IFMSA-Egypt at the 20^th anniversary of the Conventions on the Rights of Children

On November 20^th 2009, IFMSA – Egypt have received an invitation from UNICEF to be part of the youth movements sharing in the organization of the 20^th celebration of the conventions on the rights of children.

It represents a major milestone in the historic effort to achieve a world fit for children. As a binding treaty of international law, it codifies principles that Member States of the United Nations agreed to be universal – “for all children, in all countries and cultures, at all times and without exception, simply through the fact of their being born into the human family.”

The Convention has achieved near-universal acceptance, having now been ratified by 193 parties. In fact, Egypt was one of the first countries that signed the CRC and has made significant progress over the past decade towards fulfilling the rights of Egyptian children. Substantial gains in child survival rates, school enrollment, immunization coverage and access to safe drinking water, were registered. Public policies have placed children rights on the development agenda, contributing to a significant reduction of under-five mortality and a high level of primary education attainment.

Further more in 2008, the Egyptian Parliament approved an amended child law which incorporated significant changes such as increasing the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18, criminalizing Female Genital Mutilation or Cutting FGM/C, and setting up child protection committees.

IFMSA – Egypt SCORA and SCOHP teams were there on that occasion to hold up activities directed towards children living on the streets, highlighting critical issues that represents a major burden upon the community in Egypt as  child labour and violence against children and raising a particular concern about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting.

We seized the approach of the World AIDS Day to raise the discussion about adolescents, the need for support and intervention programs that help adolescents to become more responsible, to advocate for enhancing the care and support for people living with HIV and AIDS and reduction of stigma and discrimination as well as promoting young people’s participation in civil society and development.

Special thanks for to Ms. Dina Khalid – HIV/AIDS Officer in UNICEF-Egypt – that made the participation of IFMSA-Egypt in this celebration possible and visible.

The team was lead by Mr. Talal Marouf the current National Officer on Reproductive Health including AIDS, assisted by Ms. Noha Salah the current National Officer on Humanitarian Projects.

Please if you want any more information on how to participate in such activities or you want to know more about the Run for Cure, contact our NORA at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or our NOHP at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Dear Friends

This week IFMSA-Egypt had one of its largest activities this year, for a whole day a HUGE number of medical students from all over Egypt gathered together to make a change

It was the Day to Run For Cure.

This Race for The Cure is the first to be done in the Middle East, with over 10 countries participated in it from the region and all over the world.

This initiative was brought into action through The Susan G. Komen for Cure, the biggest known organization working on supporting breast cancer awareness and research around the world and promoting for hundreds of similar races all over the world since 1985.

Sharing in this race was essential for IFMSA-Egypt, as breast cancer is one of the main concerns carried by SCORA members in more than 10 medical schools all over the country since the launching of the first breast cancer awareness project in 2004.

Over the past two months, since we’ve got our invitation to participate in this event as the representative of medical schools in Egypt, we started to gather each other from all over the country to achieve bringing over 300 Medical students to share in the race under the name of IFMSA-Egypt.

IFMSA-Egypt Team proved itself to a great team, active, full of passion, united, holding hands and pushing each other for one cause; to support the cure from breast cancer in Egypt and all over the world. 

The team kept rocking the place and cheering, calling IFMSA name loudly, dancing, jumping or actually Flying for the Cure, and even doing the Hakka Dance, it was hard for people not to notice our team and their radiant enthusiasm.

In addition to the record we made by our team members number, and one of IFMSA-Egypt members who actually came in the first three females in the race, we are now, as IFMSA-Egypt, are considered as a main partner for the race, and will be more involved in this event in the upcoming years to lead the medical students all around Egypt in the breast cancer awareness activities among Egyptian medical students.

The team was lead a group of SCORA activist, Mr. Talal Marouf the current NORA, assisted by  Ms. Iman Ewais the current EMR co-RA & ex NORA, and Radwa Abdul Moneinm IFMSA-Egypt Coordinator of Mr. & Ms. Breastestis Project.

Please if you want any more information on how to participate in such activities or you want to know more about the Run for Cure, contact our NORA at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it