AMSA needs to maintain its place as an active and vocal member of international and regional organisations such as the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) and the Asian Medical Students Association (AsMSA). These are excellent opportunities for students to experience various aspects of global health and next year, with the IFMSA March General Assembly and regional meeting close by in Thailand, Australian delegates are well placed to attend in unprecedented numbers.

However, AMSA’s participation in these bodies has always been limited by the constant turnover of delegates. Few Australian delegates attend more than one of these conferences, unlike many other countries’ delegations, and as such we are limited in what we can gain and offer. Our executive will create formal handover processes and background training pre-departure to bring prospective Australian delegates up to speed on these organisations, their complex processes, procedures and politics. Combined with our team’s prior experience in these bodies and networks within them, Australia in future will be able to bring back successful projects like Training-New-Trainers, ‘Red Party’ and the ‘Pharma-Phacts’ campaign.

We will also make Australia a more active and powerful policy voice within the IFMSA by pushing for our relevant policies to be debated on a global stage, and for our outstanding AMSA, MedSoc and GHG projects and initiatives to be exhibited and promoted.

As part of our focus on facilitating student personal development, we will also expand the TNT program at the GHC, and examine integrating it into other events such as NLDS and AMSA’s LDWs.

On a domestic level, we will seek greater collaboration with other non-governmental organisations and charitable groups in the global portfolio. This will help us to further promote our community projects and the efforts of the Global Health Network and their National Projects. This includes building on our existing relationships with BeyondBlue, Oaktree and others, and also in developing new strategic relationships.