International Events

IFMSA GA
IFMSA General Assemblies gather 800-1500 medical students for sessions, decision-making, and social events.

About

IFMSA General Assemblies belong to the biggest youth-led events worldwide, bringing together between 800 and 1500 medical students from more than 100 countries. They are held twice a year during the first week of March (March Meeting) and August (August Meeting), lasting seven days (including arrival and departure day).

During the mornings, delegates take part in Standing Committee sessions of a specific field with opportunities for self-skills development, sessions on specific subtopics of the field and inspiring presentations of activities and projects. The important decision making process takes place during the plenary sessions in the afternoon. These decisions include electing the Team of Officials, making changes to the IFMSA constitution and bylaws and other regulations as well as voting on Policy Papers, membership status changes and reports. After all the work is done and the leftover energy allows it, delegates get to enjoy a social program at night, including but not limited to the traditional formal opening and closing ceremonies, the national food and drinks party (NFDP) and the infamous cultural night.

Delegation Selection

Any Swiss medical student can apply to become a delegate at the GA. The call for delegates is shared on several plattforms and the delegates are selected in a standardized application process.

Testimonies

Kevin Brunold

Head of Delegation, March Meeting 2024
Quito, Ecuador

 

After all the struggle to make this MM24 happen in person, I was incredibly excited to lead the swimsa delegation to Ecuador. I am extremely grateful for the support I received from the rest of the Head of Delegation Team in handling the different challenges we were faced with during this event. It was also the first time that I have signed up for the presidents sessions team and got to see how much preparation goes into these sessions, during which I got to experience some inspiringly fruitful discussions and active collaborations between NMO presidents from all around the world. The delegates that represented swimsa during the entire week have shown incredible team play and have represented swimsa to the highest of standards. I look forward to take what I have learned from this event into the next round, to optimally prepare and lead the swimsa delegation to the IFMSA August Meeting 2024 in Finland.

Jakub Novotny

Vice-head of Delegation, March Meeting 2024
Quito, Ecuador

 

What impressed me the most this time around was the feeling of cohesion between all the attending students. We all got to experience this GA in Quito because the NMO Ps from around the globe came together and advocated for the in person event. And it was really much felt during the whole event, every single participant was there because he wanted to be part of the whole event. The Presidents’ sessions were not full of pointless debates but deliberate discussions about topics that were not often talked about. Especially seeing that every NMO/ Student’s organization is suffering the same hardships in regards to motivating new members or that the organization of such big events like a GA are not sustainable in the long run was very reassuring as it confirmed many things that I contemplated about before and during the event.

Miriam Praxmarer

SCORA Sessions, March Meeting 2024
Quito, Ecuador

 

My experience at the MM24 was incredible. I attended SCORA sessions and one CB workshop about Activity Management. As a swimsa newbie the whole event was incredibly educational, not only in SCORA related topics such as ChemSex, Female Genital Mutilation or STI’s but more so the process of plenaries, voting, sitting together as an NMO and making decisions together. Throughout the MM24 I realised just how important and inspiring IFMSA as an organisation is, in changing the medical education around the world, shaping curricula, encouraging activities and innovations. Multiple times throughout the week, sitting in the plenaries, I was completely in awe of the fact that all the people in the room, from all over the world were also students doing all of that important work while still studying medicine themselves. It inspires me to also get involved in swimsa and try to get a position in the upcoming DV.

Nadia Chaib

SCOPH Sessions, March Meeting 2024
Quito, Ecuador

 

I had the opportunity to join the swimsa delegation for this year’s march meeting, which luckily was held on-site. As an NPO I had the chance to attend the SCOPH sessions, in which we discussed different topics such as non-communicable diseases and the link with transplantations, mental health and meditation, climate change and the effects on the culture and much more. One topic that moved me a lot was the session about building the workforce for tomorrow’s health. In this session we discussed the different challenges health care workers face but we also discussed strategies on how to maintain them in the health care system but also maintaining their health. It was very insightful to exchange our experiences with other public health enthusiast. We realized that we could learn a lot from each other. For instance, I enjoyed exchanging experiences about the subject of transplantation. Other countries (for example Brazil) had a high rate of blood donors and transplantation donors since they reward the donors by giving them benefits for over six months.

Sven Stalder

Head of Delegation, August Meeting 2023
New Delhi, India

 

It has been an immense pleasure to lead the swimsa delegation at the last General Assembly of my term as VPG. To see the level of commitment our delegates showed to make swimsa’s voice heard on many levels and to learn things to bring back home and implement change has been incredibly rewarding. All of the delegates showed high levels of participation and reflected on the experiences they had in their sessions. In the presidents’ sessions, I could make the swimsa stance heard and it showed me again that it is important to ask the sometimes uncomfortable but critical questions in order to make the best informed decision.

Marc Reynauld de la Jara

SCORP Delegate, August Meeting 2023
New Delhi, India

 

 I had a great experience overall at the AM23. I really liked getting to know the IFMSA world first through the workshops of the preGA. When the actual GA started, I was already a bit familiar with the abbreviations and some people. The SCORP sessions were always interesting and engaging, even if some were a little too basic at times. I liked attending the GAs and learning about the current debates taking place between the NMOs regarding the rules IFMSA should make for itself. Getting to know medical students from around the world during the socials was a very formative and discovery-rich experience.

Contact

Do you have any questions or need further information? Please do not hesistate to contact the Vice President for Global Affairs (VPG) at vpg@swimsa.ch.