Giuseppe Laterza, editor, will be with us at the Annual Meeting to give voice to Africa. He tells us about his idea of restarting, during this global pandemic that we are all still going through and how important it is to restart with others, starting with those less fortunate than us, such as our African brothers, so as not to leave anyone behind.
Why is it important to attend the Annual Meeting?
After such a long period of separation, which for many has unfortunately been a period of loneliness and even suffering, being in Padua again with the Cuamm community is not only a joy for the spirit but also a propellant/incentive/stimulus of that solidarity-based imagination that we need and will need in the coming years.
What does starting again mean to you?
Restart is a word that evokes many images and feelings. This global pandemic has opened our eyes to what Cuamm has known and practiced for many years in the work of many volunteers every day: our health is global and does not depend only on medicine or health conditions, but on many complex factors: demographics, economic conditions and many others. I think that starting from this teaching, we need to rethink ourselves as part of a global network, with which we need to constantly dialogue.
Starting again “with”…?
I would say with others, with all the others, no one excluded.
One of our authors, a great philosopher, Zygmunt Bauman wrote in his books that today there are in the world – but also at home – ‘discards of humanity’: those people cut off from civil and social life only because they are not useful to production and are not valued by the market, as Pope Francis also often says. I think we need to dialogue with them first! As Cuamm does and as it has done in many years of work.
Dante Carraro explains this very well in his book with Paolo Di Paolo: taking care of others, starting with those less fortunate than us, especially our African brothers and sisters, enriches us. This is not a rhetorical phrase: it makes us better because we will have cultivated the essence of our humanity. It seems like a simple concept, but in reality it is not easy. This testimony has to be showed, shared, with the right words, popularized and extended to a wider audience. The alliance between the world of culture with Cuamm and the other associations that work in the field is fundamental from this point of view. The world of culture cannot only rework something that is perhaps produced in the university, in research or by imaginative writers. It must embrace the totality of activities and share them so that they can reach many, many, if not all.
The pandemic has taught us that our health is global and Federico Fama, National President of Seism, knows it well. He testifies to the commitment of medical students who take up every day the great challenge of stimulating a cultural change, especially among young people, to become active players in promoting the right to health for all.
Why is it important to participate in the Annual Meeting?
Participating in the Annual Meeting is a ritual moment to give a face to the enormous work carried out by Cuamm year after year. Doing Global Health also means having opportunities to compare all the different realities and figures that deal with health, and the Annual Meeting is almost a holiday in this sense: it allows us to meet, to share together, and to grow.
This is also our opportunity to reaffirm our commitment as medical students to a great cause such as the one carried out by Cuamm: unfortunately we won’t be able to be physically present, but we will still give our contribution and bring our voice as future health professionals interested in a global approach to health: a great challenge, which we are proud to be able to say we face together with Cuamm.
What does starting again mean to you?
Personally, I take the word restart to mean: the last two years have been a great challenge and a huge pain for health systems around the world, unprepared for a global challenge such as a pandemic. For me, restarting means rebuilding: it is necessary to take stock of what is not working, and to change the approach with which it is faced. Health starts with education, and not just from medical students: a wide range of disciplines and skills are needed to enable us to address and defeat future health challenges, and it is crucial that change starts at all levels, including that of medical students, making them discover the inherently political role they play as health promoters in society.
Starting again with?
Starting again with determination, so that we can meet the challenges of the future with the awareness of the present and the lessons of the past, but above all, starting over with enthusiasm, which is one of the strongest drivers of change.
