Medicines for All, All for Medicines

In May, UAEM Europe hosted its first European Conference in over three years! With more than 50 young people joining from five UAEM countries, the conference successfully brought together a new generation of enthusiastic advocates for an inspirational and fruitful exchange - from new members that had joined during the pandemic finally being able to meet in-person, to simultaneously reigniting relationships between our UAEM veterans. The weekend saw the execution of a dynamic agenda, providing in-depth technical education on access content, whilst upskilling our members on creative activism techniques for impactful advocacy - and not forgetting our insightful guest speakers providing the latest updates from the field.

After over three years of online collaboration and advocacy, the conference served as a vital platform to re-energise youth within the access movement. Following this energetic and impactful weekend, UAEM Europe is excited to continue our fight stronger than before. 

Global Health Engagement in Geneva Following on from the European Conference, the summer months saw UAEM members travelling to Geneva to attend various global health events: 

• In May, UAEM members attended the 75th World Health Assembly, hosted by the World Health Organisation. During these weeks, these members provided policy insights from an access perspective towards a wide range of topics, including the Global Strategy for Tuberculosis and the 2021-2030 roadmap for NTDs.   

• Later on in June, members from UAEM participated in the World Trade Organisation’s 12th Ministerial Conference, one of the most important events for the COVID-19 pandemic and the access movement. During the conference, the Member States discussed the TRIPS Waiver, proposed by India and South Africa in 2020, as a means to ensure equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments across the globe, and thereby to bring an end to this pandemic. UAEM members worked hard throughout the meetings to follow the negotiations closely and report back to the UAEM community, working with civil society organisations to push for the adoption of the TRIPS Waiver.  

Gender and Health Learning Series Throughout these past months UAEM, in coordination with Feministische Medizin e.V. (Feminist Medicine), continued to host enlightening webinars, as part of our online learning series focused on Gender and Health. Our most recent discussions have addressed intersectional activism between feminists and access advocates, as well as the challenges non-binary patients face within the health care system. 

Getting Ready for the Upcoming Academic Year For the first time since 2019, UAEM Europe will be hosting its annual European Leadership Meeting in-person! This meeting in Berlin will bring together our youth leaders from across the region in advance of the academic semester, to plan for a highly impactful year ahead. 

In case you missed it:  Check out the guest blog for MSF Access Campaign by Rebecca Hotchkin from UAEM UK on synergies of access to medicines and climate justice. 

These past few months have been of significant importance to youth in the access to medicines movement. It is with your support that UAEM Europe is able to continuously, and meaningfully, advocate for equitable access to life-saving medicines. We are grateful for your donations and support for our cause.