Photo courtesy of me
On November 20, 2022, I participated in the Canadian Global Health Students and Young Professionals Summit (GHSYPS). This occurred the day before the 2022 Canadian Conference for Global Health. The theme for the summit was "Translating Knowledge into Action" and the theme for the conference was "Towards Inclusive Global Health: Research and Practice Priorities in Uncertain Times."
The Summit was a small-scale conference, so it was the ideal place to connect with individuals in Toronto and Canada in the Global Health space. I also submitted my poster abstract which had been accepted.
In the morning, we had a choice of 4 sessions and I attended the Advocacy workshop with Results Canada. Results is a nonprofit organization that aims to "generate the political will to end poverty." Having an interest in health policy it was a great opportunity to hear about some of the challenges and successes in advocacy campaigns and how they were able to influence health policy. After this session, there was a photo walk, and it was nice to see the inclusion of art and photographs at a global health conference.
Photo courtesy of me
Later on, there was a panel discussion about inclusivity in global health. This session had a diverse set of speakers with very different careers. The moderator Margaret had a great post on LinkedIn summarizing the panel. Below are some of my takeaways from this session
Call out harmful practices in your workspace
Living in the diaspora, you can advocate for issues in your home country in the country you live in
Publications are not always accessible, we need to consider ways to diversify how we share information
After this session, the panelists led the discussions on positive aspects of global health. The decision to focus on positive aspects was refreshing as a lot of the discussions in global health are focused on the negatives. In this session, I met Stephanie Bumba, who shares the work of Afro-Descendants in science on her Youtube Page, Nurse Stephie TV. One important discussion we had was on the power of social media. Social media has the power to share what is happening all around the world without having to leave your home. It really has enabled solidarity among common causes. Although there is disinformation, social media is still a powerful tool to bring people together and share information.
During the lunch break, people walked around the posters and I was able to present my poster. This poster was supposed to be presented at the University of Toronto Health Studies Symposium in March 2020, but this was canceled due to the pandemic. It was nice to have the experience of discussing supposed my work with others and hearing from individuals doing work in a similar area. Having an oral or poster presentation at a conference/symposium is a great experience as it allows you to meet others with similar interests and it also helps you to answer questions that may help you refine your work.
Photo courtesy of me
The afternoon was spent playing networking games, which was nice to network with other students and young professionals. I also learned about MacMaster's Global Health Journal, Global Health: Annual Review. They also announced awards, and my poster was awarded a "Best Poster" prize.
If you are based in Canada, do try to attend a GHSYPS. It is a smaller networking event but really great to meet people in a non-intimidating setting!