Editorial: Simplicity. Clarity. Lightness
Dear Network members
Yes, we have a new MMI website. Have a look at it! I hope that you like it. When I had to reflect on how the Medicus Mundi International’s website could be improved, my mind went back to my very first approach with the Network. I remember that, when I visited the MMI website for the first time, all those webpages so full of information, documents and hyperlink made me very difficult to understand what MMI was and concretely did. If I should have described in a nutshell the Network’s mission and activities, I would have been in trouble.
Therefore, the development of the new website has started from three key concepts: simplicity, clarity, lightness. The new website is created not to give us a fancier image, but rather to allow any user, more or less familiar with our fields of work, to immediately figure out what the Network does and why, after 50 years, the existence of Medicus Mundi International is still so relevant. More concretely, we focused on three goals:
- Better arrange the content;
- Delete old content and redundant cross-references;
- Give more visibility to our members and services
Working for the new website has been a great chance to dive into the MMI networking practice and history. Since I had to transfer each single post and document, I have been allowed to get in deeper touch with the know-how and the experience that each MMI member enshrines. This represents a huge heritage of ideas, positions, faces and souls, which needs to preserved and disseminated to as many persons as possible. The latter statement contains the actual objectives that this new website will hopefully contribute to achieve: reaching out new actors, opening new collaborations, joining further projects and, most of all, having new members.
Beside the website, a new promotional leaflet has been also produced, focused on our thematic fields of work and on our services offered to Network members. We wanted to be very concrete and straightforward, like saying “here you are your potential benefits, are you in or not?”. You can find it here.
So enjoy walking through the new MMI website, and thanks for your support and active membership. Hope to see many of you at the upcoming strategy meeting in the Hague.
Vittorio Giorgetti, MMI Geneva Office
geneva@medicusmundi.org
MMI Network News
action medeor
AWaRe classsification added to action medeor Medical Aid Catalog
18 October 2019. The development of bacterial resistances to antibiotics is a growing concern worldwide. Where antibiotics form the basis of modern medicine, the loss of their efficiency in the long term would have catastrophic repercussions. Therefore, the progress of resistances to antibiotics must be slowed.action medeor, too, recognizes the danger associated with antibiotic resistances and wishes to help its partners in their sustainable use and handling of antibiotics. For this reason, the WHO classification of antibiotics “AWaRe” was added to the MediCat. With the help of this classification, the resistance potential of an antibiotic can be assessed and incorporated in the choice of therapy.
> https://medicat.medeor.de/en/topics/aware-classification.html
medico international
End the Killing
17 October 2019. For a European policy of human rights. We call to end the EU-Turkey deal and to evacuate the Greek refugee camps. An appeal to the EU summit by kritnet & medico international.
https://www.medico.de/en/end-the-killing-17547/
Health Poverty Action
Addressing the root cause of ‘natural’ disasters like Cyclone Idai
13 October 2019. Health Poverty Action shares updates on the aftermath of cyclone Idai in the Chimanimani district of Zimbabwe and explores why events like these can no longer be understood as ‘natural’: “Seven months ago the Chimanimani district of Zimbabwe was hit by one of the worst tropical cyclones on record in Africa. Many people lost their lives and many more saw their homes, schools and communities destroyed, and vital supplies like water, food and medicine in short supply.
Wemos
Best Public value for public money?’ The case of match-funded multi-hospital infrastructure development in Tanzania
11 October 2019. Wemos conducted a case study on the application of Dutch Official Development Assistance (ODA) policy instruments for business strengthening in the healthcare context. With our discussion paper “‘Best Public value for public money?’ The case of match-funded multi-hospital infrastructure development in Tanzania”, we share the findings and key points from the in-depth discussions of those findings with civil society and other organisations – in Tanzania and the Netherlands.
> https://www.wemos.nl/en/best-public-value-for-public-money/
Cordaid
Wars may end, traumas remain
8 October 2019. On October 7 and 8 Sigrid Kaag, Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, organizes an international conference in Amsterdam on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in crisis situations. Cordaid, working on this topic in Iraq, fully endorses the minister’s aim to make mental health and psychosocial support an integral part of humanitarian responses.
Find more news at: https://www.medicusmundi.org/news/
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MMI Network Events
DWA CUAMM
Florence, 9 November 2019. From research to the field: Implementation research in limited-resource countries
The workshop “From research to the field: Implementation research in limited-resource countries” is organized with Federspecializzandi for Saturday afternoon on November 9 in Florence at CUAMM’s Annual Meeting. This seminar is for young doctors, researchers, and residents to take a closer look at operational research and listen to those who make it happen with CUAMM in Africa. This is the common thread joining different worlds and experiences: quality care.
MMI Network
Kampala, 15-16 November 2019. How to advance cooperation and solidarity within and beyond aid (Launch of the “Kampala Initiative”)
The Kampala workshop on “How to advance cooperation and solidarity within and beyond aid?” will create a space for critical society groups for sharing, strategizing and hopefully initiating joint action. A core group of organizations and people will be inspired by the workshop and committed to carry the “Kampala Initiative” forward in a continued democratic and transparent interaction, and allowing newcomers to join in anytime.The Kampala workshop will take place on Friday 15 November and Saturday 16 November 2019 (two full days). It will provide a space for intensive debate and work and is therefore not expected to be a large, public event, but a gathering of a small group of 25 experts, practitioners and activists that have the potential of being the initial core of a team and process that advances sharing and joint action beyond the workshop.
> https://www.medicusmundi.org/kampala2019/
MMI Network
The Hague, 28-29 November 2019. MMI strategic review and planning workshop
This way or that way? This is a question organizations need to ask themselves from time to time, reviewing achievements and failures of the last years and assessing strengths and weaknesses of the institution and its setup in a changing environment. As we approach both the end of the current strategic period (MMI Network Strategy 2016-2020) and the related work plan 2018-20 in the field of Effective Health Cooperation, the Board of the MMI Network invites the Network members to the launch of the process towards the Network Strategy 2021+, in a meeting at the Cordaid office in the Hague. Find a first announcement below. We hope to see many Network members represented at least on the first day of our meeting.
> https://www.medicusmundi.org/planning2019/
Swiss TPH
Basel, 5-6 December 2019. Climate Change and Health Risks, Adaptations, Resilience and Co-Benefits
Swiss TPH Winter Symposium. “Climate change will affect global health in many different ways. Adaptation strategies will be sorely needed to prevent major negative health consequences in countries in most need and mitigation measures will result in substantial health co-benefits.
Find upcoming and past events at: https://www.medicusmundi.org/events/
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