Dear All,
This last quarter of the year seems to me to have just come around all too fast!
Some of this is not just because of busy we have been with AFMW but because it has been conference season, school holidays and somewhere in there I certainly have to fit in work!
Since the last newsletter I was privileged to attend the United Nations Department Of Information and NGO meeting held in Melbourne. Imagine 1600 people representing all kinds of NGOs, all there to discuss how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to network with one another! We managed to register 6 medical students (courtesy of the assistance of other NGOs – as all NGOs including MWIA were only allocated 2 Youth places!) and 10 Medical Women. Dr Jo Wainer, Dr Gabrielle Casper and I ran a NGO workshop titled: Incorporating gender into health care and its effects on global health and achievement of the MDG’s. Dr Padmini Murthy (‘Mini’), our UN MWIA Co-Representative in New York, moderated this. Meeting Mini gave us a great opportunity to understand the workings of the UN and how MWIA works within it.
Other AFMW activities since the last newsletter include:
• Eight AFMW members including myself attended the International MWIA Conference in Munster, Germany. Three of four resolutions put forward by Australia were passed. (Child abuse and violence; breast feeding; climate change; human rights for GLBTI persons. These will be available on the AFMW website; click here to read the AFMW MWIA Conference Report)
• VWMS and AFMW co-hosted the “Happy Healthy Women Summit” on 14 Sept 2010 – information about the Summit is included below in the newsletter.
• I have been following up requested information from Governor General Quentin Bryce, in response to our invitation for her to become the Patron of AFMW.
• We have contacted relevant doctors on the AFMW Leadership Database for their opinions and input on an AFMW Dying With Dignity policy. All members are welcome to contribute but please be fast – we would like to formalise this at the AFMW AGM on October 23rd 2010 in Canberra.
• We are currently collating the necessary information and support documents to submit an application for AFMW to become an accredited NGO with the UN DPINGO in our own right (instead of via MWIA).
• I was invited to ring the ‘Peace Bell’ of the Federation of World Peace and Love whilst at the UNDPINGO meeting in what was quite an amazing ceremony. Further information including photos of the event are available at the FWPL website.
• At the conclusion of the UNDPINGO I attended a Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) event with Mini and two of our medical student delegates, Madhura Naidu and Jane Li. We have been asked to support their initiatives and Madhura and Jane will report back to us regarding this after their exams.
Please keep an eye on our website for further details about all of these activities and please contact us should you wish to contribute to any of these.
See you at the AGM in Canberra Saturday October 23rd 2010!
Desiree
