SCORA, the Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including AIDS, mainly focuses on topics related to HIV/AIDS, prevention and sexuality in a broad view. The two main projects carried out in SCORA are activities around December 1st: World-AIDS-Day, and prevention programs for high-school-students.

SCORA aims to raise awareness on a variety of reproductive health issues amongst the wide public, to spread the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STI's) and to decrease stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

The standing committee on AIDS and STD's (SCOAS) was formed within the IFMSA in 1992 as the result of an IFMSA concern about the raising numbers regarding the epidemic. In 1998 the name was changed to SCORA after realising that there was much more to do than just working against HIV/AIDS and that we had to step back a bit and start at an earlier point of the issue.

There is also an exchange within SCORA, with several countries participating at the moment and there are more to come. Depending on the country, time and topics vary. There are exchanges on HIV treatment/testing, HIV and STI prevention strategies, legislation, epidemiology, HIV-research, ethics, different aspects of sexuality, "Children, AIDS and Medical Students" as well as lectures and seminars, round table discussions with social workers and so on. The program gives local and international participants a holistic view of HIV/AIDS, focusing on the complexity of this multifaceted issue. On December 1st, World AIDS Day, medical students all over the world try to raise awareness through numerous activities, such as lectures, exhibitions, distribution of condoms and pamphlets, charity concerts etc.Through the sexual prevention work SCORA does, we aim to raise awareness amongst our target group (usually 12-17 years), talk openly about prevention, safe sex, puberty and growing up, protecting unwanted pregnancy and anything related to sex. Medical students do not only visit teenagers in schools but also other youth groups. The projects are a little different in each country, but mostly we have the same basis: interactive methods to get people involved and to get them thinking, we focus on talking and communication without giving long lectures and the whole session should be as much fun and (inter-)action as possible.

In 2003 European countries with similar cultural backgrounds have founded the Northern European Co-operation of Sexual Education projects (NECSE) to meet once a year for a 4-day-workshop where they can exchange experiences, methods and ideas to combine their knowledge and to train each other.

SCORA also works on issues such as gender equality, women's rights, female genital mutilation, child abuse, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, cancers of the reproductive system and sexual orientation, i.e. the rights of homosexuals.

In joined projects with other standing committees themes as HIV and human rights (together with SCORP - human rights and peace) or - in cooperation with SCOPH (public health) - HIV and TB are addressed since when working on HIV and TB one can hardly discuss the one disease without the other.

The only way of fighting AIDS is through prevention. The only way of prevention is through education.

Feel free to contact the SCORA-Director under scorad-at-ifmsa.org for any further questions you might have.