Hope for the globe
Rebecca Hope, a medical
student at Leeds, is coordinator of Alma Mata, a global health network for
healthcare graduates (www.almamata.net). She has a bachelors degree
in international health from University College London and is author of The
Elective Pack, available on studentbmj.com, a guide to international
health and development for medical students. She spoke to Tiago Villanueva
about the future for Alma Mata and global health
When did you first encounter global health?
Inequalities exist everywhere. I grew up in a small village in
a region of England where the coal mines had gone, and steel works were
bulldozed during the 1980s. At the state school up the road I soon realised
that coming from a better-off commuter village made all the difference
to my aspirations, education, and, ultimately, future course in life. This
left an impression that will stay with me but also optimism that inequalities
can be overcome when people have the opportunities to realise their potential.
A brief project in rural India when I was 17 opened my eyes to the wider world
and the global differences in health between and within countries and sparked
a continuing passion for travel. My involvement in international health really
began, though, with a bachelor of science degree (BSc) in international health
at University College London.
What was it like to study for the bachelors degree?
Learning medicine means first learning vast quantities of
facts. When I was applying for the BSc I felt like a large sponge absorbing as
many facts as possible, and so I increasingly missed the chance to think for
myself. The degree didn't disappoint me: I could get out of the medical
section of the library and study topics such as political anthropology, human
rights law, poverty and development theory, as well as maternal and child
health. A three month project at Save the Children UK gave me an introduction
to how humanitarian and aid agencies work, and experience in research.
I'd like to pursue a masters or doctorate in the future, probably in
health policy or financing. My interest is how primary health can be financed
in low income settings and how people avoid impoverishment caused by medical
expenses when they become ill.
How was Alma Mata set up and developed?
The BSc programmes in international health at Leeds and London
were producing graduates who had spent a year immersing themselves in
international health. The Medical Students International Network (Medsin) had
been expanding in UK medical schools. It was inevitable that after graduation
many medics were asking, "What next?" How can you keep your
interests going after starting busy hospital jobs? There was a niche for a
network that could help people stay connected with others with the same
interests. This developed from an informal email group, suggested by Professor
John Yudkin, who runs the BSc in London, to a web based resource that would
give doctors and health professionals the tools they need to get involved in
global health work, research, or training. Alma Mater is Latin for
"nourishing mother," and is taken to mean an alumni's former
institution of learning. But the name is a pun because in 1978, at Alma Ata,
in the former Soviet Union, world leaders met to work towards health for all.
What is your role in Alma Mata?
Alma Mata was intended to be an interactive and organic
network. Members can post news, events, and links to the site and mailing
list, and we aimed to be, rather than a "doing" organisation, a
facilitator for other "doers." My role was to get the organisation
and the website set up and start connecting with other organisations, such as
Medsin, the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations
(IFMSA), Medact, and humanitarian aid agencies. A great team of other global
enthusiasts joined me, and now I act as a coordinator, which mainly means
sending lots of emails, writing for the site and newsletter, and going to
conferences to meet interesting people to interview.
What can we expect from Alma Mata in the future?
A new focus for the team is to promote international health to
undergraduates and postgraduates. If in the future the United Kingdom has a
strong, well established global health career structure, with UK trained
people contributing substantially on the international scene, we will have
achieved our goals. With Alma Mata we are trying to mark out potential career
paths for global health. The more feet walk the path, the clearer it becomes.
Where does global health fit with your career plans?
I am a great believer in chance rather than plans, and usually
the best decisions I've made for my career have been on a whim. I'll
see where that takes me for now, although in the future I'd like to do
some practical work abroad and further study, hoping eventually to combine UK
work, perhaps in general practice, with international health policy research.
What advice would you give readers interested in
international health?
Get involved with Medsin or the IFMSA. Think about studying a
BSc or setting up courses at your medical school. Go to lectures and
conferences, you'll meet like minded people and make unexpected
connections. Travel; see for yourself. Try to have an effective elective.
After you graduate use Alma Mata to keep up to date and inspired throughout
the clinical years. The best thing you can do is speak up: be active in
challenging global health inequalities in whatever you do. Many opportunities
exist for students and doctors to get involved, and hopefully the Alma Mata
network will help open doors.
Is health more global now than ever?
An important determinant of health in our globalised world is
the movement of money across borders rather than the movement of diseases.
Globalisation is showing us how interconnected we are: it's like someone
pulls a string in one country and 10 farmers in another fall over.
Competing
interests: None declared.
The Elective Pack
is available at www.studentbmj.com/international/elective_pack.php.
Tiago Villanueva, junior doctor, Lisbon Hospital
Centre-Central Zone, Lisbon, Portugal
Email: tiago.villanueva@gmail.com
studentBMJ 2007;15:257-292 July ISSN 0966-6494
