This year Cairns hosted over 60 medical students for the annual pre-GHC workshop series. Two three-day workshops were held in parallel in the days immediately preceding GHC: Training New Trainers (TNT) and Think Global (TG). TNT aims to equip students with the skills needed to facilitate successful training workshops. It provides a fun environment to learn skills such as project management, presentation and communication skills, group motivation tools and more. Participating students then assisted in the running of workshops on Challenge Day of GHC. TG aims to educate students about various global health issues. This year, following closely on the heels of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, TG examined the roles and responsibilities of the health sector in sustainable development. During the workshops, students from medical schools all over Australia enjoyed collaborative and interactive presentations by AMSA trainers, and leaders in the medical profession and global health.

At the same time, 40 student leaders representing each global health group came together for the Presidents’ Workshop and AMSA Global Health (AGH) Council. For the first 1.5 days, the Presidents’ Workshop focuses on upskilling students in topics pertinent to leadership and emerging issues in global health. There is a strong focus on collaboration and sharing of experiences, interspersed with expert presentations on diverse topics such as sponsorship, global health challenges and communication and campaigns. The following 1.5 days consists of the biannual AGH Council, which is the representative body for the AMSA Global Health Committee. This is an opportunity for student leaders to identify and troubleshoot local organisational issues and address governance issues, as well as share success stories via the Projects competition, and work on opportunities for future collaboration. This year, Griffith University’s Ubuntu through Health project was awarded the AGH Council Choice award, and UNSW’s Global Health Short Course won the People’s Choice Award. AGH Council also provides an opportunity to discuss global health-related policy and future policy directions, and decide on strategic direction for the AGH. This year, we specifically discussed the recently passed Policy Statement on Access to Essential Medicines. Elections for the new AGH Management Team were also held, and they are looking forward to a successful and productive term.