Medicines for All, All for Medicines

Thank you for your continuous support of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) Europe!

2022 has been the first post-covid year in which we saw a return to UAEM Europe as we know. In-person meetings took place that connected young activists across the organisation. On campus, chapters rebuilt their presence. Still, UAEM counts fewer members than it used to and we continue to feel the pandemic aftermath.

As an organisation, we have focused on building a community of skilled advocates at universities across Europe - and we have intensified our work to this end in the second half of the year. 

Ensuring a strong and aligned leadership for UAEM

• The European Empowerment Committee (ECC) and European Board came together for the first in-person European Leadership meeting in September 2022. The meeting over three days enabled the leadership to build connections and to together define a vision for UAEM centred around the membership. At the meeting, UAEM leadership recognised the need to bring back in-person training opportunities, for example (see below for more info). Further, the ECC concluded a successful handover in Amsterdam in October and the UAEM Europe Board held its first post-pandemic in-person meeting.

“Universities hold the key!” is heard loud and clear across university campuses

• In November 2022, UAEM Europe hosted the annual access to medicines week under the slogan of “Universities hold the key!”. Chapters organised a wide range of activities which included film screenings, panel debates and creative activism actions. We also highlighted key UAEM principles via graphics on social media. Feel free to follow us on instagram @uaem_europe!

Enabling training for the next generation of access to medicines advocates

• Soft skill training can support UAEM members to strategise campaigns, build up a chapter capacity & engage others on access to medicines issues. Often seen as the backbone of our work, training empowers UAEM to be “better” advocates and organisers. This year, the training camp hosted 10 UAEM members from four countries, representing European, national and chapter leadership. Over three days, all attendees gained new skills for leadership, such as team building and strategic planning.

• At the national levels, chapters of Germany, Denmark and the UK came together to host their national training weekend. Here, they focused on knowledge building as well as organising themselves.

As you can see, UAEM activists continue to actively advocate for fair and equitable access to drugs, diagnostics and vaccines for everyone. These past months we have focused on rebuilding and strengthening our membership. In 2023, we look forward to seeing youth advocacy grow further. 

Your donations are making it possible for us to continue this important work. It is only with your help that we can keep advocating for global health justice across European universities. In the name of the full UAEM Europe Board, I sincerely thank you for your continued support! 

We wish you a wonderful end of the year and a peaceful start into the new year. We cannot wait to let you know about what we will be up to in 2023!