The Morning SCOPHian August 2012

Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

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Standing Committee on Public Health

IFMSA

The mission of IFMSA

was founded in May 1951 and is run by medical students, for medical students, on a non-profit basis. IFMSA is officially recognised as a non-governmental organisation within the United Nations’ system and has official relations with the World Health Organisation.

It is the international forum for medical students, and one of the largest student organisations in the world.

is to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues. Through our programs and opportunities, we develop culturally sensitive students of medicine, intent on influencing the transnational inequalities that shape the health of our planet.

Imprint Editors in Chief Esra H. Alzaid, SA Content Editors & proofreading

Hesham Ali, Egypt Zahra Zeinali, Iran Laura Alves de Figueiredo, Brazil Punya Hari Dahal, Nepal Luz del Pilar Revolledo Calizaya, Perú

Design/Layout Ibrahim Kandeel, Egypt

Publisher

International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations General Secretariat: IFMSA c/o WMA B.P. 63 01212 Ferney-Voltaire, France Phone: +33 450 404 759 Fax: +33 450 405 937 Email: gs@ifmsa.org Homepage: www.ifmsa.org

Contacts publications@ifmsa.org

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Content

Introduction.............................................3 Antibiotic Resistance.................................4 Eating Disorders......................................5 Donate blood .........................................6 The joy of Christmas................................8 Does selenium prevent cancer?................9 HOW SCOPH rocked ARM....................10 A single careless deed which ruined my life forever.......................................12 Antibiotics – a lost war?.........................14 Road safety...........................................15 A hospice for children suffering from leukemia..............................................16

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Contamination, climate change and health:Public enemies...........................18 World No Tobacco Day 2012...............20 Morning SCOPHian team ....................22

Standing Committee on Public Health

Intro Morning SCOPHians

Dearest SCOPH-family!

Anna Klicpera SCOPH Director

It is August already- and with our second General Assembly 2012 coming up, I am happy to also be presenting the August edition of the “Morning SCOPHian”.

In the last ten months that I have been working for SCOPH as the Director of this amazing standing committee, I had the pleasure to be involved in a lot of the projects happening around the world. I got to experience first-hand the motivation of SCOPH members and what they can achieve.

I learned how SCOPH-members are going into local schools to raise awareness on the issue of substance abuse, I saw how members from five different countries worked together to set up an international project for the “World No Tobacco Day” and I heard of the success of a campaign on blood donation conducted in several NMOs. Working with people passionate to change the world for a better and being a part of the orange SCOPH-family, was a truly inspiring experience.

This edition of “Morning SCOPHian” gives you an insight into the SCOPH-world and will hopefully inspire you as much. You can read about the projects other SCOPH-members are conducting and about public health issues medical students around the world are occupied with.

In the end, that is the essence of our work: broadening our horizon to think about the global aspects that lead to the diseases we learn about in our medical schools and having the courage to start project tackling these issues.

I want to leave you with a citation that expresses the spirit of SCOPH: „ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.“ (Margaret Mead) Enjoy reading this edition of the “Morning SCOPHian”!

Orange hugs,

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Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

Antibiotic

Resistance- Time to Act!

About seventy years ago one of the world’s greatest inventions was introduced to the global society. The man who discovered it was named Alexander Fleming and stakeholders in the medical field in a few years . the item that was discovered was antibiotics.

We will inherit the possibilities of modern medicine, but also the problems connected to it, includAntibiotics revolutionized the world of medicine when ing AR. To manage this task medical students have they were first introduced in the 1940s transforming to be educated and receive good training on how to once deadly diseases into manageable infections. Due to deal with AR. It is crucial that medical school curoveruse and irresponsible use, we are now seeing this ricula addresses the problem related to AR poses a valuable resource lose its effects on bacteria. This has great risk for a continuation of the same mistakes we see today in health care all over the world (anbecome known as ’Antibiotic Resistance (AR)’ .

tibiotics being used in an improper way and as a result contributing to new resistance strains develWHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, stated in her oping leaving us without any proper treatment for speech on last year’s World Health Day “The emergence infections).

and spread of drug-resistant pathogens has accelerated.

More and more essential medicines are failing. The therapeutic arsenal is shrinking. The speed with which these drugs are being lost far outpaces the development of replacement drugs. In fact, the R&D pipeline for new antimicrobials has practically run dry”. In short, the time to act is now.

SCOPH is now setting up a permanent small working group (SWG) aiming to raise the issue about antibiotic resistance. The groups’ main goal will be to set up campaigns, collect and distribute material and to find partner organizations in this field to cooperate with. In order to make this project successful we ask all countries and regions to take part. If you’re interested or if you are already working with antibiotic resistance please contact me at: antibioticresistance.timetoact@gmail.com

Project coordinators: Cecilia Kållberg, IFMSA-Sweden It’s hard to deny the importance of antibiotics to infec- Jannie Dressler, IMCC-Denmark tious diseases. However antibiotics have proven to also play a great role in other fields of medicine such as surgical procedures, transplantations and when treating immune deficient patients such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, preterm babies and people infected with HIV (1, 2). Research on the effects of non-functional antibiotics is pointing towards an increased risk for secondary complication, increased mortality rates and increased economical costs causing great strain on health care systems worldwide (3, 4, 5). It should therefore be a top priority for everybody affected (patients, general population, health care professional and students, politicians and governments etc.) that the problem of AR is addressed.

Medical students all over the world will enter the global health work force and become one of the most influential

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Standing Committee on Public Health

Eating Disorders Awareness Do you know which mental illness has the highest mortality rate? If your answer is “eating disorders” then you are right – 5-10% of the affected die within 10 years and 18-20% within 20 years. They are also number one killer of girls and young women in 1525 age group – without any help from others, they die due to complications or suicides.The problem is common and you probably know someone with eating disorders, whether you are aware of it or not.

1 of 20 young females suffer from eating disorders – what does it mean? Nothing other, than that in average class in high school there’s at least one girl with eating disorders – and believe me, the experience shows that it is definitely true. Also, thanks to media, television and fashion industry it’s only getting worse with eating disorders hurting as young girls as 9 years old.

Unfortunately, the majority isn’t aware of the problem... Is there anything we can do about it? Yes there is – and MMSA, IFMSA-Mexico and IFMSA-Poland decided to take action! “Eating Disorders Awareness” Transnational Project (established on GA AM 2009) is an umbrella project aiming through various initiatives to raise awareness of the problem, as well as to provide medical students with knowledge and skills to help their patients.

And what is these initiative?

“Peer Education on Eating Disorders” aims the high school students, late elementary schools pupils – a high risk group for developing eating disorders – and also their parents. As we are not able to help suffering just by lessons, we draw attention to the problem to the surroundings – we teach what the eating disorders are, what the worrying signals are and what eating disorders are leading to. Also, we give telephone number of the local help line for suffering from eating disorders!

shops for students, we prepare them to help people with eating disorders to understand the complexity of the problem. Thanks to our trainings, The future doctors are better prepared to deal with and treat anorexia and bulimia.

Public happenings are always very efficient in raising awareness – so is “Campaign on Eating Disorders”. Every year in Malta the public awareness on eating disorders is reached by spreading information on the disease and recommended exercises routines for healthy losing weight. And how to get someone attention? Of course with freebees! Cereal bars are being given away with a self-esteem-boosting message wrapped around it – now that’s creativity!

Last but not least – the ‘Fashion Show Against Anorexia and Bulimia’ is an awesome idea that was introduced in Mexico and then was shipped across the sea to Poland in 2009 – and getting more and more attention from other NMOs. Basically, the project is all about organizing a casting and a public fashion show – in the mall or in the open – it’s your choice!. The idea of the project is to fight the medial image of beauty – and show that the real beauty of the human body is in the healthy human body!

The show is followed up with conferences and talks of invited guests and psychologists, so every interested person can get needed information!

It sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? By now, there are 3 involved NMOs – and we would be really glad if more would join in our struggle! If you’re interested and looking for more information – I’d be more than happy to share with you all of our materials and help you in setting up the project in you NMO :) The only thing left is to write me at t.trojnowski@yahoo.com – I can’t wait to hear from you!

As future doctors, we ought to possess at least basic knowledge about eating disorders – with work

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Authors: Vlad Deaconescu National Project Coordinator Ioana Miron – Local Project Coordinator SSMB Ever wondered how you can become a hero?

Donate blood and you can save someone’s life!

Many serious health problems involve transfusion of blood donated by people like me and you, in order to save lives. He may be a child, a parent or a close friend who needs this unconditional chance to survive.

As a campaign of great tradition, seriousness and impact on the society, we enjoy with each edition the extended support of the press and the media which, together with our own efforts of advertising, help us take our humanitarian appeal to thousands of Romanians, out of which over 2600 answer the call.

The campaign has been turned into an opportunity to unify the student body towards a common goal, The project aims to improve the blood sup- to create a pretext among hundreds of medical students, to find a spirit of cohesion through this battle plies in hospitals: and uplifting gesture against a problem that conAn extensive Collection of Blood; cerns everyone.

Organizing a strong INFORMATION and social responsibility campaign in this mat- Facing death every day, we as medical students, know how much can a small gesture mean to someter. one in need. This is the aim that turned a group into By organizing the bi-annual project ‹›Do- a force! The need is constant, Gratitude is instant! nate blood! Be the hero!››, the coordinators have always aimed to improve one of the biggest problems that hospital units in Romania face: the lack of blood.

Donate blood! Be a hero!

Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

Every time, the campaign takes place over a period of five days, when in addition to the donation process itself, we try to raise awareness about the importance of donating blood through informative materials (leaflets, posters, media & press articles) and pass the advice of the medical personnel that manages the location of harvest.

All campaigns were full of success. The number of donors increased from one edition to another, as well as the given support from sponsors and media. Last year, summing up the campaigns, in just two weeks, we had gathered about 5500 donors in Romania, which translates into 2200 L of blood that can be used in nearly 1700 medical interventions.

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Standing Committee on Public Health

Motto: “If every one of us would donate the smallest thing for Christmas think how many children would give us a smile as gift in return?”

As we all know, Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in many countries around the world, being a commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. There are many customs around the world, most of which include decorating a Christmas tree, giving presents to people close to your heart, decorating the house and baking delicious desserts, cookies and pastries.

Every year, Romanian SCOPHians try to bring the Christmas spirit into the hearts of children living in orphanages, those spending this holiday period in different hospitals around the country and underprivileged children living in remote locations, in villages or hamlets.

This year has been no different, SCOPHians around Romania joining forces to help Father Christmas reach everyone. Starting early this semester, each local organization began a charitable series of events, in order to raise money for decorations and gifts. All of the local organizations received donations from students and professors; some even received sponsorships from different companies. Individual actions consisted of a charity Christmas Carol Concert, student parties, a Winter Prom and even movie projection nights with a donation-based entrance, a charity sale of Christmas Cards and some students even held a dessert cooking contest, having all the food donated to our actions.

Without our volunteers, our organization wouldn’t work, and this year for Christmas, our volunteers

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Authors: Cristian Mihon – LPO SSMT (Medical Students Association Timisoara) Raluca Storoj – LPO ASSM (Medical Students Association Brasov) NMO: FASMR (Romania)

worked hard along our side. After all the shopping for gifts, done in Father Christmas’ name, and after packing all the gifts in festive wrappings, it was the time to visit the children. Most of the volunteers were welcomed with joy and happiness, children sang Christmas carols for us, but we showed them that under our white coats, we’re nothing else but older children. We sang Christmas carols with the children, we played with the hospitalized children and healed their teddy bears, we held small parties with cookies and soda and some organizations even managed to bring Santa Claus with them to the children.

Some local organizations held a hand crafting event, where volunteers along with the children hand-crafted figurines, globes for Christmas trees and many other items made out of colored paper.

This year, through the actions of all Romanian SCOPHians we managed to bring the Christmas spirit in the hearts of almost 600 orphan children and 400 hospitalized children. One of our local organizations even visited the local nursing home, giving presents to the residents and decorating their rooms.

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Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

The controversy remains: Does selenium prevent cancer?

First discovered as an element in 1817 by Jons Berzelius, selenium was officially recognized as an essential trace mineral, beneficial to human health in small quantities. Although plants serve as the major dietary source of selenium, some meats, seafood and nuts also serve as mineral sources. In plants, free selenium is combined with the amino acids methionine and cysteine to produce chelated forms of selenium: selenomethione and selenocysteine. Selenocysteine accounts for the biological activity of selenium, whereas selenomethione is a substitute substrate for methionine in metabolic reactions1. Once in the body, chelated selenium binds to proteins producing selenoproteins, namely seleniumdependent glutathione peroxidases, thioredoxin reductases and iodothyronine deiodinases1. As selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidases act as antioxidants, iodothyronine deiodinases aid in regulation of thyroid hormone metabolism and thioredoxin reductases play a vital role in the regeneration of ascorbic acid from its metabolites1.

The association between selenium and cancer prevention first arose in the 1960s, shortly after selenium was declared to be an essential nutrient in the 1950s1. With selenium’s antioxidant property, researchers began to regard the trace mineral as possessing potential anti-cancer properties. In the following decades, several studies were established with the goal of determining if selenium could, in fact, prevent cancer. In 1983, the first long-term controlled study of selenium’s role in cancer prevention was launched and entailed administration of selenium supplements to individuals who previously had skin cancer2. The results showed that the selenium supplements had no effect on the patients› skin cancer. Nevertheless, investigators observed that patients who received a daily selenium supplement of 200 micrograms later developed significantly fewer cancers of the lung, colon, rectum and prostate as well as fewer deaths from lung cancer, than those in the control group who did not take selenium supplements3.

Initiating in 2001, the SELECT study, has been the most prominent study completed to evaluate the effects of selenium on cancer risk. Focusing on prostate cancer prevention, the study included over 35,000 men as participants, who were given www.ifmsa.org

Janique Lawson is a first year medical student at the Iberoamerican University in the Dominican Republic

either selenium, vitamin E, or a combination of selenium and vitamin E to determine the risk of prostate cancer4. In late 2008, the trial was halted after researchers concluded that selenium and vitamin E taken together or alone do not prevent prostate cancer in otherwise seemingly healthy men4.

Nevertheless, the study continued as researchers do annual follow-ups on over 17,000 of the original participants in order to determine any secondary effects of the administered supplements during the trial.

At the same time, other studies have investigated selenium and possible risk reduction in breast and lung cancers, but have had inconclusive results. A Polish study investigated the association between lung cancer risk in smokers and selenium status in combination with the polymorphism of selenoprotein (Sep15), and found substantially increased risk of lung cancer in participants with very high and very low plasma concentrations of selenium. In addition, the Nurses’ Health Study, launched in 1976, with over 120,000 female participants, examined the relationship between measured selenium levels in toenail clippings from participants and cancer risk, and concluded that toenail selenium levels were associated with cancer risk in women.

Although the majority of current evidence has concluded that selenium supplements have failed to demonstrate beneficial effects toward cancer prevention or generally showed inconclusive results, some researchers still remain positive that future research studies will conclude the use of selenium supplements for cancer prevention. Future studies with larger sample size, multiple research sites and stronger epidemiologic study designs may assist in ascertaining a link between selenium supplementation and cancer prevention. As future physicians, this information would be essential as we educate our patients on disease prevention and health promotion. However, regarding the controversy on the selenium debate, only time will tell.

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Standing Committee on Public Health

2011

HOW SCOPH rocked ARM

The African regional Meeting which was conducted from 14th to 23rd “ of December is now over. It ended formally but on the other side it has just opened a new chapter to the establishment of a strong and responsible society of the future public health physicians in the mother continent of Africa.

With such a good number of participating medical students from across the continent (participants from Kenya, South Africa,Tanzania,Buru ndi,Botswana,Namibia,Rwanda,Ghana,Nigeria, Sudan,Ethiopia,Zambia and Uganda) and even others from abroad, this year’s meeting has won its peculiar spectacular features of being the most vibrant ARM despite a few challenges encountered.

Guess what? It was inaugurated by the current IFMSA president, Christopher Pleyer along with his co-worker Charles Nwobu, who is the IFMSA Regional Coordinator for Africa.

Looking at the contents, it’s no doubt the whole agenda and programs for this meeting were well prepared and exercised. From the pre-ARM Think Global workshop, Project trainings, and Training of New Trainers (TNT) to the standing committee sessions (SCOPH , SCORE, SCORA, SCOPE , SCORP and SCOME) to the final plenary session, all were full of excitement and fun. You would clearly pick a broad smile from any delegate you would come across along the way. There was one strange but interesting thing I came to notice .In all these meetings, there came a wind that pushed people to desire and

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want to learn a lot of things at the same time. Minding you that we had concurrent sessions throughout, hence the chance for the delegates to shift from one committee to another was somewhat restricted but still people pushed harder to blow it off.

Here come the SCOPHians .The wise people say, “Never judge a tree by its leaves rather by the fruits it produces”. I have always thought that SCOPH in Africa is dormant, inactive and fruitless. I was far wrong my friend. With these naked eyes of mine, I have come to testify that in Africa we have such a smart team of SCOPHians to rely on and trust. This gives me the reason to be happy and feel proud to lead this committee as the future public health personnel.

The 18 participants experienced vibrant, challenging and skillful sessions. The topics, layout, discussions, energizers and breaks have given to the live hood of this committee throughout our stay in Nairobi. Tell you more?

I guess yes, at least an overview of what we did…On the very first day we had an introduction to SCOPH and the SCOPH Dream Team, discussed the major public health issues affecting Africa and ended with a session on Capacity building on mental health which was delivered by Phillip Chao .The following day we learnt about the Institute of Healthcare Improvement(IHI) and its initiative on patient safety, a WHO program on improving the quality of health services and prevent our clients from contracting hospital acquired infections, also had project and leadership sessions from Phillip and Chris respectively. The third day was also exciting as we concentrated much on the organization of the

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Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

world public health days. Important days such as Malaria Day, Tuberculosis day, Cancer Day and No Tobacco day were deeply discussed by the participants. Finally on the last day, we wrapped up by having a session on the association between Environment and health which was facilitated by Charlotte Holm and ultimately ended by discussing the challenges affecting the progress and development of SCOPH in Africa . To this very important last point, it was discussed openly by SCOPHians that the reasons why SCOPH in Africa isn’t doing better than other regions is because of the poor : Communication between SCOPH D and LPOs Sustainable projects Safe and appropriate handing over Funding Information about SCOPH for the newly established NMOs Participation and contribution on the online international meetings World days organizations

Possible solutions Increasing and promoting communication between the dream team and other SCOPHians Developing and maintaining new projects Good handing over modalities and cultures Searching for more sources of funds and externals Engaging and promoting new NMOs Active participation and contribution on SCOPH server and SWGs Campaigning and promoting world days So far we are organized as a team and looking forward to having a better SCOPH in Africa Finally, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all those who made the SCOPH sessions for the ARM 2011 possible. A lot of appreciations go to Anna Klicpera, the SCOPH-D for her assistance in the course of preparing and setting up this year’s SCOPH sessions for the ARM 2011.Also these special thanks should go the Regional Coordinator for supporting and assisting SCOPH to get some externals. A lot of appreciation should also be meant to recognize Christopher Pleyer, Phillip Chao, and Charlotte Holm for facilitating and helping in the SCOPH session. And finally to the vibrant SCOPHians who attended this meeting. In fact with-

Orange Hugs Peter Asilia IFMSA-SCOPH RA for Africa 2011/2012 Outgoing VPE,TAMSA-Tanzania ra.scoph.africa@gmail.com +255713362873 or + 25586688362873

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Standing Committee on Public Health

A single careless deed which ruined my life forever I hear the keys clattering with one another as they open the heavy lock which keeps the inmates behind the bars. Rough hands lift me up from the dirty floor and I Hamza Zahidullah am dragged into my cell. I can feel my consciousness Mohammadzai escaping. “What bliss,” I thought. The last thing I reKhyber Medical Colmember is the stench in the cell and the sound of heavy lege, 2nd Year boots walking away.

It felt like just a few minutes. Or were they hours?

I hear distinct voices in my head; “Darn, I need my “dose”, otherwise the voices are going to drive me cra- my cell phone began to ring. It was my girlfriend. I picked up and what I heard made my hair stand on zy,” I thought desperately. end. I could hear her screaming and she seemed to be But the voices are not the ones I heard in my past. They struggling with someone. are right here beside me.

I burst out of my house and ran until I reached just I open my eyes in a flash. outside her house. There, I saw a man running out of And then I remember. her house. A man whose face I could not forget, ever I have been caught. in my life. I rushed inside the house and went to her But I don’t feel any fear. I finally have peace. living room to see my beloved girlfriend lying dead “Hey mate, get up. You hear me? Get up!”

I slowly get up from my prone position and sit down in a pool of blood and a carved knife caked in blood on the dusty floor. My eyes take a moment to adjust lying nearby. to the dark as I focus on the person trying to wake me I got hold of the knife and ran outside her house, with up. Slowly, I can make out a bearded face and long, the intention of murder of the rapist on my mind. But I couldn’t find him anywhere. Suddenly, I realized disheveled hair squinting in my direction. that I had the murder weapon in my hand and I could “What did you do, mate? How did you get caught?” be linked to a crime I hadn’t committed. I hastily I smiled back as I answered, “I killed a man.” dropped the knife and began running somewhere I “Oh!” was all he answered.

After a minute or so, he added, “You seem pretty happy didn’t know. I reached a filthy street where I slumped down and cried and cried until I went to sleep. about it.”

Happy? I was ecstatic, beyond imagination. “The guy Many days passed and I loitered around the streets in misery, contemplating on what to do with my life. had murdered someone I loved,” I replied.

Half of me wanted to commit suicide but the other “Oh! Mind if I hear the story, mate?”

I was too happy to deny anything. And so I began my half of me wanted revenge. And yet I was drowning in misery. One day, I saw a half a dozen ragged man story.

“11 years ago, I had a girlfriend. I was 22 at that time. sitting in a corner of a street and injecting themselves We used to study in the same university. We were soon with heroin. Instantly, I knew how to drown my misapproaching our final year of our medical education ery. I went over to them, offered them my watch in and were planning to get married soon after. We used exchange for some heroin and a syringe, and sat along to walk back every afternoon to our homes together with them. I injected some heroin into my veins and since she lived just a few blocks away from my home. felt myself giving in to the drug.

It was on one of those days, after I had dropped her off A single careless deed which ruined my life forever. at her home that my world turned upside down. I re- Years passed by and then my life gravitated around turned home and I had just turned on my laptop, when heroin. It dulled my pain of the past and it was so easy to just give in to its anesthetic effect. The only

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Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

thing which I could never forget was the face of that rapist and the last screams of my girlfriend.

I started begging for money which could finance my addiction. A few pickpocket incidents went unnoticed as well. With time, my health deteriorated. I had a constant flu and my chest hurt. not be able to avenge my girlfriend.

Until tonight!

I was sitting on the pavement and just as I was about to inject myself with my dose of heroin, I saw a woman being stalked and harassed by a man. As they passed me, I recognized the man. It was the man who had been haunting me for the past 11 years. He did not recognize me and kept on his stalking. This was a chance I could not miss. I dropped the syringe, picked myself up, sneaked a knife from a nearby butcher’s shop and stabbed him in the back and neck. It was like I was reincarnated.

- “The rest, my friend, is pretty usual. The cops showed up, beat me like hell and dragged me here,” I ended.

- “Wow, mate. You must be really happy,” he said.

- “Yeah, at least I can die in peace. I only have one regret mate,” I sighed.

- “What’s that?”

- “I should have just injected myself with that syringe; I dropped, before coming here.”

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Standing Committee on Public Health

Antibiotics – a lost war?

Authors: - Oxana Grosu – NPO Romania 1928…Alexander Fleming…discover of - Mihaela Dragomir penicillin…

- Lucia Ardelean 2011…us…where to?

NMO: FASMR (Romania) a bacterial disease. We wish to teach everybody not to The first time when I heard about antibiotic resist- treat every flu-like syndrome with antibiotics. ance, I thought that everything is under the sign of some sort of exaggeration. It seemed to me impos- First of all, we thought that it is essential to educate us, sible that, after what course had the medicine after the medical students of today, the doctors of tomorrow.

Fleming discovered penicillin, we in our modern We organized conferences in every University in the medicine, have to think very serious about the pos- country and we had a real success amongst our colsibility of a return to the days before Fleming. leagues. We invited specialists in epidemiology, microbiology and pharmacology. Also, some Department Chiefs (of Intensive Care, General Surgery and Plastics & Burns) gave us the updates of the real situation in the hospitals.

We focused on educating every possible patient.

Volunteers shared flyers to everyone they met in the streets. Also students talked to everyone trying to make them understand the negative effects of auto-medication. In Craiova, in order to gain the attention of the passers-by, we placed stands where we measured the blood pressure, glucose and calculated the body mass index.. In Iasi, we distributed about 6000 flyers with the help of Dona Pharmacy: when someone came to We grew and started to learn more and more things buy something, the pharmacist put one flyer of ours in and the most important that we became aware of the the bag with the medicines. real situation in hospitals. The more we learn, the more we figure out that antibiotic resistance maybe more critical than it›s seen nowadays. The scenario of a “weaponless” world in front of bacteria is pretty somber, even for the best researchers.

The first cause of this situation is represented by the irrational use of antibiotics. In Romania, we can buy this type of drugs without any recipe and unfortunately, the population exploits this without any regrets or limits. People take decisions regardless knowing the disease’s cause, the proper treatment or the consequences of a wrong treatment. For example, many patients take antibiotics for a simple cold, a disease in which the etiology is viral in 70% of cases.

On European Antibiotic Day and on World Health Day, Public Health in Romania organized a lot of actions in order to teach people the differences between a virus and a bacterium and also between a viral and

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The population needs to be educated more; they make mistakes by simply not knowing some medical facts. It is our moral duty to educate them, to tell them what is good and what is wrong, to teach them that it is better to follow a doctor’s advice than to take drugs by winging it.

So…1928…Alexander Fleming…discover of penicillin…2011…us…educate your people!!!

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Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

Road safety Authors: George Rizea - National Project Coordinator Lorena Keil - LPO SSMHS (Medical Students Society “Hipocrates” Sibiu) NMO: FASMR (Romania)

Motto: «Road safety is no accident!»

Road safety is a national project of FASMR that was implemented on local level by Hippocrates Medical Students Society from Sibiu in 2007 and at national level in April 2011. Given by the big number of accidents in the last period, the medical students thought that this project will set some alarm bells ringing for all drivers.

To prevent is always the simplest way!

One action is an accident simulation, in a big crossroad, in order to attract a big number of traffic participants.

The project lasts 20-30 minutes, but it has a great impact on people. It doesn›t need too many volunteers and the costs are very low. Benefits from an excellent advertisement! Given the fact that it evolves in a public place, the authorities› approval and support is very important. We collaborate with the City Hall, the police and with the Local Ambulance Service to make everything look real. Local coordinator tasks are to obtain the necessary approvals and to be in charge with the advertisement. National coordinator has to be in touch with the local coordinators for a better synchronization.

This project requires several trainings concerning basic life support for the volunteers. This is an objective because another part of our actions is to teach others. Our volunteers hold lessons and workshops in kindergartens, schools, high-schools and universities!

As our future plans and ideas, we will try to negotiate with the Ministry of Education, the introduction some lessons about traffic, safety in traffic and first aid in the educational curricula.

Another point is to improve the quality of first aid lessons in Drivers Schools. Also, we will encourage more correct and strict psychological and medical exams that are required in order to obtain the driver license.

Last, but not least we will participate at the meetings with the Ministry and the authorities that try to find out the measures we can adopt and apply for a Road safety!

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Standing Committee on Public Health

A hospice for children suffering from leukemia

a volunteer initiative in the Republic of Tatarstan

In April 2011, a volunteer initiative was established within Kazan State Medical University (Kazan, Russia) to help children suffering from leukemia.

Only in the Republic of Tatarstanapproximately 20-30 children die annually from leukemia. Unfortunately, in the Republic of Tatarstan still no specialized service exists, which would help the little patients and their relatives to cope with the disease.

Thus in order to help children suffering from leukemia, a charitable Foundation in the name of AngelaVavilova was established on 6th of February 2003

by ValdimirVavilov in the memory of his daughter, who died of leukemia. All these years this charitable foundation has been fundraising to start building the first Pediatric Hospice in the Republic of Tatarstan.

The students of KazanMedicalUniversity have shown great support of this project and have volunteered their help in establishing the Hospice.

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During the summer of 2011 the Medical Students conducted numerous fundraising activities in various commercial and entertainment centers of the city of Kazan, which were entitled - «From Heart to Heart». The activities were organized under the agreement between the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Tatarstan, KazanStateMedicalUniversity and the Public Charitable Foundation for children with leukemia named after Angela Vavilova. For several hours the student-volunteers were telling people about the leukemia in children, informing them about the charitable foundation and plan to establish a Hospice for the sick children, offered to make a donation and/or write little comforting notes to children, who are currently undergoing chemotherapy and are in desperate need of care and attention. All the people who responded to this initiative received a small gift – a balloon with the inscription «A gift, worth as much as a Human Life», which served as a token of appreciation for the generosity of the donating people.

As a result of these activities the students were able to fundraise a significant amount of money and items of personal hygiene (diapers, napkins, etc.) to help with www.ifmsa.org

Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012 the official opening of the First Pediatric Hospice in the Republic of Tatarstan, which took place on 1st of July 2011. Most of the money that was fundraised by the Medical Students was used to purchase nine hundred diapers, which were donated to the Hospice.

On the 1st of July 2011 the students of KazanMedicalUniversity were invited to participate in the official Opening of the First Pediatric Hospice of the Republic of Tatarstan, which at the moment functions as an ambulatory clinic and also runs a 24-hour homevisiting care service. The volunteer medical students work in the home-visiting care service and visit the sick children and even those, who are in the state of come, in order to provide them with the needed care, help the parents clean the endotracheal tubes, and provide psychological support to the parents and relatives. If needed, the volunteers even accompany the child to a medical institution within the city of Kazan or even to other cities in Russia.

Recently, on 24th and 25th of December 2011 the Medical students conducted a fundraising activity again in several of the supermarkets of Kazan city, which was entitled «Become a Santa Claus for children with cancer». More than a hundred toys were purchased for children using the donated money.

Then on 26th of December 2011 the students dressed up as Santa Clauses and visited all the children suffering from leukemia in their homes to congratulate the children and their parents with the upcoming New Year, to wish them a Merry Christmas (Author’s remark – Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated after the New Year, on the 7th of January) and to give these toys as special presents.

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Everything that the Medical Students have been able toachieve – is just the beginning of a big project. On 10th of February, the Hospice for the treatment andcare was open and now we can start working fullpower and open its doors as an inpatient center, where the children will be able to receive high standard palliative treatment and where the medical students will be able to help the medical personnel take good care of the dying children. We have great plans for the future and we hope that we will be able to fulfill some of them in the coming year.

Authors :

Ekaterina Ratner (The National Public Health Officer of TaMSA-Tatarstan)

SozinovaArina ( The National Exchange Officer of TaMSA-Tatarstan)

The project coordinator’s email:

npo.tamsa@gmail.com 17

Standing Committee on Public Health

Contamination, climate change and health:

Public enemies

Neferty ConcepciĂłn

Analeidy RodrĂ­guez

Ruth SĂĄnchez

The authors are fifth-year medical students at the Universidad CatolicaTecnologicadelCibao (UCATECI) in La Vega, Dominican Republic.

Throughout the modernization of our global society, humans have continued to alter the ecosystem, which has caused a large scale of environmental dangers that universally affect and threaten human health. These dangers have included climate change, ozone layerdepletion, loss of biological diversity, reduced quantity and quality of fresh water, land degradation and deforestation. We must consider the following five scenarios and modify our actions to maintain the ecosystem that directly affects the health of our global population.

Fossil fuel consumption.The large metropolitan areas of the world have contributed to the large consumption of fossil fuels, liberating large quantities of carbon dioxide and other gases. Since these gases cause heat retention in the inferior atmospheric layers, scientists have noted that over the past 100 years, the world has warmed 0.75 degrees Celsius. Since this rate has increased slowly, health statistics have noted the increased incidence of skin cancer, cataracts and solar burns, especially within the Caucasian race. In developing countries, statistics have also demonstrated that the level of contaminants in the atmosphere has produced numerous diseases within the population.

Extreme temperatures. Extreme air temperatures increase pollen and allergen levels and contribute directly to cardiovascular and respiratory disability and death. Global citizens may also be susceptible to asthma, a condition that affects approximately 300,000 persons. It is estimated that the continual increase in air temperatures will impact the incidence of these described conditions.

Rising sea levels. Meteorological phenomenons are becoming more aggressive and frequent, whereglaciers melt, sea levels increase and rainfall levels change. These environmental changes have impacted the utilization of medical services for survival as well as potential home destruction that forces citizens to relocate. This transition may accentuate the risk of health effects, from mental disorders to communicable diseases, even resulting in epidemics.

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Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

Flooding. Since the 1960s, the number of natural disasters in the world has tripled, just as the frequency and intensity of flooding have increased. These disasters contaminate the sources of fresh drinking water, which may promote the risk of water- or vector-borne diseases, including leptospirosis, dengue, malaria or other tropical diseases. In addition, other injuries within the house or the community, including drowning and physical lesions, may require greater utilization of health services.

Deforestation. Reducing the quantity of trees within the forests may greatly impact the ecosystem, by producing drought, reducing the quantity and quality of the fresh water supply, reducing the population of fish species, reducing the hydroelectricity production and eliminating agriculture-rich soil. These destructive actions can impact hygiene with communities, increasing risk of diarrheal diseases that are estimated to cause 2.2 million deaths per year.

As medical students, we must reflect on these five scenarios and consider our actions to improve population health. How can we raise attention to this critical health topic in our community activities and discussions?

What are the responsibilities of our political and global health leaders and the respective implementation of public policy? We need action, not words!

Climate change continues to represent an enormous challenge for political and global health leaders, as our society visualizes theseenvironmental effects on health. There is urgent need to take action and reduce the effect of dangerous gases and health consequences of the global population. These actions will demand more economic and technological resources, improve public health infrastructure, create conscience within the general population and establish health policy that will permit our political and global health leadership to make effective and long-lasting decisions.

References WorldHealthOrganization. Cambio climático y salud humana – Riesgos y respuestas: Resumen. 2003. Available from: http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/en/Spanishsummary.pdf.

WorldHealthOrganization. Diez datos sobre el cambio climático y la salud. 2009. Available from: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/climate_change/es/index.html.

www.ifmsa.org

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“ World No Tobacco Day 2012 celebrated in the Dominican Republic ”

Standing Committee on Public Health

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco is the leading cause of disability and premature death, and the second-leading cause of death, after hypertension; responsible for one of every ten adult deaths worldwide. Considered an epidemic, health promotion methods are critical in clinical practice as well as community outreach clinics that motivate citizens to maintain health and quality of life through cessation of utilized tobacco products.

In the Dominican Republic, medical students united efforts to promote healthy lifestyles by celebrating “World No Tobacco Day 2012,” on May 31, 2012. Promoting ideas from the WHO Framework Convention of the World Health Tobacco Control (FCTC), which demonstrated a global political will to strengthen the control of tobacco and save lives, medical students focused on the need to improve community health and social justice for this national celebration in the Dominican Republic.With academic advising by Dr. José Wazar and Dr. Goldny Mills, our ODEM-SCOPH team conducted various activities across the nation to raise public awareness about the harmful effects of smoking. Our promotion techniques included advertisements about tobacco awareness, distribution of brochures, banner postings, poster exhibitions, student interviews with the local media, community seminars and conferences.

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Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012 The emphasis of promotion methods that targeted the local media, social networking and advertisements provided opportunities to discover hidden talents in acting, screenwriting and scene design, video production and public relations in positive and enthusiastic environments. Not only do these media sources serve as powerful methods to bring important health information to community citizens, but also eachmedical student gains knowledge and insight about researching the health, social and economic impact of this global health concern.

Among other strategies, community seminars are important tools to reach citizens on an individual level. In one example, we noticed Juan, a young man who was lighting his cigarette. As we spoke with Juan about the harmful effects of tobacco, we learned that he initiated his smoking habits as a child, after watching his mother smoke. This situation exemplifies the impact of our education at home, where parents or guardians serve as role models for establishing moral values and lifestyle habits.

Tobacco will continue to be a growing public health challenge across the globe. For this reason, medical students must demonstrate leadership and design creative health messages to promote positive lifestyle habits in global communities. Through teamwork, dynamism, social networking, new technology and creative strategies, our future role as health care providers and educators will inform and motivate citizens to participate actively in healthy decision making and lifestyles against tobacco use and other high-risk behaviors.

Bibliography: World Health Organization.(2010). World No Tobacco Day 2010. Available from: http:// www.who.int/tobacco/wntd/2010/announcement/en/index.html.

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. (2003). Geneva: World Health Organization. Available from: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2003/9241591013.pdf.

WHO report on the overall tobacco epidemic, 2008: The MPOWER package. (2008). Geneva: World Health Organization. Available from: http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/2008/en/index.html.

Barrueco Ferrero M. Estrategias de prevenci贸n. Pan American Health Organization.Chapter 2.Pp 69-106.Available from: http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd61/barrueco2.pdf.

Authors :

Lisaura Paulino

Danulka Vargas

Angie Alvarez

SCOPH Coordinators and Advisor, Dominican Medical Student Organization (ODEM) Angie Alvarez, LisauraPaulino and Danulka Vargas are thirdyear medical students at the Universidad Central Del Este (UCE) in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

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Standing Committee on Public Health

Morning SCOPHian team Editor in chief Esra H. Alzaid IFMSA-SCOPH RA for EMR 2011/2012 IFMSA-SA Email : ra.scoph.emr@gmail.com

Design \ Layout Ibrahim Ahmed Kandeel Publications support division director Menofia Students’ Scientific Association IFMSA-Egypt Email : ibrahim.kandeel@gmail.com

Editors

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Hesham Ali Ameen Local public health Officer (LPO) Mansoura Students’ Scientific Association

Zahra Zeinali National public health Officer (NPO) IFMSA-Iran

IFMSA-Egypt Email : hesham.mssa@gmail.com

Email : zr.zeinali@gmail.com

www.ifmsa.org

Morning SCOPHian - Issue 6 , August 2012

(SCOPH Publication Team) Proofreading

Laura Alves de Figueiredo Vice-president Local Committee IFMSA-Brazil

Punya Hari Dahal Vice-president Nepal Medical Student’s Society (NMSS)

Email : laafig@gmail.com

Email : punyahari@gmail.com

Luz del Pilar Revolledo Calizaya National Public Health Officer (NPO) IFMSA-Perú Email : luzdelpilarevolledo@gmail.com

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Standing Committee on Public Health

Algeria (Le Souk) Argentina (IFMSA-Argentina) Armenia (AMSP) Australia (AMSA) Austria (AMSA) Azerbaijan (AzerMDS) Bahrain (IFMSA-BH) Bangladesh (BMSS) Bolivia (IFMSA Bolivia) Bosnia and Herzegovina (BoHeMSA) Bosnia and Herzegovina - Rep. of Srpska (SaMSIC) Brazil (DENEM) Brazil (IFMSA Brazil) Bulgaria (AMSB) Burkina Faso (AEM) Burundi (ABEM) Canada (CFMS) Canada-Quebec (IFMSA-Quebec) Catalonia - Spain (AECS) Chile (IFMSA-Chile) China (IFMSA-China) Colombia (ASCEMCOL) Costa Rica (ACEM) Croatia (CroMSIC) Czech Republic (IFMSA CZ) Denmark (IMCC) Ecuador (IFMSA-Ecuador) Egypt (EMSA) Egypt (IFMSA-Egypt) El Salvador (IFMSA El Salvador) Estonia (EstMSA) Ethiopia (EMSA) Finland (FiMSIC) France (ANEMF) Georgia (GYMU) Germany (BVMD) Ghana (FGMSA) Greece (HelMSIC) Grenada (IFMSA-Grenada) Hong Kong (AMSAHK) Hungary (HuMSIRC) Iceland (IMSIC) Indonesia (CIMSA-ISMKI) Iran (IFMSA-Iran) Israel (FIMS) Italy (SISM) Jamaica (JAMSA) Japan (IFMSA-Japan) Jordan (IFMSA-Jo) Kenya (MSAKE) Korea (KMSA) Kurdistan - Iraq (IFMSA-Kurdistan/Iraq)

Kuwait (KuMSA) Kyrgyzstan (MSPA Kyrgyzstan) Latvia (LaMSA Latvia) Lebanon (LeMSIC) Libya (LMSA) Lithuania (LiMSA) Luxembourg (ALEM) Malaysia (SMAMMS) Malta (MMSA) Mexico (IFMSA-Mexico) Mongolia (MMLA) Montenegro (MoMSIC Montenegro) Mozambique (IFMSA-Mozambique) Nepal (NMSS) New Zealand (NZMSA) Nigeria (NiMSA) Norway (NMSA) Oman (SQU-MSG) Pakistan (IFMSA-Pakistan) Palestine (IFMSA-Palestine) Panama (IFMSA-Panama) Paraguay (IFMSA-Paraguay) Peru (APEMH) Peru (IFMSA Peru) Philippines (AMSA-Philippines) Poland (IFMSA-Poland) Portugal (PorMSIC) Romania (FASMR) Russian Federation (HCCM) Rwanda (MEDSAR) Saudi Arabia (IFMSA-Saudi Arabia) Serbia (IFMSA-Serbia) Slovakia (SloMSA) Slovenia (SloMSIC) South Africa (SAMSA) Spain (IFMSA-Spain) Sudan (MedSIN-Sudan) Sweden (IFMSA-Sweden) Switzerland (SwiMSA) Taiwan (IFMSA-Taiwan) Tatarstan-Russia (TaMSA-Tatarstan) Thailand (IFMSA-Thailand) The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MMSA-Macedonia) The Netherlands (IFMSA-The Netherlands) Tunisia (ASSOCIA-MED) Turkey (TurkMSIC) Uganda (FUMSA) United Arab Emirates (EMSS) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Medsin-UK) United States of America (AMSA-USA) Venezuela (FEVESOCEM)

www.ifmsa.org Medical Students Worldwide www.ifmsa.org