Global Courses in the Medical Curriculum – Examples from Different Countries
World Conference for Medical Education
Lund, Sweden, Sunday, 16th March, 2003
Mladen Milovanovic
Director for Refugees and Peace 02/03

find speech below!!!

download posters here! (doc-file)

Dear Chairman,
Rapporteur and Co-Chairman,
Lades and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and an honour to me to have this opportunity today to present global health courses in the medical curriculum from a wide verity of countries, from all over the world. My name is Mladen Milovanovic. I am medical student at Lund University and Director of the Standing Committee on Refugees and Peace of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations.
If I may, I would like to start this presentation by making a short introduction to our student organisation.
Second part of the presentation will be focused on the examples of global health courses from a number of countries.
Final part will include the results of the surveys performed among medical students in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Netherlands.
The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations is truly a "World Medical Students’ Organisation";, founded more than 50 years ago. Currently, we are represented in 91 countries and among more than nine hundred fifty thousand students. We are officially recognised by the World Health Organisation.
Our mission is:
- To introduce medical students to global health and
- To work together to improve health all over the world.

We encourage cooperation and exchanges of students, ideas and experiences among our National Member Organisations. As a consequence of these, projects are established at local, national and international level.
But, what do we do more precisely? Apart from the exchanges, we arrange humanitarian projects, trainings, conferences, workshops and summer schools. We:
- establish networks and databases
- encourage discussions and debates
A high number of publications are produced annually.
Particularly, we are addressing six themes. At least three of them have Global Health as one of the major activities. These Standing Committees are:
- Medical Education
- Public Health and
- Refugees and Peace.

Now, I would like to move to the second part of the presentation.
Prior to making this presentation, I had a look at the preliminary program and I noticed that the vast majority of you, here, today, come from countries outside the Nordic Region. Consequently, I thought it might be an idea to provide you with a broader introduction to the global health courses in Nordic countries.
Posters have been made about similar courses from countries from all over the world. They have been displayed in the poster-exhibition-hall.
If I may, I would be most pleased to start this particular part with one of the hosts of this conference. Namely, Denmark. Indeed, our host does provide students with both undergraduate teaching and postgraduate courses. The courses are offered at the Universities of Copenhagen, Odense and Århus.
ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System. According to this system, one study week equals 1.5 ECTS-credits.
Courses in Global Health provided by the universities in Finland are described as being rather short. On the other hand, indeed, there is an excellent opportunity to students to participate in a longer national course, arranged by:
- the Finnish Medical Association
- a number of Non-Governmental Organisations
- the National Public Health Institute and
- all five medical faculties in the country.
If I move to another country in the region, Norway, Universities of Bergen and Oslo are the only ones, where the training in Global/International*1 Health is compulsory to all medical students. At other universities, the courses are elective.
Icelandic university does not offer courses in Global Health.
In Swedish medical schools, students can receive from three to sixteen weeks of education in Global Health. The vast majority of the courses are arranged once annually. However, certain medical schools offer their training twice each year.
Courses in Gothenburg, Stockholm, Uppsala and Lund, as well as the joined Finnish course, involve a 2-4 week teaching-period in Africa, Asia and South America. On the other hand, the difference between these courses and the Finish is that the last one mentioned involves half of its participants from these regions.
Apart from that, in Gothenburg, the undergraduate global health teaching was the first one to be started. It was arranged first time in 1985. At other Swedish medical schools, similar courses started in the 1990s or at the beginning of this millennium.
Indeed, there are many more examples to mention from all over the world. Similar or more sophisticated courses are organised at the universities in the countries, such as: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Israel, the United States of America, Germany and Australia. Once again, please, in order to learn more about these examples do have a look at the posters in the exhibition-hall.
I would like to take this opportunity now to move to third and final part of the presentation today. This part will be focused on the results of the surveys completed by medical students at three faculties in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and five in the Netherlands. Surveys were carried out in the years of 2000 and 2002.
Presented here are the results from Liverpool, Manchester and the Netherlands, as a whole.

If I start with the medical faculty at the University of Liverpool, 57% of medical students thought that more Global/International*1 Health should be available for all students. According to them, three most relevant topics which should be included into a course in International Health are:
1. "Communicable Diseases and HIV/AIDS";
2. "Human Rights and Health";
3. "Health Care Systems and Access to the Health Care";

Learning should be provided by the means of:
1. Optional Seminars
2. Plenary and/or
3. Special Study Module.
The results from the medical faculty at the University of Manchester are slightly different. 68% of students who participated in the survey thought that more International Health should be available for all students.

The topics to be included in such a course are:
1. Again at the first place, "Communicable Diseases and HIV/AIDS";
2. "Poverty and Health"; and
3. "Globalisation";

Learning should be delivered in the form of:
1. Lectures
2. Special Study Modules and/or
3. Workshops

In the Netherlands, the results from five medical faculties showed that 70% students considered that more International Health should be available for all their colleges.
Concerning the topics, in comparison with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, "Environment and Health"; is a new topic emerging here.
Preferred delivery of learning showed to be by the means of:
1. Elective Course
2. Papers and/or
3. Integrating the topics into existing lecture.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Indeed, there is a need of implementing more Global Health into Medical Curriculum! By doing that, you will increase the opportunities of your students to provide their future patients with a better quality care in our rapidly changing world.
I am most obliged to all contributors to this presentation and to your attention. Thank you very much, indeed!

*1 – Both terms, Global and International Health, are used throughout the document. There is no difference in the meaning of these terms. The meanings is the same.