About IFMSA
IFMSA is a very well-established international federation with broad representation and close relations with medical students' associations all over the world. It is recognized as an important non-governmental organization and collaborative partner by WHO, UNESCO, other UN agencies and several INGOs, such as the Global Health Forum. We are on the way to making closer links with several other international student organizations and INGOs.
Our exchange programme is well-established, and has good prospects for improvement both in terms of quantity of places and quality, now that we have introduced more alternative clerkships, research exchanges, summer-schools, electives. We are recognized as a consultative body in questions relating to medical education and the medical consequences of nuclear war, and our local and national activities in both these areas have often been catalysts for other student and professional groups.
New fields are presently developing, including Primary Health Care and Human Rights, with many valuable projects. The IFMSA Village Concept can be considered a milestone in third world aid philosophy. Following IFMSA's experience in Ghana, many such projects were realized (Sudan, Sudan II, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, La Joya, Tanzania, Panama...) and we hope many more will come up in the near future.
A lot of work has been done all through this our 50th year of existence. All in order to celebrate our 50th anniversary with a big event that would show the IFMSA potential to the outside world. We sincerely hope that in 50 years from now, somebody will add more lines to this small but intense history that all of us, for small our contribution might seem to be, have helped to build.