FPL 215-JDN Report-Oct2020
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THE WORLD MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, INC.
Document no: FPL 215/JDN Report/Oct2020 Original:
English
Title: Report of the Junior Doctors Network
(JDN) (October 2019 – April 2020)
Destination: Finance and Planning Committee
215th
Council Session
WMA General Assembly, Cordoba 2020
Online Meeting
26-30 October 2020
Action(s)
required:
To be
received
The 2019/2020 JDN Management team took office in October 2019. Despite the challenges faced
due to COVID-19, the JDN has managed to provide opportunities for engagement for members and
has had many successes during this term. Furthermore, this October marks the 10th
anniversary of
the network that will be commemorated through virtual activities and social media.
1. Participation in WMA internal & external activities
Our network has provided comments on MEC & SMAC policies. We are also delighted to be
rapporteur and co-rapporteurs on some.
JDN has acted as rapporteur for the Proposed WMA Statement on access to surgery and anesthesia
care.
The JDN offered to help the secretariat with the reviewing of the policy on trade & health.
The JDN is part of the working group on patient-physician relationship.
The JDN sent a delegation to Prince Mahidol Award conference. Our team ensured some social
media presence and helped the local organization committee by participating in being rapporteurs
for the sessions.
The JDN took active part in WMA delegation to the 146th
Executive Board Meeting of the World
Health Organization (WHO). We participated in writing and delivering statements.
The JDN coordinated a vritual delegation to the 73rd
World Health Assembly (WHA).
The JDN successfully transformed its in-person pre-WHA event into a virtual post-WHA meeting
given the travel limitations imposed by COVID.
The JDN was invited to present at the Australian Medical Association Doctors In Training meeting.
The JDN was invited to present at the IFMSA Online GA.
The JDN was invited to present at the European Forum of Medical Associations.
The JDN will participate in the upcoming EJD Online Autumn Meeting.
The JDN was also invited to participate in conferences and events co-hosted by the WMA such as
the UNESCO World Conference on Bioethics and the International College on Person Centered
Medicine conference. Those events have been postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, but we will
remain available when rescheduled.
2. Communications
This year, the JDN created accounts on multiple social media networks (Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram).
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The JDN posts regularly about WMA and JDN activities, relays WMA social medias messages, and
communicates on external representation.
All our management team members also have at least one personal social media account that they
sometimes use to amplify the messages.
The JDN participated in the WHO social media campaign on Universal Health Coverage Day. We
Junior doctor testimonies from around the world were collected, underlining the importance of
UHC, suggesting solutions to the challenges we are currently facing, and highlighting the crucial
role of junior doctors in achieving UHC.
3. Membership
Over the past 11 months (from October 2019 until September 2020), 181 new member requests
were received which resulted in 121 new individuals joining our mailing lists.
An instructional document summarizing the steps for joining the JDN was created to facilitate
recruitment of members.
A membership welcome note was created and is being shared with every new member who joins
the organization in order to rapidly present them with the opportunities available within the JDN.
Despite the challenges imposed by COVID-19 and restricted travels, the JDN has maintained
virtual activities and has seen continued membership requests from junior doctors from diverse
backgrounds globally.
Thematic conference-format portions were appended to some of the membership meetings to
further interest in participants.
4. Medical Education
JDN takes part in the work of WFME Executive Council.
In order to increase participation of junior doctors in medical education meetings, the JDN had
planned to send a delegation to the regional meeting in Ibadan and to deliver a symposium.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the conference was cancelled. JDN remains committed to
increasing junior doctors’ engagement in medical education topics, and will continue its effort
towards this goal, under the tutelage of both WMA and WFME.
The JDN has met with multiple global stakeholders engaged in medical education in order to survey
the field and plan for future engagements.
5. Publications
In November 2019, a new publication team was formed.
Over the past year, the team prepared two Special Edition thematic newsletters – Medical
Ethics(March 2020) and COVID-19 Response Efforts (July 2020) – as collaborations with the
Medical Ethics Working Group and JDN membership, respectively. To manage the editorial tasks
of the COVID-19 Response Efforts issue, the team added three former editors to the team. The team
prepared the biannual April 2020 issue, and are finalizing the biannual October 2020 issue that will
commemorate the 10th JDN Anniversary.
6. JDN anniversary
This year marks the 10th
anniversary of the JDN.
Current members and JDN alumni have collaborated on a number of activities to commemorate this
jubilee: a presentation at the fall JDN meeting, writing of scientific articles reflecting on the role of
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the JDN, articles marking the anniversary in the JDN newsletter, interviews highlighting experience
of prior JDN leadership, and a social media campaign commemorating the anniversary.
7. Working groups
The JDN has working groups on COVID-19, Primary Health Coverage (PHC), and Medical Ethics
which regularly meet and realize a variety of projects.
Furthermore, the JDN has working groups which conduct ad-hoc work on specific topics: Global
surgery, Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and Climate Change.
Lastly, the JDN set-up a special working group for the coordination of activities surrounding its 10th
anniversary and this group will close at the end of this year.
8. Collaboration with other health professionals’ groups
The JDN works on maintaining good link with other health professionals’ associations, especially
the youth groups including the international Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA),
the WONCA Young Doctor Representative and the European Junior Doctors Association (EJD).
JDN is part of the WHO Global Health Workforce Network (GHWN) Youth hub. We actively
participate in the work of the hub. We took part in the launch of the report on decent work in health
workforce, participated in communicating about the youth hub online conference, the One Month
One Story project & the hackathon on global workforce crisis.
9. Internal organization
The JDN management team has improved the organization of its meetings by improving the agenda
setting mechanisms for its meetings and by calling for greater preparation for discussion points by
participants.
has impro: monthly teleconferences for the management team and general membership, reports of
external activities, officers’ & working group reports. This highlights our activities, and can be
made available to NMAs upon request.
Yet, due to the current global health situation, some activities had to be cancelled, some others
reorganised to fit online format, and some project timelines adapted in order to allow our members
to focus on clinical work back home and to ensure they also preserve some resting time.
10. Coronavirus
The JDN is rapidly mobilized its network to allow exchanges between young professionals
organizing two virtual teleconferences on COVID-19 in April, 2020.
Following that a COVID-19 working group was formed and a COVID-19 session will be organized
during the fall JDN meeting.
We would like to end this report by thanking the WMA leadership & NMAs for their continuous
support. We appreciate the guidance and are always thankful for the support offered.
Dr Yassen Tcholakov
Interim Chairperson of the Junior Doctors Network
27.09.2020