in global health and learn skills in advocacy that I could use as a medical student and in my future career as a physician.
The CFMS GHA program was developed four years ago to unite Canadian medical students behind a global health theme for which we would advocate during the school year. According to the CFMS, “[the program] is a means for training future physician advocates to bring about lasting change in their respective communities and to advocate on behalf of underserved populations both at a local, national, and international level.” The GHAP “provides formal training to Global Health Advocates by giving them the tools, skills, confidence, and strategies necessary to become an effective advocate that they can then take home and teach medical students at their local university.”
This year’s theme is Immigrant and Refugee Health. During the training weekend, I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Kevin Pottie of the University of Ottawa, Azin Moradhassel and Lucie Boileau of the Canadian Medical Association, and numerous other global health leaders. Not only did I learn more about immigrant and refugee health, but I was also trained in how to initiate and facilitate an effective advocacy campaign that will give a voice to the individuals who are directly affected by the issue.
As this year’s Global Health Advocate at UBC, I hope to disseminate the skills that I learned during the training weekend in Ottawa and run an advocacy training workshop for UBC medical students in collaboration with the Political Advocacy Committee and the Global Health Liaisons at UBC. We also hope to create an advocacy training booklet that can be used by all Canadian medical students across the country. More broadly, on a provincial and national level the Global Health Advocates will strive to raise awareness of and advocate for changes to the Interim Federal Health Program, which has recently reduced healthcare funding available to refugees newly arrived in Canada.
If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about immigrant and refugee health, global health education, or advocacy, we would love to have you on board. We are always looking for more people to help drive our global health advocacy efforts. I can be reached by email at kfung@alumni.ubc.ca.
~Carlen (Kay) Fung