A lot has happened in the month of March, so I’ve taken the liberty to provide our members with this update. It has been a hectic time as you all know for the nation and for many of us too.
Gender Equity Advocacy
- On the National front, the disgraceful culture in Government has left many of us feeling bereft but in fact we are being called to action. We are the voice of medical women and we aim to uplift the health of women and children nationally and the whole of community therefore, we really need to make our individual and group voices heard loud and strong. Letter writing works.
- Please write to your local MPs and to the Prime Minister – I have already written on behalf of AFMW to Prime Minister Scott Morrison. We shall see what comes of that.
- I spoke at the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators panel session last week. The title of my talk was: “Gender Equity – I’m not biased, so what’s the big deal?’
MWIA COVID -19 Survey
Please share and promote – we have only until 30th April to collect as many responses
Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) survey of COVID-19 experiences of women doctors as healthcare providers survey link. www.surveymonkey.com/r/MWIAcovid19
Takes 5 minutes. Responses are anonymous and it’s so important to have a range of countries represented.
UN CSW65 March 20th 2021
- UN CSW65 2021: this was a great success. Most of the webinars were recorded as was ours and will be available to watch if you were one or the lucky 25,000 registrants.
- The Programme guide with abstracts, bios and photos of the speakers is now the benchmark for our CSW sessions moving forward. Please enjoy and peruse the topics https://afmw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/afmw-csw65-parallel-event-programme-ver_2.0.pdf.
- The link to the webinar is now also available: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C9ZlyKwDwOB0AfGyQK3vrlqQkAZyaLdC/view?usp=sharing
Women and Technology
SAVE THE DATE: 15th April 7pm: The first of our Medical Women in Technology and Health (MedWiTH) sessions for AFMW members with Kley MacPherson our IT support, with be on 15th April Thursday 7-8 Please join us and bring your questions. Kley will be there try to help you with any of your issues as part of a process of increasing member confidence with day to day technology.
Student Advocacy
I presented at the WHISM (Women’s Health Interest Student Society Monash University) webinar with Prof Susan Davis AO , Dr Anita Elias and others. It was interactive and the students were wonderfully engaged. -We were broken up into zoom rooms and workshopped which was great fun for around 2 hours.
International Women’s Health and partnerships Somalia
Meeting with the Health Minister of Somalia on 22nd March 2021, Dr Fawziya Abikar Nur was the highlight of my month.
It was around all things women’s and childrens’ health as Somalia has the highest maternal and child mortality in Africa as outlined in the interview she gave: https://youtu.be/nQyYyC-WnoM
I will keep you all posted around what the developments of this are. A lot is in the pipeline but here is a photo of our first zoom session.
Rotary Club Melbourne
I have been invited to talk on “Adolescent mental health, school failure and juvenile justice – where are the supports?’ at the Sofitel in Melbourne on 31st March. Anyone interested in attending can register here: https://rotaryclubofmelbourne.org.au/
Meeting with RACGP President Dr Karen Price and Ms Kirsten Pilatti, CEO of Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNS)
We are planning a national campaign for cancer awareness in the community. Involving the GP, of course. This Friday, I will be filming some short videos on the My Journey Toolkit which originally started as a booklet. I’ve been involved in the various edits and reviews over the years and the newly developed online toolkit, provides support and evidence-based information assisting in decisions making and guiding women on their journey when diagnosed with breast cancer. It caters for women and men at all stages of the disease and is interactive. We should all promote this to our patients and friends as the booklet, which was being delivered to more than 15,000 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients annually, was one of the most used resources for breast cancer patients.
Articles
The several articles I have written have been posted already in our chats and on our website.
My International Women’s Day article remains very relevant and topical given the current events nationally , so I will share this with you again: NewsGP 8th March 2021
RACGP – Achieving equality in a COVID-19 world www.racgp.org.au/newsgp/gp-opinion/achieving-equality-in-a-covid-19-world
Stay well and safe,
Magdalena
Associate Professor Magdalena Simonis AM is the Immediate Past President of the AFMW (2020-2023), former President of VMWS (2013 & 2017-2020) and current AFMW National Coordinator (2024-2026). She is a full time clinician who also holds positions on several not for profit organisations, driven by her passion for bridging gaps across the health sector. She is a leading women’s health expert, keynote speaker, climate change and gender equity advocate and government advisor. Magda is member of The Australian Health Team contributing monthly articles.
Magdalena was awarded a lifetime membership of the RACGP for her contributions which include past chair of Women in General Practice, longstanding contribution to the RACGP Expert Committee Quality Care, the RACGP eHealth Expert Committee. She is regularly invited to comment on primary care research though mainstream and medical media and contributes articles on various health issues through newsGP and other publications.
Magdalena has represented the RACGP at senate enquiries and has worked on several National Health Framework reviews. She is author of the RACGP Guide on Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery and co-reviewer of the RACGP Red Book Women’s Health Chapter, and reviewer of the RACGP White book
Both an RACGP examiner and University examiner, she undertakes general practice research and is a GP Educator with the Safer Families Centre of Research Excellence, which develops education tools to assist the primary care sector identify, respond to and manage family violence . Roles outside of RACGP include the Strategy and Policy Committee for Breast Cancer Network Australia, Board Director of the Melbourne University Teaching Health Clinics and the elected GP representative to the AMA Federal Council. In 2022. she was award the AMA (Vic) Patrick Pritzwald-Steggman Award 2022, which celebrates a doctor who has made an exceptional contribution to the wellbeing of their colleagues and the community and was listed as Women’s Agenda 2022 finalist for Emerging Leader in Health.
Magdalena has presented at the United Nations as part of the Australian Assembly and was appointed the Australian representative to the World Health Organisation, World Assembly on COVID 19, by the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) in 2021. In 2023, A/Professor Simonis was included on the King’s COVID-19 Champion’s list and was also awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division for significant service to medicine through a range of roles and to women’s health.
