Speaking to MBC President of UMMSA Parth Patel said every year, various medical schools in the world compete to host international students conferences. He said this is the first time in Africa for a medical school to host such an event.

“This year, for the first time, IFMSA under its Sexual and Reproductive Health including HIV/AIDS committee launched a conference in Africa titled SCORA Africa Boot Camp. UMMSA applied to host this event in Malawi and following a tough competition, we were selected to host,” said Patel.

He added that the SCORA Africa Boot Camp hopes to bring together medical students who are passionate about Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights related issues from all over Africa, as a means of empowering, educating and further engaging them on playing an active role in ensuring that Sexual and Reproductive Health rights of young people and women are not violated.

Patel further said this is a good development for Malawi as development of every country involves a lot of players in different fields.

“Health care affects everybody, we therefore appeal for support from stakeholders to partner us as this is a big event. Let us work together and show the world that we truly are the warm heart of Africa,” he added.

The International Federation of Medical Students Associations – IFMSA, founded in 1951, is one of the world’s oldest and largest student run organizations. IFMA represents, connects and engages every day with medical students from 130 national member organizations in 122 countries around the world.

The work of IFMSA is in four global heath areas, namely; public health, sexual and reproductive health, medical education, human rights and peace.