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Introduction According to the General Medical Council (GMC), it is a mandatory requirement for graduates to hold awareness on sustainable healthcare education (ESH). However, 1.8% of 850+ surveyed medical students were found to not have received formal exposure to ESH. Student MedAID London (SMAL), is a Community Interest Company created in 2020 which strives to address this gap, by promoting global health to healthcare students, as well as bridge the gap between sustainability and lack of resources in certain areas of the globe. From 2020, SMAL has embedded ESH in various series of social media informative campaigns. Additionally, it has provided various learning opportunities to increase students' knowledge and participation in global health. Aims and objectives of the research project or activity SMAL aims to promote sustainability and global health education to healthcare professionals and students, by designing advocacy and learning opportunities people can interact with, and by organising ways to redistribute unused medical equipment to low- and middle- income countries in need. SMAL's latest teaching series 'Careers in Global Health & Development', was carried out during October 2023. Method or approach The latest of SMAL's teaching series received an average of 24 responses across the 3 days of dedicated webinars, which were transmitted online. Out of 71 total answers, the majority had heard about the webinars through Medall (42%), followed by word of mouth (33%). Social media and freshers' fayres constituted the minority (24% and 8% respectively). Participants' confidence in the topic increased by more than 50% during the first and second days of the series, and by 25% on the third day. 70 out of 71 participants gave positive feedback on the series and the speakers, particularly mentioning how informative and interesting the chosen topics were. On average, engagement received 4.3*/5, and helpfulness 4.6*/5. Participants expressed the desire to participate in more events on the topic, and were eager to find out about more ways to get involved in global health in their future careers. Findings Secondly, between 2021 and 2023 we have received up to 580 donations to support a variety of healthcare settings by using the WHO sustainability criteria to evaluate specific offers for donation. Further methods to ensure sustainability include utilisation of the 'Flipped Model Operation' (where donated equipment must meets their needs to reduce stockpiling on both parties) and eligibility to receive particular types of equipment e.g. availability of a reliable water supply, to reduce incidence of inappropriate donations being made to communities ill equipped to operate them, constituting an increase in financial burden on their part by disposal costs, as well as loss of opportunity costs on our end, due to failure in ensuring distributive justice. Key messages SMAL actively strives to achieve a positive impact on climate action by establishing a network of donating and receiving organisations, in order to redistribute unused medical equipment where it is most needed. By promoting education on global health and promoting SMAL's work to recruit volunteers, the most recent teaching series showed positive impact and what great interest the participants had in making a positive impact, by engaging in global partnership and reducing waste.
Thamilmaran et al. (Fri,) studied this question.