Medact Leeds group meeting: August
2024-08-01 19:30 - 20:30 (Europe/London) | London
The Leeds group come together monthly for meetings on the 6th of the month. Meetings are online mostly and sometimes in person! Medact Leeds are organising locally for climate and health justice as part of the Health for a Green New Deal network, and also taking action to end the hostile environment, campaigning for Patients Not Passports. All are welcome. Please sign up to the mailing list to join the group.

Medact Bristol group meeting: August
2024-08-05 18:00 - 19:00 | London
Medact Bristol is interested and engaged in local, national and international issues that affect public health. Since its creation, Medact Bristol has focused its efforts on campaigns on climate, environment and sustainability, divestment, and migrant access to healthcare. The group’s current focus is supporting Reclaim our Buses, a campaign in Bristol to bring buses back into public control. New members are welcome.

Nuclear Weapons Group August meeting
2024-08-12 18:00 - 19:30 | London
Medact’s Nuclear Weapons Group represents the longest standing aspect of Medact’s work towards nuclear abolition, and to address war, armed violence and conflict as global threats to health.

We will meet to provide an update on our ongoing work, and discuss the current global political landscape as related to nuclear weapons and disarmament. Register below to receive the meeting link!

For more info or with questions, email Sarah: sarahlasoye@medact.org

Medact Glasgow group meeting: August
2024-08-13 18:30 - 19:30 | London
Medact Glasgow is a collective of healthcare workers, students and people from other related social disciplines. We organise around, learn about and share information on campaigns related to health justice.

Our current focus is on fighting fuel poverty. We are working alongside Fuel Poverty Action, who organise for affordable and sustainable energy and against the inadequate living conditions which are making people sick.

Our main meeting is in person (or you can join on Zoom) on the second Tuesday of each month – all are welcome! Please get in touch with us on glasgow@medact.org if you want to join our meetings or find out more, or subscribe to the mailing list:

Medact North East group meeting: August
2024-08-14 20:00 - 21:00 | London
Medact North East are a collective of health workers and students based across the North East, from Northumberland to Newcastle to Middlesbrough!

Currently we are working on a climate justice campaign, supporting a grassroots group to win the fight against a large waste incinerator on Teesside, which would pollute the air of the local community as well as accelerating the climate crisis.

We are also exploring campaigns around migrant health justice issues through our new ‘Migrant Health’ group. This includes supporting No to Hassockfield which is fighting to shut down a women’s detention centre in County Durham.

The group meets monthly. Each meeting is facilitated by a different person and they welcome new members! The time is used to discuss current campaigns and anything else relevant. For more information or to join a meeting in-person, get in touch at northeast@medact.org. To attend online, register to receive the Zoom link.

Securitisation of Health group meeting: August
2024-08-21 18:00 - 19:30 | London
What is the securitisation of health?

A number of policing and counter-extremism measures are embedded by the government into UK health services, which at times require health workers to work closely with the police and other security agencies.

These measures risk undermining therapeutic relationships, confidentiality and trust in practitioners – as well as drawing health services and workers into becoming an arm of policing and counter-terror agencies.

Through research and campaigns, Medact aims to shift understandings of ‘security’, from typically “hard” measures (border enforcement, a punitive criminal justice system, counter-terror measures) and advocate for collective and human security, health and wellbeing. Read more about our work on Securitisation here.

About the group

The Securitisation of Health group is for health workers interested in working on these issues through campaigning, lobbying and research. New members are welcome!

If you have any questions or concerns about attending, please email our Campaign Lead Sarah Lasoye at sarahlasoye@medact.org.

This event will be held online on Zoom.

Medact Bristol group meeting: September
2024-09-02 18:00 - 19:00 | London

Climate & Health: Energy Justice campaign New Joiners meeting
2024-09-03 18:30 - 19:30 | London
Medact’s Climate & Health Group is organising to improve policies to end the crisis of cold & damp homes and fuel poverty, and ensure our homes are not sites of illness.

This includes working alongside local groups to support local campaigns, as well as demanding policy change on a national level for better support for quality homes for all, energy justice & a rapid just transition away from fossil fuels.

The New Joiners meeting is a space to meet other Medact members and health workers interested in the intersections of climate, housing and energy justice. You have the opportunity to hear about:

Medact’s structure, mission and goals

History and function of the group

An overview of how we understand the roots causes of cold & damp homes & possible solutions

Current campaign and organising work

How to get involved!

If you’re looking for ways to contribute to affect meaningful change to one of the key climate justice issues in the UK. this is a great way to do it. You don’t have to be a regular member or a health worker to get involved—everyone is welcome

If you have any questions about attending, drop Maria, Climate Campaign lead, an email at mariacarvalho@medact.org

Medact Leeds group meeting: September
2024-09-05 19:30 - 20:30 | London

Medact Glasgow group meeting: September
2024-09-10 18:30 - 19:30 | London

Medact North East group meeting: September
2024-09-11 20:00 - 21:00 | London
Medact North East are a collective of health workers and students based across the North East, from Northumberland to Newcastle to Middlesbrough!
Currently we are working on a climate justice campaign, supporting a grassroots group to win the fight against a large waste incinerator on Teesside, which would pollute the air of the local community as well as accelerating the climate crisis.
We are also exploring campaigns around migrant health justice issues through our new ‘Migrant Health’ group. This includes supporting No to Hassockfield which is fighting to shut down a women’s detention centre in County Durham.
The group meets monthly. Each meeting is facilitated by a different person and they welcome new members! The time is used to discuss current campaigns and anything else relevant. For more information or to join a meeting in-person, get in touch at northeast@medact.org. or subscribe below.

Join the fight for Healthy Homes: New joiners meeting
2024-09-12 18:30 - 19:45 | London
The so-called housing crisis makes the spaces in which we live damp, mouldy, insecure and impossible to afford. The housing system prevents vast numbers of families from simply feeling at home, and calling the place they live a place of safety. Austerity and the commodification of housing has turned the domestic into a site of illness, violence, precarity, insecurity, and in some cases death.

We need urgent political action to respond to the public health crisis that health workers are witnessing. This requires rethinking housing beyond commodification and taking action to reclaim it as a public health asset. We need to reclaim housing for health.

It will take a movement, with tenants, health workers and all sectors of society working together to shift the narrative and end the public health crisis in housing. Join us to get involved with the fight for healthy homes!

In this meeting you’ll:

Find out about the group and our Housing and Health campaign

Understand what we understand by economic and health inequality,

Hear about ongoing projects and campaigns,

Learn how we can fight for housing justice

Hear from some of the people working in our different campaign areas, and

Explore the ways you can get involved

Nuclear Weapons Group September meeting
2024-09-16 18:00 - 19:30 | London

Securitisation of Health group meeting: September
2024-09-18 18:00 - 19:30 | London

AGM 2024 & Panel Discussion - Building solidarity movements and demanding health justice amid poly-crisis
2024-09-24 18:00 - 20:30 | London
The AGM is our yearly opportunity to come together and explore the overall running of Medact and to bring together members old and new from the UK and beyond. In addition to essential governance matters, we’re excited this year to be hosting a panel discisson:

Panel

The panel discussion will be followed by our AGM, where you’ll hear about successes and reflections from the last year of work across the Medact movement, an update on our organisational finances, and have a chance to vote in Trustee elections.

Everyone is welcome to join the meeting, but you must be a member to vote. If you would like to get involved in running Medact, why not join as a member today?

Submitting motions

The deadline for motion submissions has passed.

Election of Trustees

The deadline for Trustee applications has passed.

Logistics

We are hosting this year’s AGM online via Zoom. Register to let us know you are coming below, and provide any access requirements you may have. We will share the agenda as soon as it is finalised.

Speaker bios

Chairs:

Anuj Kapilashrami is an interdisciplinary social scientist, academic activist, and Professor in Global Health Policy and Equity in the School of Health & Social Care, and chair of Medact’s Board. Her current work focuses on advancing an intersectional approach to examining health inequalities and structural determinants of health and well-being. She has long been involved in People’s Health Movement (PHM) in India and the UK, formerly as Chair of PHM Scotland where she led the first public hearing on social determination of mental health and the development of people’s health manifesto for Scotland.

Kamran Abbasi is a doctor, journalist, editor and broadcaster. Following five years in hospital medicine, working in various medical specialties such as psychiatry and cardiology, he moved into senior editorial roles at the British Medical Journal from 1997 to 2005. He returned to The BMJ in his role as executive editor for content, leading the journal’s strategic growth internationally, digitally, and in print. Kamran was made Editor in chief of the BMJ in December 2021.

Panelists:

Guppi Bola is a senior economic strategist, previous Interim-Director of Medact and formerly Chair of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. In 2020 she explored themes of planetary dysregulation, illness and oppression, and their intersections with the economy for Common Wealth using her 15 years of experience in climate and public health organising. More recently, she has spent the past five years establishing Decolonising Economics, alongside her partner in crime Noni Makuyana.

Rhiannon Mihranian is doctor, organiser, and researcher focused on health justice as a tool for radical systems change. Her work focuses on environmental justice, anti-colonialism, and re-imagining health systems.

Martin Drewry is CEO of Health Poverty Action (HPA) – an international NGO part of the People’s Health Movement, and ally of Medact. HPA works in 15 countries, with 400 staff mostly from the marginalised communities they serve. A background in Peace Studies, Martin played key roles in several large coalition campaigns.

Dr. Inga Blum is a neurologist from Hamburg, Germany currently specializing in family medicine. She joined IPPNW as a medical student with an interest in global health and justice and got involved in ICAN at its founding at the IPPNW World Congress in Helsinki in 2006. In her view the abolition of nuclear weapons is not only an urgent necessity because of the acute danger nuclear weapons pose for global survival but likewise a great chance to shift international security policies from being based on the threat of mutual annihilation to a human security system based on cooperation. Having witnessed the constant failure of disarmament conferences as a member of IPPNW Delegations she initiated a study on attitudes towards nuclear weapons among political decision-makers at the University of Hamburg. She has conducted numerous workshops and delivered speeches with a special focus on motivating the next generation to get active for nuclear disarmament and is active in promoting the Ban Treaty in Germany. She served on the board of the German section of IPPNW from 2013 to 2021 and has started the annual IPPNW Summer Camp to protest against the stationing of NATO nuclear weapons in Büchel, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Economic Justice National Organising Group Meeting
2024-10-02 19:00 - 20:00, 2024-10-30 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
The Medact Economic Justice & Health group meets regularly to discuss current and future campaigns, plan events, work on strategy and share knowledge. The group is open to all and welcomes new members.

The main focus of this meeting will be to discuss the strategy of our housing and health lobbying and advocacy campaign focusing on Royal Colleges. We will also provide updates on our work as part of the Homes for Us alliance.

If you have any questions please contact jordilopezbotey@medact.org!

Medact Leeds group meeting: October
2024-10-03 19:30 - 20:30 | London

Medact Bristol group meeting: October
2024-10-07 18:00 - 19:00 | London

Medact Glasgow group meeting: October
2024-10-08 18:30 - 19:30 | London

Medact North East group meeting: October
2024-10-09 20:00 - 21:00 | London

Securitisation of Health group meeting: October
2024-10-16 18:00 - 19:30 | London

Nuclear Weapons Group meeting: October
2024-10-17 18:00 - 19:30 | London

London Housing & Health meeting: October
2024-10-17 18:45 - 20:30 | Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London, London, E1 5QJ, United Kingdom
Medact’s Housing & Health Group is organising to improve policies for better access to secure and sustainable housing.

This includes working alongside local groups to support local campaigns, as well as demanding policy change on a national level for better support for social housing, community-owned housing stock and protections for renters.

In this meeting, you will be hearing from the members involved in our work, get updates on our local organising, and help us develop the next steps and identify potential campaigns in other boroughs.

You don’t have to be a regular member of the Economic Justice &Health group or a health worker to get involved – everyone is welcome.

Sign up to the Medact London email list to hear about all Housing & Health London Meetings! If you’re unable to attend meetings but keen to get involved or develop a local campaign, you can contact Jordi: jordilopezbotey@medact.org.

Register to attend!

Medact Bristol group meeting: November
2024-11-04 18:00 - 19:00 | London

Medact Brighton group meeting – November
2024-11-06 19:00 - 20:30 | London
Since 2018, the Brighton group has been creating a space in the city for health workers and friends to come together, to learn from each other, support each other, and to fight together for health justice.

If you want to get involved email brighton@medact.org.

Medact Leeds group meeting: November
2024-11-07 19:30 - 20:30 | London

Medact Glasgow group meeting: November
2024-11-12 18:30 - 19:30 | London

Medact North East group meeting: November
2024-11-13 20:00 - 21:00 | London

Nuclear Weapons Group meeting: November
2024-11-14 18:00 - 19:30 | London
