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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

During the ongoing coronavirus 

pandemic, 
students 
and 
young 

professionals from around the world 

have come together to form a global 

movement called #Students_Against_

COVID, 
which 
is 
dedicated 
to 

bringing students and allies together 

to spread awareness about the severity 

of the virus. They strive to facilitate 

effective and socially responsible 

collaboration and innovation while 

working to champion scientifically-

based principles.

U-M alum Alina Haque, media 

outreach 
coordinator 
of 
SAC, 

described 
how 
she 
started 
the 

movement with her sister, Marina 

Haque, a 2020 dual Medical Doctor 

and 
Master 
of 
Public 
Health 

candidate 
at 
the 
University 
of 

Michigan. On March 16, she tweeted 

asking students to share what they 

were doing regarding the COVID-19 

crisis using the hashtag #Students_

Against_COVID so people would be 

better able to connect.

“My sister started receiving more 

and more responses from student 

activists around the world who were 

eager to share and connect what they 

were doing to help with the COVID 

crisis,” 
Alina 
Haque 
responded. 

“One of the first persons to connect 

with her was a medical student from 

Greece, who helped bring in several 

more health care students around the 

globe. Together, they decided to make 

a platform for all students and allies 

to more effectively collaborate.”

In an email to The Daily, Marina 

Haque said her primary motivation 

for starting the movement is to spread 

knowledge and credible information. 

“The movement strives to champion 

science, foster inclusion, and support 

healthcare 
workers 
during 
this 

critical time,” Marina Haque wrote. 

“A lot of what we are seeing happening 

around us in the world is because 

people did not listen to scientists. A 

lot of people worldwide are dying, and 

now, more than ever, is the time to 

listen to scientists and quite frankly, 

keep listening to scientists.” 

Alina Haque said the platform first 

started as a simple WhatsApp group 

chat but quickly expanded as people 

began taking on new initiatives.

“Someone would say, ‘I’m really 

interested in helping with a mental 

health 
initiative,’ 
and 
they 
will 

make their own separate group chat 

and report back to a team of lead 

facilitators,” Alina Haque said. “And 

someone else will say, ‘I’m really 

interested 
in 
collecting 
personal 

protective equipment,’ and they will 

make their own group chat.”

All of these small groups fall under 

the umbrella of Students Against 

COVID. Currently, the group consists 

of more than 150 students and spans 

across more than 40 countries.

When Ana Sofia Mota, a final 

year medical student in Lisbon, 

Portugal, first joined SAC, she said 

she was surprised by both the scale 

of the movement and the amount of 

coordination involved.

“I was overwhelmed by how big it 

was,” Mota said. “I got into WhatsApp, 

and I see so many messages, and I was 

saying, ‘What’s happening? How can 

these people be so efficient?’ They are 

all so different, yet they work together 

so well.”

Alina Haque said the main goal 

of SAC is to spread awareness about 

the severity of the crisis and offer 

educational information regarding 

COVID-19.

“One thing that we have is a 

translation 
team,” 
Alina 
Haque 

said. “They collectively speak 25+ 

languages to try to ensure our content 

is widely accessible. We’ve created 

COVID-19 informational flyers, for 

example, and paired with other health 

literacy movements to help widely 

disseminate information.”

Lolita Matishova, a second-year 

internal medicine intern at Kharkiv 

Medical Academy in Ukraine and a 

member of the translation team, said 

a platform like SAC is crucial to keep 

people informed during this time of 

crisis.

“We are students with a lot 

of information, and we use this 

platform to spread that information,” 

Matishova said. “What’s even more 

important is that we also translated 

them into different languages, so 

other people can read them in their 

own language without any challenge.”

One of SAC’s recent efforts was 

the SafeHand challenge video, which 

had members from around the world 

demonstrating correct hand-washing 

techniques.

Aman Tahir, an incoming U-M 

student and part of the SAC media 

team, 
expressed 
her 
excitement 

at seeing a collective global effort 

unfold, particularly when watching 

the SafeHand video for the first time.

“It was an inspiring educational 

video, compiled by talented people 

from around the globe,” Tahir said. 

“I felt immense joy watching the 

video knowing that there are such 

amazing people in this movement 

who have spectacular ideas and 

execution of projects. I know that this 

organization has so much in store, 

and I am optimistic about its future 

endeavors.”

SAC 
members 
not 
only 
work 

within 
SAC-managed 
platforms 

but are often part of various other 

forms of COVID-related activism 

in their local communities. Ramsha 

Akhund, a medical student at Aga 

Khan University Hospital in Karachi, 

Pakistan and SAC member, is also 

involved with a local relief effort 

called The Student Taskforce Against 

COVID-19.

“We helped set up a helpline in the 

hospital so the students can answer 

questions on-call,” Akhund said, “So 

that the health workers can focus on 

the front line and students can help 

behind the scenes.”

Alina 
Haque 
mentioned 
a 

collaborative effort with MedSupply 

Drive to collect personal protective 

equipment for local hospitals and 

health workers.

JIALIN ZHANG
Daily Staff Reporter

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ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Students adapt to working at home by creating study spaces to help them focus on online lectures and discussions.
Students undertake global 
collaboration to stop virus

Young adults, professionals work together to pool resources, 
time to help combat worldwide pandemic, help communities

2A — Wednesday, April 8, 2020

See STUDENTS, Page 3A

