Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) Seeks to Become a Chartered Student Organization at SLU
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is an international organization of students across all disciplines that seeks to pursue a better world where essential medicines are accessible and affordable for all.
One way UAEM has advocated for accessible medicine is through their campaign, “Free The Vaccine for Covid-19,” which has motivated individuals across 30 different countries to “urge governments, pharmaceutical corporations and university administrations” to increase access to COVID test kits, treatments, and vaccines in order to end the skewed distribution of vaccines to other less fortunate countries.
Another advocacy campaign they've run is called “Take Back Our Medicines,” which advocates for universities to make drug research results public as opposed to transferring them to private pharmaceutical companies, in an effort to cut down on medicine costs.
UAEM-at-SLU secretary Mohammed Ashkar hopes that bringing this organization to campus “will result in a stronger SLU and a stronger world.”
The group organized in the fall of 2020 with hopes to become an official CSO (Chartered Student Organization) by next fall. UAEM is open to all undergraduate and graduate students and, given the interdisciplinary nature of the group, welcomes students across all SLU colleges. Once in-person campus activities resumed, the executive board was excited to increase its amount of volunteer events and activities, with a big focus on promoting vaccine clinics around the community. They also plan on creating freshman level e-board positions within the organization, as all current members are juniors, in hopes of remaining active for years to come.
“We want to engage individuals who are listening, and advocate for that conversation to be had,” says Vice President Nitya Nagarajan, when discussing how she wants students at SLU to have a voice when it comes to learning and advocating for affordable healthcare for all.
The executive board has met and discussed with SLU Assistant Professor of Health Management and Policy, Dr. Kevin Syberg, about working together to promote the organization at SLU and gain faculty support to cement UAEM as a CSO for all to join.
If you have any questions or are curious about joining, please contact Mohammed Ashkar at mohammed.ashkar@slu.edu.
College for Public Health and Social Justice
The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities. It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.
Guided by a mission of social justice and focus on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the College offers nationally recognized programs in public health, social work, health administration, applied behavior analysis, and criminology and criminal justice.