What follows is an abstract of BoHeMSA presentation by Mirza Muminovic which was presented at the Second Congress of Family Medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 1998.

Many activities of medical students world-wide are related to programs and projects of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) and its National Member Organizations. Speaking of medical students from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the students involved in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Medical Students' Association (BoHeMSA) have had an opportunity to be part of a few projects and several meetings of IFMSA. Some of the following student activities are just examples based on positive experiences from many countries.

Speaking of education, more attention could be paid to the following three issues:

Problem-based learning (PBL)
Both quite old in some universities and quite new in some other ones, the aim of PBL is to overcome various drawbacks in the traditional method of instruction, for instance passive role of students during lectures, lack of integration between disciplines and especially difficulties of later applying theory in practice. PBL is an interesting and quite easy solution for connecting theory and practice, quite acceptable for medical students from very beginning of their studies.
Starting point of PBL in BiH could be found in workshops or informative lectures, as well as within student scientific societies. Keeping an old traditional method of learning, but slowly introducing the new one could be of great help in establishing better future doctors. However, the biggest obstacle lies in lack of human resources for a proper PBL course within medical curriculum, and even more in huge lack of modern libraries with computer-searchable data bases and Internet access. Hopefully, the international community (especially World Bank and others working in BiH today) will focus some of their activities to medical education, as it is where the basis of a modern and efficient future health system is.

Doctor-patient communication
There is a great number of different teaching techniques and models when we speak of doctor-patient communication. How to tell to a person that he/she is having some serious health problems? The solution is for sure not in: "Don't worry, you can live many years with this!". Effective and careful communication and attitude enhance medical problem solving, information transfer, considerations and decision making, as well as emotional support to patients.
When speaking of such an education, an easy approach could be made through workshops or series of lectures based on simple role-plays in which professional situation is created. In this way, students are exchanging roles of being doctor or patients, while others have an opportunity to observe and to comment all together at the end of each role-play. As an outcome, better emotional, communicative and relational aspects of future medical professionals is expected. That contributes to the satisfaction of patients and can also enhance the working pleasure of doctors.

Student exchanges
The exchange program has a very long tradition within medical student community and has been the major reason for forming of IFMSA and many other associations. Every year, more than 4,000 students all over the world are taking part in exchange only within IFMSA (run by students), and not to mention many others. Within the program, students are given an opportunity to work abroad for a month, together with local health professionals in almost all fields of medicine.
Before the war, both incoming and outgoing exchange students was something so ordinary in all our faculties. Unfortunately, such a program is still not properly established in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the war, although BoHeMSA has succeeded to sent several students for such practice, mainly to Sweden. Importance of supporting such an initiative lies in fact that exchange program is more than a good opportunity for Bosnian medical students to work in modern health facilities abroad, and in that way bridging the gap in following the standards of modern medical technology.

Speaking of more concrete activities which could involve medical students in health care within community in BiH, what follows are a few ideas for action:

Community service
It is not just youth that can be easily addressed by students, but also wider community. There is a number of examples world-wide where students are taking part in activities related to health of their communities. Whether it is a simple screening of blood pressure or even taking part in national vaccination programs. In that way, the future doctors are not simply treating patients but are also taking a positive interest in community health activities which will be of benefit for a large number of people.
Speaking of BiH, some time ago student service within community was quite a normal activity and very respected one. Even today, simple examinations that can easily be done by students could be quite helpful in finding some health problems before it is too late. Whether this would be done through some projects focusing on some specific groups (like refugees, orphans, elderly, etc.) or targeting our local communities in general, this would be very appreciated. Benefits of such an activity are obvious both for healthier population but also for better trained and experienced future doctors.

Peer education
All over the world, medical students are involved in a variety of projects and activities focused on their peers, children and youth. Trained to become youth leaders in their communities, students as peer educators are capable of teaching about health and healthier behaviour. It is well known that such an education can play an important role in tries to prevent specific diseases by changing someone's attitude and behaviour. This is exemplified by an old Chinese proverb: "Tell me... I'll forget. Show me... I'll remember. Involve me... I'll understand".
Specifically for our community, peer education can be a quite efficient tool in establishing of a healthy behaviour in youth, probably the most important target group when speaking of disease prevention. Students could be very easily involved as lecturers on different topics related to health. Importance of peer education lies in fact that many people, but especially youth, who are healthy today, could die of AIDS or have serious health problems simply because of their unhealthy behaviour. An example for such activities within BoHeMSA is related to education on HIV/AIDS within World AIDS Days in last few years. Hopefully, this was only the first step.

Health promotion
There is a big number of different groups, associations or services who are engaged in health promotion, especially if we speak of sexual behaviour, non-smoking or clean and healthy environment. Wherever you go, you can find loads of different informative leaflets related to health, you can hear of different actions or manifestations. All with a common goal - better informed and better educated patient within community.
It is not a secret that such activities that are quite common world-wide, are quite modest or even non-existing in some areas of our country. So, this is another sector where students' assistance can be of great use and help. There are already some quite good examples even within BoHeMSA like promotion of our own posters and leaflets on AIDS and health risks of tobacco use, as well as educational informative talk-shows (focused on AIDS, TB, hypertension, etc.) on a local radio station. As always, for a healthier people and healthier environment in BiH.

The given examples and ideas are just some suggestions of a better student involvement in their communities which could be of great help in bridging a gap of being a medical student and becoming a future doctor. And it is not just about medical experience gained from such activities but also about better established link between health care providers and the community.

Besides that, all the above mentioned ideas and activities are quite easy to do, and even more important, they are pretty cheap (apart from PBL that really needs a good established modern libraries as its background) or maybe to say cost-efficient. Role-plays are totally free, student exchanges need only an average Bosnian celery per a student for a whole month stay abroad (which is not much, isn't it?), community service and peer education are more-less free in a way, while health promotion needs only some small money for printing costs of paper materials.

Most of activities could and should be organized and run by medical students themselves, but of course should be supported by their universities. As the main problem of working on these activities is lack of spare time, some of the activities should be incorporated in medical curriculum, or at least there should be some reward or recognition given by the universities for the performed work. In that way, everyone would be satisfied, universities for having such students, and students for having recognition for their work while gaining their practical experience. And at the end (or at the very beginning) the community itself, better and healthier, and happy to have such students of medicine.