Introduction to SCOPH

The Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH) brings together medical students from
all over the world to learn, build on skills, cooperate, explore and share ideas when it
comes to addressing all issues related to public health, including global health issues,
health policies, health promotion and education activities.

History
Back in 1952, medical students of the International Federation of Medical Students’
Associations (IFMSA) formed the Standing Committee on Students’ Health (SCOSH), driven
by a strong will to take an active part in preventing and making policies concerning health
problems. During the following years, the wide variety of activities led to the change of
the name to the Standing Committee on Health (SCOH) in 1963. Afterwards in 1983 the
name of the committee changed once more to the name we use to this day, the Standing
Committee on Public Health (SCOPH).

Since these six decades have past, SCOPH members are implementing, maintaining and
improving a wide variety of community- based projects on a local, national, regional and
international level. Through these activities we reach our united vision for a healthier
society and further development our own potential to become competent and talented
health professionals.

Medical students, the future health professionals

As SCOPH members we have a chance to develop skills and knowledge though personal
evolvement such as organization skills, teamwork, leadership, communication, time and
self-management – skills not often taught in medical schools but essential for any future
health professional. Medical students involved in SCOPH projects gain a much better
understanding of public health matters in their community as well as current situations in
other countries of the world. This provides them with a global overview of the health
issues and methods that are needed to solve these cross-cutting issues.
Moreover, SCOPH creates a sense within medical students about their role within public
health as future health professionals and due to our experience and knowledge we are able
to empower our environment directly and advocate for worldwide good health. We help to
spread the message of wellbeing and help to create awareness about potential risk factors.

The goals we want to achieve today and tomorrow

SCOPH’s vision is to work towards a healthier society that is empowered by knowledge,
skills and opportunities to live a full life of complete physical, mental and social well-
being. In order to achieve this vision, medical students from 102 National Member
Organizations work together as a team at a local level as well as both nationally and
internationally.
Internationally we exchange ideas and knowledge to improve and evaluate our work and
personal skills. In addition, our Standing Committee acts as a platform that represents
medical students around the globe through Advocacy and Policy Making - thus being a
worldwide voice for medical students.
Locally there are a large number of projects carried out, each orientated on the needs of
the population in a specific region. Chronic Diseases, including Cardiovascular Diseases,
Diabetes mellitus and Cancer, Tobacco smoking, Alcohol and Substance abuse, Malaria, TB,
Tropical Diseases, Mental Health, Child’s and Adolescents Health, Ageing, Road Safety,
Natural Disasters, Nutrition, Poverty, Violence and Social Inequalities, Rural and Remote
Health and Regional Health Problems are some of the main topics that SCOPH focuses on.
 SCOPH Vision, Mission & Goals

Vision
The Standing Committee on Public Health works towards ensuring a healthy global society
that is empowered through its knowledge, skills and opportunities to live a life of complete
physical, mental and social well-being.

Mission
In order to work towards our vision, we promote community based outreach activities at a
local level, which are inspired by the best practice within our federation and through the
development of our own skills and potentials, as medical students and future health
professionals, we voice our actions together through the powers of advocacy. Below
represents the core purpose and values of SCOPH.

- Disease prevention within our society

- Health promotion and education within our society
- Raising awareness about Global Public Health issues within medical students and
our society
- Advocating for health policies as the voice of worldwide medical students
- Developing skills and knowledge of medical students as the future health
professionals
- Working as an international team and collaborating with external public health
organisations to use the potential of over one million worldwide medical students

Goals
The focus of our efforts is to try and tackle the key public health issues according to local
needs. The coordination and performance of these activities are based on the fundamental
WHO World Health Days thus combining our efforts and energies with health professionals
around the world.
In order to achieve our goals SCOPH needs an organised and sustainable way to support its
members with information and know-how. The backbones of this ongoing process are the
national and international SCOPH meetings as well our platforms for communication and
information keeping. Our goals include:

- SCOPH World Days (external goals)

- SCOPH Main Focus (external goals)
- SCOPH Projects & Activities (external goals)
- SCOPH Meetings (internal goals)
- SCOPH Management (internal goals)
- SCOPH Evidence-based guidelines
SCOPH World Days:

In order to combine our efforts with worldwide health professionals we focus the
coordination and performance of our specific activities according to the main WHO World
Health Days.
These Days are promoted through our communication media (e.g. Yahoo-Group) to give
guidance to our National Member Organisation’s (NMO’s). This supports the flow of
information and exchange of experience but is only meant to act as guidance and is not
enforced. The World Health Days SCOPH supports are:

October 10th: World Mental Health Day

November 14th: World Diabetes Day

November 20th: Universal Children’s Day

February 4th: World Cancer Day

March 24th: World Tuberculosis Day

April 7th: World Health Day

April 25th: World Malaria Day

May 31st: World No-Tobacco Day

June 14th: World Blood Donor Day

SCOPH Main Focus:

Below, represents a list of topics that are seen as current priorities within SCOPH in that
we focus on and combine our efforts. Nevertheless the possible activities within our
Standing Committee are numerous and flexible. Current SCOPH health issue priorities
include:

Tobacco

Obesity & Diabetes

Tuberculosis

Malaria

Child’s and Adolescents Health

Mental Health

Alcohol and Substance abuse

As well as: Cancer, Eyes health, Blood donation, Organ donation, Ageing and health,
Road safety, Rural and remote health, Environmental health, SCOPH Exchange and
many, many more
SCOPH Projects & Activities:
The first part of these projects & activities is a list of the Initiative Projects of SCOPH.
These projects combine many approaches and ideas and provide an introduction to a
specific topic.

The second part of these projects is a list of the most common activities within SCOPH.
They are common because of their relevance, simplicity and attractiveness of their basic
idea.

TIP (Tobacco Initiative Project)

TON (Transnational Obesity Network)

Anti-TB Campaign

ICOM (IFMSA Campaign on Malaria)

MHIP (Mental Health Initiative Project)

APYN (Alcohol Policy Youth Network)

TBH (Teddy Bear Hospital)

Smile X (Clown Doctor Project)

Teddy Bear under the Christmas Tree (Donation Project)

Smoke-free Party

Smoking-ologist

Blood Donation Campaign

Marrow Project (Bone Marrow Donation)

1st Aid Course

ISNAH (International Students Network on Ageing and Health)

National Health Week (National Awareness Campaign in Africa)

SCOPH Exchange (Volunteer Exchange Projects)

SCOPH Meetings:

2 General Assemblies: March Meeting + August Meeting (SCOPH Sessions of 16 hours

each, organised by the Director and the Dream Team)

2 pre General Assemblies: March Meeting + August Meeting (Specific Workshops of

3 full working days about different kind of topics, organised by a volunteer)
 5 IFMSA Regional Meetings: Africa, Americas, EMR, Europe and Asia Pacific (SCOPH
Sessions organised by the Regional Assistant, length is different)

SCOPH Focus Meetings: EuToCoM (European Tobacco Control Meeting)

NMO National Assemblies: National Meetings in over 100 NMOs of IFMSA

NMO SCOPH Meetings and trainings: open for national or international attendance

SCOPH Management Tools:

The strength of SCOPH on the international level is within the potential to support medical
students on a local and national level.

To fulfil this function it is necessary to keep relevant information in a sustainable way, to

offer an introduction and further information of our Standing Committee and its activities
to all our members. Therefore it is necessary to share this information effectively as well
as to offer communication platforms to share our ideas and experiences.

The responsibility to offer this information- and communication-platforms in an updated

and high-quality status lies with the SCOPH Director. Every SCOPH member has the right
and obligation to claim this status through an application and democratic voting session.

Information

SCOPH Website (available at www.ifmsa.org)

SCOPH Manual (a compilation of all information about the Standing Committee on

Public Health)

SCOPH Projects Booklet (descriptions and guidelines for the main projects and
activities of SCOPH)

SCOPH Power-point (a Power-point as an introduction to SCOPH and especially the

goals, topics and projects we focus on; to be used at internal or external meetings)

SCOPH – The Movie (a movie as an introduction about our Standing Committee; for
internal and external use)

SCOPH Movies (informative movies as introductions to the main public health topics
and projects we are working on; to be published at You-Tube)

SCOPH World Reports (compilation of the half-year NPO Reports as a global SCOPH
Database)

SCOPH Development Kit (a guideline for new National Member Organisations to

start a Standing Committee on Public Health)

SCOPH DVD (a compilation of all relevant documents and materials; to be handed

out at GAs and RMs)
SCOPH Leaflet (an introduction to SCOPH including basic information about the
projects, world days, scoph structure and communication, scoph leadership and
project management)

Communication

SCOPH Yahoo-group (ifmsa-scoph@yahoogroups.com)

SCOPH Facebook group (SCOPH-IFMSA at www.facebook.com)

SCOPH Newsletter (‘The Morning SCOPHian’ - an internal newsletter to be used as

communication platform)

SCOPH Letter to LPOs (a technical letter with information, announcements and

instructions for active members on a local level)

Regional MSN Meetings (facilitated by the SCOPH Regional Assistants, open for all
regional SCOPHians to share ideas and experiences)