IPSF Public HealthSpot | September 2014
H c i l b u alth P lic Healt b u P h h t l t l a a e e H H ic c i l b u P h h t l t l a a e e H H c i l blic b u P h h t l t l a a e e H H c i l b ublic u P h t l l a a e e H H c i l b ublic u P h t l a c lic He i l b u lth P
spot Public Health Newsletter issue 4
publichealth@ipsf.org www.ipsf.org
ipsf.org www.
Since establishment in 1949, IPSF now represents more than 270 000 pharmacy students and recent graduates in over 70 countries worldwide. IPSF is the leading international advocacy organisation of pharmacy students promoting improved public health through provision of information, education, networking, and a range of publication and professional activities.
/IPSForg
Ms. Bárbara Villela IPSF PARO Regional Projects Officer 2013-14
du
content IPSF Executives
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Public Health is... Page 3
Public Health Involvement Page 4
Diabetes Campaigns Page 19
HIV/AIDS Awareness Page 26
Cancer Awareness Page 30
Humanitarian Page 34
Partners Page 40 Issue #4, September 2014
Cover Photo by
Mr. Khaled Mostafa
Chairperson of Media & Publication 2013-14
Content & Layout
Mr. Brian Wong
Design and Creativity Committee
‘‘
Editorial Dear IPSFers, My name is Bárbara Scoralick Villela and I have just recently graduated from pharmacy school (in December 2013, to be more precise). IPSF is not very well known in my school or my country, nor was it known to me just 3 years ago. But one thing is for sure, the Federation has truly changed my life for the better, and we should do the same for others. While working with SPOT and reading all the articles related to amazing projects done by other IPSF associations, I felt so happy to know that we as (future) health professionals, are also doing our part. It might be a bit cliche but many of us have been so privileged with our opportunity to a good education, and to be part of an amazing group, that it only feels right to give back to society. I can see this in each article I read, and I hope you feel the same way! Last of all I need to thank everyone that was somehow a part of this project, from the writers, the editorial and publications committees, Sheena who granted me this opportunity, and to all the others that provided the much needed moral or technical support!
Mr. Khaled Mostafa
I hope you enjoy,
Proofread by Ms. Asmaa M. Ismail
Bárbara
[Editorial Committee Coordinator]
Ms. Sonia Lee Ms. Amina Ndope Mr. Mian Zhang
Chairperson of Media and Publications publications@ipsf.org Editor-in-Chief editor@ipsf.org
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IPSF Executives
How is it related to Public Health?
Statements from IPSF Executives
Lucas: The health promotion needs to be focused on the needs of the different regions. On the American Continent we have local illnesses such as Chagas and MalĂĄria, to obesity and diabetes. This focused approach is part of my work. Prosper: Public health initiatives help improve the health related quality of life in Africa, and it is the duty of young pharmacists to spread the word. David: Professional Development Portfolio trains students in counselling, clinical thinking, project organisation and advocacy so they can effectively contribute to the Public Health sector by various activities. Fahmi: Pharmacy Education gives pharmacists the fundamental knowledge for their roles and functions in public health. Dora Lee: Language barriers are a big issue here, luckily health brings us together. 2
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Miranda: IPSF’s Student Exchange Program helps to teach students about public health by providing the ability to travel to a new country to experience the variety and differences in public health focuses in different parts of the world. It also gives them the potential chance to receive hands on experience in that country working in public health campaigns. Laurens: Financial security is a main concern for any public health campaign, for instance, when acquiring medicine. Having knowledge in this field allows students to be able to maintain financial availability for their current campaigns and their future endeavors. Khaled: Media and Publications portfolio helps in increasing the awareness of public health to a large segment of people by using the different digital marketing platforms, in addition to the promotional materials and publications.
Public Health is ... People Wealth
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Shared with you by the Public Health Committee members
Care
Awareness
Svelte
Unselfishness fi
Development
Strategy Devotion
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Ms. Nikoo Akhoondi - Iran
IPSF representative in WHSS Joint Working Group
How to Implement a 7 Star Public Health Campaign? Nikoo tells how to assess important factors that lead to a successful public health campaign, especially the campaign held by students. Public health campaigns are media campaigns which proceed to raise public awareness, and to inform the target audiences about topics relating to health. This article aims to assess important factors that lead to a successful public health campaign,especially the campaign held by students. In these campaigns, students with an acceptable level of knowledge advocate in public places and raise public awareness via face to face interaction. Each team working on the campaign needs different features for the campaign to reach its goals. Here we are going to discuss the top 7 features which we will refer to as the 7 stars! The more stars, the more credits. In November 14th (2013), there was a Diabetes Awareness Campaign during World Diabetes Week, which was implemented by the students of
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Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. Let’s look at this campaign to demonstrate the importance of these 7 stars.
1st Star: Human Resources Two factors are important in attracting students to participate in our team: Who we should attract, and how we should attract them? According to new approaches in recent years, inter-professional collaborations has been increasingly considered in the field of health and medical disciplines. The establishment of the World Health-Care Students’ Symposium in 2005 to increase and regulate inter-disciplinary communication, confirms the importance of this issue. In accordance with these approaches, attracting students from different disciplines across the health-care system would lend special credit to the campaigns. It would definitely help
students to learn the appropriate way to interact and distribute tasks with participants in different majors. Certainly each health campaign shall leave students with memorable experiences. For this reason, putting experienced and junior students beside each other would improve the spirit of the team by exchanging experiences with one another. By telling them about funny experiences in addition to the core material, it can strongly attract students and motivate them to take part in your team.
actually preparing a proposal from the very start can deeply influence officials and sponsors, and it’s very important that you gain their confidence.
2nd & 3rd Stars: Licensing and Sponsorship
3. Describe the Extent of Your Goals and Explain Your Vision: Talking about the goals that may not be immediately evident can have a deep impact on officials. For instance, public health campaigns which are implemented by students aim to raise awareness among thousands of people in a city at the second degree, while the first and premiere goal is to internalize the value of public health among the students that will be responsible for the health of thousands of people in the future. This is how public health campaigns would guarantee the health of society in the future.
These two points are important principles in implementing a campaign. Rather than the students being only responsible, having a third party will mean that they will be a deciding factor. However there are always methods that might help us to convince the officials and draw the sponsors’ attention to our project. The three following ways have mostly shown to be effective: 1. Prepare Your Proposal From the Very Start: Often students being their negotiations verbally with the officials and the proposal assignment might be postponed to another meeting. But
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2. Be Flexible: Sponsors and administrators will always consider their own advantages, so that if your work does not suit them beneficially, materially or spiritually, they are not willing to cooperate with you. As a result we should always be aware of our collaborator’s profits and losses, and make an effort to include their profits in our project, as long as it doesn’t conflict with our goals.
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4th Star: Education
5th Star: Advertising
Based on a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of communication there are three main parts in general communication: a sender, information and a receiver. The basic goal of each campaign is to convey the appropriate message from the appropriate sender to the appropriate receiver in the correct way. In this manner we can effectively influence the lifestyles of individuals and raise their level of awareness. Most medical students and related majors have an acceptable level of scientific knowledge in health campaigns, but we should revisit the issues to collaborate and unify the information. As mentioned earlier, just as important as the accuracy of the information, how it is conveyed to our audiences is also integral, which indeed not all of students are familiar with. As a result educating students on the correct way to communicate leads to an increased impact on our target audiences and should be considered. Students should learn how to reach each individual in a different way, how to ask relevant questions and how to listen actively.
Information and advertising are among the most important components in this age of technology. The more people that know your campaign, the more credit to the campaign. Also, this could be the reason that more officials will recognize you and your projects so that there is less hindrance against your work in future campaigns.
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6th Star: Documentation “If a task is never written, its just like it has never been done!�
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This star may be cited as the most important element in campaign implementation. During an executive job just like campaigns, there is a lot of energy, costs and time which is utilised. If the activities are not documented, it could be said that it was never done. One solution is designing an educational satisfaction questionnaire, which is a good way to document and assess a health campaign. These short questionnaires which are filled out by the audiences, start as one single seed that will help us branch out and grow into a forest! It will assess the performance of students and measure the success of the education provided to the audience. Evaluation of the questionnaires then leads to reliable reports, which can be assigned to different governmental and nongovernmental offices.
7th Star: Innovation There are many campaigns implemented in different areas of a city or country. But what is it really that makes a campaign different from others? Innovation is always the factor that results in evolution and differences. Innovation can be minimal but can lead to a great distinction. For instance the Diabetes Awareness Campaign (2013) implemented in Tehran, Iran is a good practical example; participation of dentistry students and considering the oral hygiene of patients was the innovative concept of this campaign. Dentistry student teams educated people via props and demonstration; telling and showing people the correct way to brush their teeth. In the end, this campaign successfully mentioned the importance of oral hygiene in addition to other aspects of the diabetes disease.
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Ms. Ashley Potter - USA
APhA-ASP/IPSF USA Student Exchange Officer
The American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP): A focus on Patient Care and Community Service Ashley would love to share the successful campaigns held by APhA-ASP, USA. The mission of the APhA Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) is to be the collective voice of student pharmacists, to provide opportunities for professional growth, to improve patient care, and to envision and advance the future of pharmacy. APhA-ASP is the largest owrganization for student pharmacists in the United States (U.S.) with 130 colleges of pharmacy chapters representing over 34,500 student members. APhA-ASP is also a full member of IPSF.
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APhA-ASP supports five national patient care and community service projects: Operation Diabetes, Operation Heart, Operation Immunization, Operation Self-Care, and Generation Rx. All campaigns aim to provide medical services and education to patients in need while showing the public what pharmacists can provide. Pictured is 2012-2013 APhA-ASP Chapter of the Year: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This chapter executed innovative patient care projects encompassing a broad spectrum of patient care including men’s health initiatives, programming for middle school girls, and a “Spanish-R-X” program. Additional projects included a pharmacy advocacy campaign using public transport advertising to educate the public, professionalism panels, and various educational workshops for student pharmacists.
health campaigns.
The Operation Heart Campaign aims to increase the student pharmacists’ role in the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease including hypertension and coronary artery disease. Pharmacists and student pharmacists play a very important role in improving patient outcomes related to cardiovascular disease through monitoring risk factors for disease development, encouraging lifestyle modifications to prevent disease, and educating patients about medications. During the 2011-2012 year, about 12,500 student pharmacists participated in over 900 projects supporting the Operation Heart Campaign. Over 83,000 patients were screened for cardiovascular diseases, more than 3,800 patients were referred to their primary care providers, 101,500 patients received health and wellness services, and almost 3.5 million patients were educated through public
In the United States, pharmacists and student pharmacists provide immunization services to patients, as individual state laws allow; rights for pharmacists to provide immunizations are not universal. APhA-ASP adopted the Operation Immunization campaign in collaboration with the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) to help student pharmacists work to increase the number of adults immunized in the United States, educate the public on the importance of immunizations in preventing infectious disease, and to advocate for pharmacists’ roles in providing immunization services. In 2012, over 56,000 patients were immunized through the Operation Immunization campaign, while 3.7 million patients received health and wellness services related to immunizations, and over 14.5 million patients were reached through public health campaigns.
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Diabetes is a rising problem in the United States. Almost 2 million people are diagnosed every year, and many people continue to live with undiagnosed diabetes. The Operation Diabetes campaign allows student pharmacists to help identify patients who have undiagnosed diabetes or who are at risk for developing the disease. In 20122013, these goals were accomplished through students who screened 64,000 patients, provided health and wellness services to 53,000 patients, referred 4,000 patients to their primary care providers, and educated 2.8 million people through public health campaigns.
Pictured: University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy fourth-year student pharmacist, Gavin Howington, at an Operation Diabetes event in Bever Dam, Kentucky. The University of Kentucky received the 2012-2013 APhA-ASP Patient Care Award through collaboration, innovation, and outreach. Members volunteered with medical and dental students at local clinics reaching over 2,000 patients. They also used a school break to screen over 750 patients for car-
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diovascular risk, cholesterol, and diabetes risk factors.
In the United States, as in many countries, pharmacists are the most accessible health care providers within the health care system. As accessible medication experts, we play a very important role in helping patients optimize self-care treatments through education about over-the-counter (nonprescription) medication use. Pharmacists are pivotal in helping patients determine when they can self-treat or when they must seek help from their physician. APhA-ASP has developed Operation Self-Care to encompass this role and encourage student pharmacists to assist patients in the self-treatment of heartburn, the safe and effective use of over-the-counter medications, and proper referrals. In 2011-2012, over 18,700 patients were screened resulting in 1,800 referrals. Over 25,000 patients received health and wellness services and 2.3 million patients were reached through this public health campaign.
In 2011-2012, 3.7 million people were reached through public health campaigns, and 740,000 people received education about prescription drug abuse. APhA-ASP has recognized these campaigns as important for combating some of the major public health epidemics faced by U.S. citizens. In addition to these core projects, APhA-ASP students take part in local campaigns based on their community needs, and some of these projects coincide with IPSF initiatives such as promoting HIV/ AIDS, smoking cessation awareness, and diabetic patients’ health. The projects and the numbers calculated above convey a small amount of the huge difference student pharmacists can make within their own country and globally. Each year, thousands of APhA-ASP members spend countless hours to accomplish these public health initiatives, and not only are we helping our communities get healthier, but we are also advancing the profession of pharmacy to be an integral part of public health in our nation.
Contact Us Finally, APhA-ASP has adopted the Generation Rx Campaign in collaboration with Cardinal Health to raise awareness of prescription drug misuse and abuse, which is a rising public health problem. In the United States, thousands of teenagers will abuse prescription drugs for the first time this year, while prescription drug abuse is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. In fact, the number of deaths from prescription drug abuse is greater than the number of deaths from automobile accidents. The Generation Rx campaign aims to educate the public about the dangers of prescription drug abuse and misuse. 10 IPSF IPSFNewsletter Public Health SPOT
General questions? Adrian Hughes APhA-ASP/IPSF National Contact Person usaipsfcp@gmail.com Questions about projects? Nellie Jafari APhA-ASP/IPSF National Project Coordinator usaipsfnpc@gmail.com Questions about SEP in the U.S.? Ashley Potter and Amanda Cavness APhA-ASP/IPSF Student Exchange Officers usaipsfseo@gmail.com
Mr. Zakaria Thamri - AFRO
AFRO Regional Projects Officer 2013-14
In the time it takes to read this article, a child will die of a preventable disease called malaria!!! Malaria is a public-health problem in more than 109 countries in the world, 45 of which are in Africa. Also 90% of all malaria deaths occur in subSaharan Africa. There are an estimated 216 million cases of malaria each year, resulting in nearly 655,000 deaths. The majority of these deaths are children younger than five years old!!! Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. The parasites are spread to people through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes, called «malaria vectors», which bite mainly between dusk and dawn. The intensity of transmission depends on factors related to the parasite, the vector, the human host, and the environment. The disease is an acute febrile illness. In a non-immune individual, symptoms appear seven days or more (usually 10–15 days) after the infective mosquito bite. Early diagnosis and treatment of malaria reduces disease and prevents deaths. It also contributes to reducing malaria transmission. The best available treatment, particularly for P. falciparum malaria, is artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). Vector control is the main method of reducing malaria transmission at the community level. It
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Invest the Future. Defeat Malaria World Malaria Day is the only intervention that can reduce malaria transmission from very high levels to close to zero.
“It’s unacceptable that a child dies every minute for lack of a dollar’s worth of treatment,” The World Malaria Day is celebrated every year on 25 April, and since the disease is a big publichealth problem in Africa there was no need to wait any longer. The IPSF African Regional Group took the initiative last year and prepared its first Malaria KIT to assist the African Association members in IPSF on their campaign. The main goal of the campaign is to sensitize communities and increase public awareness of malaria elimination interventions through “Malaria Day”. This year, The IPSF-AfRO Regional Working group, will continue its commitment to the fight against malaria in Africa and to raise awareness. In order to have a bigger impact, we’re collaborating with the FESPAO(Pharmaceutical Student Federation for the West African Associations) to run this campaign together. Invest in the future. Defeat Malaria.
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Ms. Ifeoma Nkemdilim Ibe - USA
2014-2015 IPSF Liaison for Notre Dame of Maryland University (USA)
Being The Change:
IPSF Healthy Living Campaign “Keeping this in mind, we made it our priority to be a source of change and reduce the growing epidemic of childhood obesity in our local community. “
Therefore healthy lifestyle practices, including healthy eating and physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing associated diseases. Keeping this in mind, we - the members
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents since 30 years ago. This is largely concerning because gaining these added pounds usually leads children on the path to many health problems that were once restricted to adults, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, stroke and several types of cancer. Obese Children and adolescents are also at larger risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, as well as social and psychological difficulties such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.
of the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) Committee of Notre Dame of Maryland University School of Pharmacy- made it our priority to be a source of change and reduce the growing epidemic of childhood obesity in our local community. We did this by implementing a Healthy Living campaign that was designed by our 2013-2014 IPSF Liaison. For this campaign, we collaborated with A Child’s Place, an international nursery school and kindergarten that annually serves about 60 children that are 3 through 6 years of age, from the U.S. as well as Asia, Africa, Europe, and Central and South America. A longterm arrangement was made between the IPSF committee and A Child’s Place that allows us to come in on certain days every 3-4 months and provide a fun and interactive lesson plan for the children. This arrangement is very convenient for us because A Child’s Place is situated inside our campus (its like it was meant to be).
Childhood obesity has several causes, some of which are within our control such as lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating patterns.
The nutrition-focused lesson plan we prepared was aimed at teaching the children to incorporate healthy eating components in their life and
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We used resources for the lessons from MyPlate, which is the current nutrition guide published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). MyPlate depicts a place setting with a plate and glass divided into five food groups. It also exemplifies the five food groups that are the building blocks for a nutritious and healthy diet. The idea behind using this was to make the children always think about what goes on their plates, cups or bowls before they ate.
We had our first lesson with the kids on Friday, October 25th, 2013. We arrived to the classrooms a little early, and had a chance to hang around the kids for about an hour before we started our lesson. During this time, we had a chance to observe the teaching style of their teachers and figure out the best way to approach our lesson with the children. When it was time to present to
the kids, we broke into three groups with each group having 2-3 pharmacy students that taught the lessons at different classrooms. To make the experience fun, we named our groups after one of the five main food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods or dairy). We then introduced ourselves to the children, got more familiar with them, and asked that they form a circle. We started by asking if they were familiar with any of the five food groups; some of them were already familiar with them, so we proceeded to ask them to name some of the food that were in the different food groups. We also provided a MyPlate poster of the food groups, pictures, and a plastic form of foods from the food groups for the kids to visualize all of the information. At the end of the lecture, we had the kids create their own MyPlate diagram with all five food groups matched at the correct part of the diagram.
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encouraging them to be more in control of their health. We had several goals with the activities that we created in the lessons, some of which were to: • Make the children aware of the different food groups • Know what foods belong in each group. • Assure them that eating each food will make them feel good about themselves and give them energy to be more active.
The following week, we received feedback from the teachers at A Child’s Place that the kids loved our lesson and wanted us to come back, and we were very excited to hear this.
“Schools play an intensely critical role by establishing a safe and supportive environment that encourages healthy behaviors.” We hope to continue this partnership with A Child’s Place, and possibly expand to providing lessons to other schools in the area.
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Ms. Myriam Yasmine Hamouda - Tunisia
Contact Person of ATEP 2013-14
Women’s Day by ATEP! According to the World Health Organization, “Being a man or a woman has a significant impact on health, as a result of both biological and gender-related differences “. Women play a very important role in the world today; They have their own stature in the society and any issue related to their health condition is a major source of concern. Which is why here in Tunisia, we decided to organize a campaign to educate women about the early signs of diseases or infections they may encounter during their life and the importance of good personal hygiene. We even attempted to supply the audience with informative tips on STDs and healthy sexual life because, unfortunately, in our country, even though these kinds of events are becoming more and more prominent, there is still much to be done with done in order to reach majority of the people. Since“Women’s Health”is a massive topic, we didn’t want to leave anything behind; we tried to cover pretty much everything there is to say about it: from the risks of sexually transmitted infections to the right techniques for a good personal hygiene as well as the different diseases that a girl/woman can get before, during and after pregnancy. We, IPSFNewsletter Public Health SPOT 14 IPSF
also, pointed out the significance of different contraceptive methods (e.g. using condoms). We took that as an opportunity to promote that concept not only to women but also to men for them to pass it on to their wives/girlfriends and we were surprised by the number of people who positively responded to our initiative!
“We even attempted to supply the audience with informative tips on STDs and healthy sexual life because, unfortunately, in our country, even though these kinds of events are becoming more and more prominent, there is still much to be done with done in order to reach majority of the people.” A corner for HIV testing was also available for anyone who wanted to get tested. The results are immediate and anonymous.
Prettier…
“This campaign was a huge success. It echoed locally and lots of people seemed interested. “
off this subject that many are still afraid of and are reluctant to talk about. This year, to continue paying tribute to women, we organized a campaign on the health issues and concerns they go through during their life. So hold your breath for what’s coming next year!
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Under the tagline: “Healthier… Feminine… ”
They came to ask questions concerning their health and we pleasurely were there to offer them the answers! It has become a tradition within our association to honor women every year. The “STOP Violence against Women” campaign ATEP held last year to raise awareness about the different types of abuse women are facing which had a really big and good impact. We insisted on lifting the veil
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Mr. Nyantakyi Isaac Buabeng - Ghana
GPSA’s National Health Coordinator 2013-14
The Pharmacy Profession in Ghana & GPSA Health Awareness Week The Pharmacy Profession In Ghana Pharmacy as a profession is subdivided into various work forms because of the skills and knowledge a pharmacist holds after 4 years in school. Apart from areas involving medicinals and chemicals, a pharmacist also possesses considerable knowledge in business and sociology. This makes the pharmacy career a versatile profession and entitles the pharmacist to a rewarding income for their services. However, a pharmacist at an institution does not render all these services but works as a specialist for a particular skill. Therefore, all pharmacists are not in one field. This makes the profession unique. For instance, all teachers are in schools. All doctors are in the hospitals etc. Nevertheless, it is the reason for division and disunity. The various work forms for a pharmacist include the following: 1. Hospital pharmacy 2. Community pharmacy 3. Industrial pharmacy 4. Research 5. Judicial pharmacy/pharmacy law
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With all these forms in Ghana, the Pharmacy Council is the regulatory body for all pharmacists, which unites all these pharmacists’ roles together, and it provides a link between pharmacy profession and the government. Additionally, the pharmacy council conducts checks on pharmacists, especially those works in the community pharmacies, to ensure they are practicing at an acceptable standard.
“It can even be said that “wherever there is chemistry there should be a pharmacist.” The separate roles makes it difficult for pharmacists to have an united voice when things get hazy. Industrial and community pharmacy is mostly run by the private sector, hence any issues with salaries, for example, is to be resolved within that particular institution. However, within hospital pharmacy, which is mostly run by the government, issues with salary can be addressed with a voice, and a barking from the regulatory body. The discord among pharmacists makes a push for change difficult. One is either content with what
then again there’s the issue with disunity among pharmacists and the backing by our regulatory bodies. One may ask,“Are senior pharmacists ready to put things right for our young pharmacist?” or “is the Pharmacy Council ready to help”. If not then there is still a hitch somewhere. Better still, are pharmacists ready to change their attitude? The profession is in our hands, so let’s make it better. A little change by you and I can make the pharmacy profession in Ghana a better one.
The introduction of the PharmD program is expected to address the issues pertaining to the role a pharmacist plays in healthcare delivery. But
Regardless, against all odds the pharmacy profession is still one of the best professions in Ghana.
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he has, or he doesn’t want to advocate changes for his fellows to enjoy, and as a result this conduct is gradually pulling the profession down. Moreover, there should be a change in the attitude towards work, moving from simply dispensary skills to something more akin to medical history taking, checking for drug interactions and medication management, among others. By expanding pharmacy services in this manner they can form a better part of the health care delivery system.
Health Awareness Week of GPSA The health week was organized with the goal of developing the attitude and skills which are otherwise not taught in class. This was a four day celebration which commenced on Monday 11th November 2013 and ended on Thursday 14th November 2013. It started on Monday, officially launching with Sir Emeritus K. Sarpong, a lecturer at the department of pharmacognosy, as the Chairperson, and Pharm Osei Afiyie, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, being a guest speaker. After the launch there was a seminar dubbed “pharmacy profession of Ghana, the past, present and future’ led by Pharm Steve Oklu, during which participants were enlightened on the pharmacy profession in Ghana. The week continued on Tuesday with the patient counseling event, which was to help students
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better appreciate the unique role of pharmacists in various sectors, especially community and hospital practice. Various year groups battled it out with practical situations of patient counseling. The second year class was finally judged the overall winner of the competition, and was presented with a rice cooker, a t-shirt and a British National Formulary (BNF). All participants were presented with the BNF and the standard treatment guidelines. On Wednesday the 13th of November, we continued with basic clinical skills. There was a talk on proper administration of first aid as health care provider given by Mrs. Abigail Frimpong, a lecturer at the Department of Nursing at the School of Medical Sciences. She enlightened the audience on the various measures to take in order to offer immediate help in emergency cases. The week then ended with World Diabetes Day. The day was marked by spectacular decorations and the students were well dressed in blue attire. We distributed information on
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diabetes and provided public education that proved very effective. A screening exercise was also conducted on BMI, blood glucose and blood pressure. Participants were counseled prior to and after their individual assessments to allay any fears and to put them at ease. We found that five out of the number screened that day had glucose levels beyond the normal range, and thirteen were discovered to have high blood pressures. These categories of people were given special attention, and advice on lifestyle modification, including diet and regular exercise, was given and they were advised to seek a physician. On the whole, the week’s celebration was very educational, informative and a big success. Part of the success was no doubt due to the diligence of the executive body of the GPSA, the Health Committee and the cooperation of the lecturers as well. *GPSA stands Association
for
Ghana
Pharmaceutical
Students’
Ms. Lina Salama - Egypt
Contact Person of EPSF 2013-14
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Once Upon a Dream: Guinness World Records
EPSFers took Egypt and Diabetes Awareness to Guinness World Records The clock strikes 12:00 AM on the 6th of December, 2013, announcing the start of the day in which we will make history.
huge event, we also had to continue working on our regular agenda and run our other campaigns well.
Rewind: let me tell you the story of a dream that was almost impossible, yet it came true: it was when EPSFers took Egypt and Diabetes Awareness to Guinness World Records.
After two months of non-stop work, it was finally the night of the event! As the clock struck midnight, EPSF Executives along with Organizing Committee Working Group headed to the Mall of Arabia, where our attempt took place, to set the place for the great day. The setting included a stage and 30 tables for spreading awareness and measuring blood glucose levels.
The dream started a year earlier, after we finished our Local Diabetes Awareness Campaigns. We were ranked 8th place worldwide by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and it was time to plan for the national event. This would gather pharmacy students from all over Egypt in one huge campaign. At EPSF, we believe that our greatest strength lies in the human power we have. We currently have students in 30 different faculties of pharmacy across Egypt. The amount of people who are willing to contribute to a major campaign is huge -- large enough to make it into the Guinness World Records!! That was how the idea sparked -we would make the greatest Diabetes Awareness Campaign in history!
At 7:00 AM, a marathon around mall started to demonstrate the importance of sports in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, especially for diabetics. After the marathon, the runners came inside the mall to measure their blood glucose levels.
The preparations started this year. After contacting GWR and receiving approval to make the attempt, the hard work began! Along with working on that IPSF Newsletter IPSF Public Health SPOT
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An hour later, the color blue started taking over the mall as EPSFers coming from the 16 governorates started arriving. Each Local Association made a special entrance to the mall. Some were singing, some were cheering, while others had flags -- it was like watching the Olympics. Yet, this was different. Instead of competing, all these delegations came to work together towards one dream.
“ We wanted to bring attention to the chronic problem of diabetes in Egypt, so what better way to inform the public about the importance of screening for diabetes than by breaking the GWR for the most diabetes readings taken in 24 hours!” After registering, the delegations were divided into the following teams: • Organizing Team: responsible for keeping the flow in the measuring area going smoothly. • Awareness Team: responsible for talking to the public about diabetes. • Registration Team: responsible for taking the names, birthdates and signatures of every per son who measured his/her blood glucose level. • IT Team: responsible for registering the names taken by the registration team and counting the number of participants. • Activities Team: responsible for doing different activities to draw attention to our campaign • Gates Team: responsible for reaching out to the public at the outside gates of the mall to tell them about the campaign.
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An hour later, we screened our first 1000 people! After our 4000-person benchmark at 4:00 PM the excitement increased as more and more people showed up at the mall. The public, celebrities, and media channels were all encouraging us to keep going and were asking us every minute about what number we reached. Everyone was getting tired, but that didn’t stop us. Adrenaline rushed nonstop, keeping us focused on our goal. At 8:00 PM, everyone was holding their breath and you could almost hear our heartbeats as the event came to an end. At that point, we all started tearing up. It no
longer mattered what number we reached. 500 EPSFers were working together for one goal and one dream. The event was so great that the final result didn’t seem to matter anymore -- this was definitely the BEST diabetes campaign! Did we make it? Everyone started wondering as the results came in. The record that we had 24 hours to break was 6562.
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At 1:00 PM people started arriving at the mall, We started talking to everyone about diabetes and the importance of getting checked, the activities team did a lot of flash mobs and freezing activities with signs about healthy and unhealthy habits to draw the attention of the public.
In just 8 hours: The record for most Blood Glucose tests taken in 24 hours is 8,600 and was achieved by The Egyptian Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (EPSF)! If there was something we all learned from this campaign, it was that dreams can turn into reality. Crazy ideas can come true if you have enough passion and dedication to pursue them.
“As students, WE CAN make a difference and change the world.”
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Ms. Peia Diana Claudia - Romania
Diabetes Education Campaign Coordinator 2013-14
Diabete Education Campaign Raising the awareness of diabetes in the young generations in Cluj Napoca Dear IPSFers, Taking into account that World Diabetes Day is celebrated worldwide on November 14, in the period surrounding this date our local organization decided to increase public awareness about diabetes. Centralized statistics compiled by the World Health Organization shows that, in 2000, there were more than one million people suffering from diabetes in Romania, and it is estimated that their numbers will doubled by 2030. Even more alarming is the fact that almost a third of diabetes patients are unaware of their condition. This is why a proper education is essential in preventing the occurence of serious complications. It was in this context that our volunteers realized a number of goals aimed at benefiting as many
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people as possible. We began by informing the students from five high schools on diabetes and the treatment that follows. This was done using an interactive presentation continuing on to a series of discussions, and the students who were paying attention during the presentation were rewarded accordingly. Our next step was organizing a fundraiser whose beneficiaries were the Association of People with Diabetes Cluj Napoca. In this association there are twenty young people diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes who are in a real need of blood glucose test strips to efficiently monitor their blood glucose levels. The fundraiser succeeded in selling handmade badges and bracelets, and from the donations we provided them with 1250 test strips.
On the 14th of November, a total of 300 citizens of Cluj Napoca had their blood glucose levels and BMI index tested for free. Additionally, our volunteers distributed 700 flyers about diabetes aimed at raising awareness on this issue.
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“In 2000, there were more than one million people suffering from diabetes in Romania, and it is estimated that their numbers will doubled by 2030. “ On the same day a conference took place entitled “How to prevent today, what you cannot treat tomorrow” where several specialists in this field were invited to tackle various themes relating to diabetes such as: types of diabetes, signs, symptoms, causes, risk factors and prevention, in addition to helping recently diagnosed patients to cope with the changes in their lifestyle. Another activity that caught the public’s eye was an artistic performance that included making a blue circle (the international symbol for diabetes) with the help of umbrellas. We hope that through all these activities we succeeded in reaching our goals of raising awareness about diabetes, informing the younger generation on its consequences, and helping in the early detection of diabetes, which otherwise would have gone unnoticed until the symptoms began.
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Ms. Madalina Gulerez - Romania
Coordinator of Department of Public Health at the SSFB
InfoDiabetes
We FIGHT Diabetes with Knowledge University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Bucharest – School of Pharmacy (UMF), through the Students Society of Pharmacists (SSFB) had organized the campaign for fighting against diabetes on November 18th, 2014 , along with The European Antibiotic Awareness Day. The members of SSFB mobilized the students from the Faculty of Pharmacy to participate at a photography contest, proposed by IPSF (International Pharmaceutical Students Federation). The BLUE CIRCLE – the universal symbol of diabetes- was not to be missed in that photograph.
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We were off to a strong start, and so we continued! Let’s fight diabetes! Let’s control how we take the antibiotics! We measured the blood glucose level for the students at our university, knowing that by making jokes or having fun they will remember what we told them about this disease.
public health Somehow we linked the stress implied by the exams and its effect on the levels of blood sugar in the human body by comparing the numbers shown on the screen of the ACCU-CHEK device upon measuring the blood glucose level for the students who had had an exam or were about to have one. We had to sterilize our hands & to wear gloves before going through the measuring process, also we had to rub the skin to be pierced by the lancet using alcohol in order to make the test. The students showed great interest in knowing all about the numbers representing their blood glucose levels, as many of them didn’t take this kind of test ever before in their life. We went
beyond our university and joined a program about and for students called “Stundentiada”. There we put in practice all that we learned in the first place and we extended our knowledge by applying what we have learned on actual people that we never interacted with.
“Be informed! Know how to fight diabetes before it begins!”
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Ms. Amanda Wee - Australia
IPSF APRO Regional Projects Sub-Committee 2013-14
How can we, as IPSF members and pharmacy professionals, eliminate discrimination of AIDS through public health initiatives? My first encounter with HIV/AIDS was in high school, when I studied the 1993 drama film “Philadephia”, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. I remember sitting in my chair in shock, reeling in disgust not from the condition of AIDS itself, but the attitude of those people that judged and condemned a man with AIDS so willingly, although they knew so little about it. The characters in the movie focused so much on the cause of AIDS that they could not look beyond their personal opinions to view him as a human suffering an acute immune deficiency. It is my dislike for this judgmental and discriminative attitude that compelled me to participate in the 2013 World Aids Day essay competition, since the theme was “Global Challenge: Discrimination”. Many people blame AIDS patients, saying it is their own fault that they have the condition. Maybe it is indeed the ‘lifestyle’ that they have chosen that increased their chances of contracting AIDS... but then again isn’t that comparable to people who “choose” to have a high sugar diet and then develop diabetes? Or people who “choose” to consume high amounts of alcohol and develop fatty liver disease? All medical conditions have a cause and effect. The difference with HIV/AIDS is that it is so stigmatized and discriminated against,
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it often inhibits people from seeking prevention or treatment. This is the worst outcome for any disease or condition; Which is why pharmacy students and pharmacy professionals should help to decrease this discrimination.
My task when entering the essay competition was to answer the question, “How can we, as IPSF members and pharmacy professionals, eliminate discrimination of AIDS through public health initiatives?” This was how and why I answered:
1. Informing the public of what exactly AIDS is using cards with statements that debunk myths, and prompt them to pick a card from a box.
2. Directing them to reliable websites and sources of information, and utilising social media: Information consumes our everyday lives – from getting updates daily on our FaceBook newsfeed to checking Tumblr or Twitter – this is the way the modern generation interacts and communicates. With the increased amount of information available on the Internet, we need to filter out the unreliable or biased sources and promote those that are clinically correct.
3. Pharmacy students can target other students on campus, and working pharmacists can implement this in their community pharmacies: Targeting university students when they are at an age of discovery and exploration will hopefully open the minds of the future leaders of the country. For professional pharmacists, taking advantage of the set-up of a commu nity pharmacy (which usually involves people waiting for prescriptions surrounded by health-related objects) will make it more com fortable for the public and less confronting.
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Reaching mass audiences has to start on a personal level with collective effort – this means employing all health professionals to have the same goal and same mindset. I chose the face-to-face method because it personalizes the issue of HIV and gives a face of a highly regarded health professional to it. Pharmacists are known to be good and reliable source of information, so for us to advocate for being educated about the issue of HIV is logical.
These are my ideas and I hope they are justified. I personally do not know anyone with HIV or AIDS, nor have I known any patients with it. Living in Australia, it can still be a taboo subject, hidden from society’s knowledge. However I believe that irrespective of your beliefs or values, as human beings it should not stop you from identifying a health issue that needs to be addressed. Like an emergency doctor who treats a murderer who may have a gunshot wound, he or she looks beyond the deeds of the person and views them for what they are – a patient. I am not saying people need to accept that any actions of AIDS patients may be correct (to be honest I do not necessarily agree), but knowing the full story before forming preconceived misconceptions is the least we can do from a health perspective. Encouraging people to seek treatment or prevention may even wipe out the disease! Who knows? Public health is all about advocating and promoting better health outcomes for the public – whether they be endemic diseases like stroke and heart failure, or the hidden and less known diseases like Lyme disease or Motor Neuron Disease. Good health is a precious asset, and every single person is entitled to a chance to have good health. Shouldn’t we, as pharmacists, help to give them that chance?
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Mr. Deak Timea - Romania
Project Coordinator at OSF from Cluj-Napoca
“AntiAIDS” Campaign from Cluj-Napcoa on World AIDS Day Every year, around the 1st of December, the students of the Pharmaceutical Students Organization from Cluj-Napoca, Romania are carrying on with a health campaign entitled “AntiAIDS”. The 1st December is the World AIDS Day, and every year it is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their suwpport for people living with HIV, and to commemorate people who have died. Pharmacists by their profession have the obligation to help ill persons, but they also have the obligation to inform the public about forms of prevention for the most serious diseases. One of the most circulated diseases of the XXI century is AIDS, which results from the contamination by a dangerous virus, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus attacks the human immune system, and overtime the body will have difficulties in fighting with pathogens. Nowadays there are different forms of treatment that can extend the infected person’s life, but they can never heal them. The “AntiAIDS” campaign is mainly aimed at informing young people, and the greater public on the main types of prevention and the complications the virus generates. Also the campaign wants to change the attitude of
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people towards those that are HIV-positive, and the fact that the infection can’t be transmitted by an oral route (sneezing, sharing saliva, touching etc.), but is transmitted by blood, unprotected sex and used medical instruments. Another thing that follows through the campaign is to raise funds for special locations dealing with HIVpositive people and those who have AIDS. Our project was held for three days and it contained a lot of interesting activities. The activities followed three directions: informing people, raising funds and promotion. To inform the public, we shared informative material with the university, on the streets and in the student hostels. Another activity with a positive impact on students, was sharing free condoms in student hostels. By informing them in this way, we explained to them how to prevent HIV infection and the risks and consequences from having unprotected sex.
To raise funds we usually make small badges and red bracelets with the little red ribbon symbol, the sign for the fight against Aids. We sell the badges at the University, on the streets or in the student hostels. Then, we donate the collected money to hospitals or to people who have serious diseases; But not in the form of cash money, instead we buy with a part of the money, some presents for sick children, and with the other part we purchase something useful for a hospital. Another way to collect money is by inviting people to a charity party, where everyone is wearing a little red ribbon on their chest, showing support for those who have AIDS.
“The red ribbon is a symbol for solidarity with HIVpositive people and those living with AIDS.” To promote the campaign and also our organization we are using an event on Facebook, and we are informing the local press and television about our activities. We also have a movie night, when we watch a film based on the AIDS/HIV theme. Most of the time we watch the movie in one location at our University, usually an amphitheatre. But last year we collaborated with a real movie theater, which was a better place, more comfortable and with a bigger screen, and it had a good impact. At the entrance we welcomed people with cupcakes, instead of popcorn, which had the red ribbon symbol. We also had a special activity with a huge visual
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We also collaborated with the Public Health Directorate from Cluj Napoca, which offered free testing for everyone to see if they are infected with the virus.
impact to promote a healthy life and to inform people about HIV and AIDS. We did this by putting a big panel on the street which contained the word AIDS, written using condoms. Passersby were invited to take a condom, and they were informed about HIV and AIDS. We said that by this action we were “chasing away” AIDS. The last day of our campaign culminated with a mini flash-mob. We made little boxes from red paper and they contained a candle in the middle, and all of them together formed a red ribbon shape. After that we took a photo for the ribbon from a higher place. We think that it is a very good way to let people know that all the small gestures which come from the heart can help those who are infected. It shows the hope that a vaccine or effective treatment will be found, but it also shows the support of health professionals to those who have AIDS. In conclusion, I would like to say that this campaign is one of the most important health programmes of our organization because it is always a success, and we gather a great number of funds for the hospitals. So never forget “Your life takes precedence, protect yourself!”
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Ms. Dunja Marjanović - Serbia
National Coordinator of Public Health, Serbia
“It’s time to learn and prevent” Breast Cancer and HPV Infection Awareness Campaign
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide and a leading cause of premature death of women in Serbia.
breast cancer control 3) What are the most important risk factors for breast cancer? 4) What might be the consequences of HPV infection? 5) Prevention of breast cancer and HPV infection by making some lifestyle modifications
The number of patients is continuously increasing. This devastating statistics motivated NAPSer (National Association of Pharmacy Students – Serbia) to do the campaign and educate the population about breast cancer, and also about infection caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).
The first location was the busiest place of the students’ campus, which is the cafeteria where we placed our stands. Public Health Institute secured the flyers while we conducted a short questionnaire. Whoever answered the questions correctly got a flower made of paper, which contained a message. Furthermore, students had a chance to learn how to do breast selfexamination, shown on balloons by the participants.
When we started preparing for the campaign, we agreed that our targeted group should be young female students who need to learn how to early detect and prevent this disease. Before starting the campaign, the participants had to be well educated and trained in order to provide further education. Local Associations prepared participants through holding a session, during which the following messages, that are necessary to increase the awareness of public, were pointed out: 1) Why it is important to visit gynecologist regularly. 2) Early detection is the most important aspect for
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At first students were shy, but eventually they started asking questions and became more interested.
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In order to inform as many students as possible, we included other faculties as well. Primarily, the Public Health campaigns and their importance were introduced to interested students, and then we held a brief seminar about HPV infection and breast cancer. Our goal was to spread the campaign to other faculties in cooperation with their students’ associations, and to have some of their students participate and educate their colleagues. The campaign was also held at Faculty of pharmacy in order to educate our colleagues, future pharmacists, so that they could one day pass that knowledge to a greater number of patients. During this campaign we have realized how much trust the community has in pharmacists.
“One of our goals is to make sure that pharmacy students always stay worthy of that trust.”
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Ms. Elena Popa - Romania
Anticancer Campaign Coordinator, Cluj- Napca PSA
“The cancer has started the fight, together we end the war!” Cancer Awareness Campaign
Everything starts from an idea that if you let it grow, it can morph into a colossus that can radically change your point of view of life. But one is not aware of this, because it happens so swiftly,
As a result of the campaign, the money we raised were donated to the children with cancer from the Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ioan Chiricuta”. During the visit we paid to them, with the hope
that it renews everything. So it happened to me, during the Anticancer Campaign, which was held from 12th to 14th of March, with the help of the Pharmacy Students Association. A great joy I felt after this project was internationally recognized by the World Cancer Day, event that happened just before the start of the activities themselves.
of cheering them up, we offered to them a small artistic program, performed by the actors of the Puppet Theatre Puck. Our French colleagues staged quite the show as well: they sang their own collection and gave sweets to the children, promising to return to see them again soon.
The purpose of the campaign was to inform the residents of Cluj-Napoca of how important it is to investigate your medical condition regularly and about the prophylaxis regarding cancer. In order to stir the feeling and symbolize the importance of this illness, we made panels with ribbons, color coded, each representing a certain type of cancer. They were exposed in the halls of the Pharmacy Faculty, on the 12th of March. Because we wanted to have some fun as well, we organized a charity concert on 13th of March. The perfromers were Ramona Chirca, the choir of the Pharmacy Faculty and our french colleagues, Blue Dezbrakat. They entertained the public with their songs and rhythms from their own collections, creating a real frenzy among the participants.
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“Don’t ignore even the smallest glimmer of passion in your soul, run towards it with everything you have. It could change your life.” J.A. Germanotta As future pharmacists or pharmacy field specialists, we have the responsibility to inform our patients about cancer and to try as much as possible to train ourselves, to engage in research activities in order to find a cure, to start a fight and to put an end to this terrible illness.
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Ms. Melissa Laub - USA
IPSF Humanitarian Coordinator 2013-14
IPSF Humanitarian Campaigns Vampire Cup, Book for Africa, Pharmabridge I was introduced to IPSF during my first year of pharmacy school at the University of Colorado, in Denver, USA. I applied to be the Humanitarian Coordinator because I viewed it as a great opportunity to help people and meet IPSF members from across the globe. Through this position, I have seen that we can do great things when everyone is working toward the same goal. My time as coordinator is halfway over, so I would like to take this opportunity to share my experiences and urge you to take part in one of these rewarding campaigns! The Regular Vampire Cup is an ongoing blood donation campaign that has grown substantially over the past few years. More than 12,000 units of blood were collected in 2013, which means IPSFers helped up to 36,000 people in need! We hope to receive even more donations this year as the competition becomes more popular. As humanitarian coordinator, I have the opportunity to read every country’s event reports. I am constantly surprised by the creativity of IPSFers and impressed at how they are encouraging people to donate blood. We are also looking forward to the LIVE Vampire Cup in June. During the LIVE cup, donations will be posted online in real time. Both of these campaigns not only promote friendly competition among countries and a sense of pride in 34 IPSF IPSFNewsletter Public Health SPOT
their IPSF organization, but also they save lives around the world! In addition to the Vampire Cup, we are also promoting Plan, Books for Africa, and Pharmabridge. An IPSF member in Europe suggested working with Plan this year, and the mission of this organization is to improve the quality of life of deprived children in developing countries. Books for Africa is an organization that IPSF has worked with in the past, and we wanted to continue to promote and grow this collaboration. Books for Africa collects and distributes books to children in need in Africa. Pharmabridge is a program created by FIP that collects textbooks for pharmacy schools in developing countries. We are excited to see what great things they will do. I highly encourage you to read more about these projects on our website and choose one that fits your chapter’s goals and resources. Holding a humanitarian campaign is a wonderful way to promote involvement in your IPSF chapter while also helping those in need. More information can be found at: http://ipsf.org/humanitarian_events Or via e-mail: humanitarian@ipsf.org and publichealth@ipsf.org
Ms. Simona Dragieva - USA
IPSF PARO Public Health Project Coordinator for Vampire Cup 2013-14
IPSF Vampire Cup Campaign public health
A blood drive where IPSF Students try to compete against one another to raise the most units of blood event is the most important thing. Reach out to people and gather up a team as soon as you can! Set up tables, use social media, write emails – use all kinds of old and new methods to get more
Have you ever wondered what you can do to make a difference in public health? Does that sound like something easier said than done? Hosting a blood drive provides you with opportunity to do just that along with being part of an international competition! The Vampire Cup is a blood donation competition among IPSF associations from all over the world. This spring, I decided it’s time for my chapter to participate. My first step was to contact the American Red Cross and find my local representative. Nearly every country has a National Red Cross organization and they could be very helpful when it comes to hosting a blood drive. My representative assisted me with choosing the most appropriate date to host the blood drive, gave me promotional materials and the answer to any question. Once I gathered materials, the most difficult part came about (I would not even call it difficult, more like a fun opportunity to unleash some creativity and leadership in you!); promoting the
people to sign up for your drive. And if they can’t donate or want to help in a different way – invite them to help you recruit people and help on the day of the event! Word quickly spreads around and people are always willing to help out a good cause. So don’t be afraid of the promoting process! Just focus on organizing people, delegating duties and helping with whatever is needed. You get to know your fellow pharmacy classmates along with people working for the Red Cross. Our blood drive ended up having more people than expected. Every blood drive is different but a small one usually consists of one donor every 15 minutes. For a 6 hour blood drive, this could be over 20 donors and a lot of blood that is needed by critically ill people. As pharmacy students, we enjoy helping others. We do it in our own ways that could be as small as we want or as big as we can make them. Today, I encourage and challenge each of you to use your important role in the community as a health professional and IPSF member to make a difference!
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Mr. Sergio Oey - Netherlands
TBH Utrecht 2014 “Teddy Bear Pharmacy” Coordinator
Teddy Bear Hospital 2014 The “Fearless” Hospital for children
More than five hundred children from different primary schools in Utrecht and its surroundings have visited the teddy bear hospital (TBH) with their sick teddy bears or other stuffed toys. This year’s TBH in Utrecht was held from 25th of March till 27th of March in the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital. The children who visit the TBH get acquainted with doctors and hospitals in a playful way, under the guidance of medical and pharmacy students. Unfortunately, the fear for hospitals and doctors (or ‘white coats’ in general) is a common one in people. There is even a medical condition named ‘white coat syndrome’ (hypertension induced by medical staff wearing white coats). People who experience this kind of fear are of course not very eager to see a doctor. Even if their medical condition is urgent, they tend to just cope with the disease / disorder.
uncomfortable. We all have experienced this kind of feeling at least once in our lives. If the doctor says that he is going to listen to your heart or lungs while coming towards you with some weird looking tube with an fancy looking earpiece and you don’t even know what that thing will do or why the doctor has to use that thing in the first place, I would be afraid too. It makes more sense if the doctor just put his ear to your chest and starts listening, right? To get rid of this fear, we try as early on as possible to make children comfortable with doctors, other medical staff, and hospitals.
Sometimes, they walk around with the problem for quite a while so that a minor, easy to treat discomfort escalates to a more alarming state or even a life threatening situation. This is not only unnecessary, but costly, as medical bills increase with the state of seriousness of the disease.
perception of the world. We use this state of mind to our advantage. For instance, the medical and pharmacy students play a roleplaying game with the children. The children pretend to be both the parent of their teddy and a fellow practitioner. By doing so, the children can witness what the procedures are if you are sick and have to go to the hospital. We let the children sit in the position of the fellow practitioner for a different perspective and to help them better understand why certain
We think that this fear has its source in the fact that people are afraid of the unknown. If you don’t know what will happen next, you feel
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Our young visitors are mostly in the age range of 4 – 6 years old. In this phase of childhood, children are living partly in their fantasy world and partly in the real world. They start to get what reality is, but their imagination still plays a big role in their
things need to be done in the way that they are done.
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The “doctors” start with a check-up in the examination room. After diagnosing the problem, their teddies undergo all kind of treatments. We have access to an operating theater for stuffed animals, a plaster room with all kinds of plasters and bandages, and a teddy bear pharmacy. The children get our full attention during their visit and we let them participate as much as possible with the treatment of their teddies. The TBH in the Netherlands is a project between the International Federation of Medical students’ Association (IFMSA-NL) and the European Medical Students’ Association (EMSA). A TBH is annually organized in every city in the Netherlands where one can study medicine. The TBH in Groningen and Utrecht is organized in conjunction with the Royal Dutch Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (K.N.P.S.V.). If you are also interested about this project in your own city, please contact your local medical students’ association or check out the webpage of EMSA, IFMSA or IFMSA-NL: www.emsa-europe. eu, www.Ifmsa.org or http://ifmsa.nl/projecten/ teddy-bear-hospital/index.html (in Dutch).
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Ms. Sarah Romeili - Algeria
Contact Person of ASEPA Algeria, PHC Member and PE Ambassador 2013-14
To be a humanitarian pharmacist or not to be, that’s the question ! Keep being a good pharmacist, Keep being humanitarian! Statistics show that pharmacy students spend half of their time as students, either preparing, taking, or waiting for the results of an exam! Isn’t that crazy? All right, this might be a joke :D, but don’t you think it is somehow true?! We study so much during our long years at pharmacy school that at some point we get into a routine mode and we start zoning out of the world that surrounds us. Eventually, we end up losing touch with our friends, relatives and community! As a consequence, It affects our humanitarian side. Yet we pharmacists are supposed to have a high humanitarian sense, something that our ethical code advocates for. It is important for a pharmacist to be humanitarian, but it is better to act! And we, in ASEPA, act! This time around we thought about organizing a visit to burned children in « Hopital des Grands Brulés 1 Chirugie Réparatrice». Why? Because this category of patients is largely neglected by society, since people can’t stand the sight of malformations and burns. Our duty as pharmacists, and specifically as pharmacy students, is to try to alleviate their pain by visiting them, talking to them and playing with them. The truth is that we somehow felt obliged to organize an activity in this hospital since it is situated next to our university, so it was definitely a priority! 38 IPSF IPSFNewsletter Public Health SPOT
This visit to burned children was lead by the Chairperson of Public Health, Ms Khadidja Sichaib, with the collaboration of the Humanitarian Subcommittee members and the executive members as well. First step was to contact the hospital « Hopital des Grands Brulés 1 Chirugie Réparatrice » in order to get the approval. The response on the idea was really enthusiastic and they gave us a warm welcome. Since burned children are sensitive to many factors, we discussed with those responsible beforehand what had to be done, and what had to be avoided in order to make our visit successful. After all the preparation, we set May 3rd as the day of the visit. Just after getting the approval, we posted on the ASEPA Facebook page and group, a call for collecting donations: money, clothes, balloons, candy, diapers, wipes…etc...Some ASEPA members volunteered to collect the donations: one person being in charge of each batch. They were in charge of collecting the donations of their batch, and one was assigned to the library in addition to interns in the hospitals who collected the donations there. A few days before the visit, the humanitarian subcommittee and the Chairperson of Public
Health went shopping for things that were missing for the visit. They also bought some articles for the children’s mothers, since they also suffer when seeing the apple of their eyes suffering from these burns. We wanted to be considerate for them, as well as showing them that we appreciate their sacrifices. 1st of May: Two days before the big day, the subcommittee met in ASEPA headquarters to prepare packages: a package for the mothers, and a package for the kids. These packages were classified by the service, and the names of the patients. The 3rd May: 15H :annnnnnnnnnnnd action ! The Chairperson of Public Health, the subcommittee members, some execs and some volunteers were there, unified to make the kids smile!
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When we finally distributed all the gifts, the mascot was ready for the show! Even though the kids were not able to move from their beds, they were still excited to play with the mascot who was moving from room to room so that all the kids got the opportunity to play with him. They really had fun playing and taking photos with the mascot. The visit ended at 17h. The kids, their moms and the doctors were really happy and thanked us for the event, and the ASEPA participants were proud of themselves as well. As executive members, we couldn’t be more happier for organizing this event, which allowed us to bring smiles back to the children faces. We were proud of the members, and especially the humanitarian subcommittee members, who did their best to make this event such a success! You guys ROCK ! We also would like to thank everyone who contributed and helped in the organization of the event, we thank those responsible at the hospital who facilitated our task, and a special thanks to the donators, we would have never organized this visit without your help ! We highly advise IPSF associations to organize humanitarian projects, as this is fun for your members and very impactful for the society as well!
We first started by distributing the packages (the gifts) to the kids and their mothers. And at the same time we engaged in conversations and laughed with them. The kids were happy with their gifts and so were their moms!
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Chairperson of IPSF European Regional Office 2013-14 Ms. Parand Akhavan EPSA Public Health & Social Services Coordinator 2013-14 & Ms. Katarina Lihocka
Working Together on Mental Health Mental Health Awareness week with EPSA
A collaboration with the European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA) was actually one of my goals when I handed in my nomination form. The idea was pitched to Ms. Sheena Patel, IPSF Chairperson of Public Health, and with her we started by getting into contact with Ms. Katarína Lihocka, EPSA Social Services and Public Health Coordinator. Emails turned into a live brainstorm between Katarina and Mr. Jorge Batista, EPSA VicePresident of Education, and I in the beautiful city of Valencia, host of the EPSA Autumn Assembly. From a list of topics we pulled from the WHO website we agreed on the overall theme of Mental Health as it is a topic that is playing an increasing role in the life of students. It didn’t take us much time to come up with a specific topic: “Stress Level: Are you in Balance?”. As students, stress is a challenge well-known to all of us due to studies, social lives, family and part-time jobs for some of
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us. From here we decided on the package that we wanted to pass to the members to help them on their way. For those who haven’t seen it (get it from your IPSF CP or EPSA LS), it contains the following: • Presentation about the topic. • Leaflet • Booklet • Activity Report We would like to encourage you to use the prepared materials on the local and national level during for example Mental Health Awareness Week (12-16th of May) or on Mental Health Day (10th of October). We divided the tasks so that both organisations would deliver an equal amount of work and set out to work on the material. The problem with this joint project as it is with many, is time. This project was not the only project we had to focus on, so
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meeting deadlines was not always easy. Time is difficult to manage when the focus is not only on one project but countless others with colliding deadlines that also need to be met and are of equal importance such as reports, educational responsibilities, other projects and meetings. The resignation of the IPSF Design Coordinator did not help either. For a good joint campaign you need two people who have all their focus on the campaign and are not doing a million other things beside it. Ironically, the campaign against stress was a good source of stress itself. Yet we are glad that we were able to finish the material and have Ms. Svenja Laarhuis, EPSA Design Coordinator, and Ms. Alexandra Marques, IPSF Design Coordinator, create a wonderful design. It might not be perfect but it was the first step and we hope the lessons that we learned from it will open the door to more collaboration between our organisations in the Public Health sector as well as others.
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Mr. Theofanis K. Liatis - Greece
IVSA Executive Committee Member
Why should a vet collaborate with a pharmacist? from International Veterinary Students’ Association (IVSA) Introduction Firstly, I would like to express that I am very glad to be invited to write an article for this journal of pharmaceutical students. My name is Theofanis Liatis, I am from the Athens region of Greece, but I live and study in Thessaloniki, the city of love. I study at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. I am in my final year (5th) and wish to graduate soon! My field of study is very broad and deals with a lot of scientific sectors, as well as a lot of animals. So, I chose an easy way to present some important things about Veterinary Medicine by the form of questions. Entertain yourself!
What is IVSA? IVSA, or International Veterinary Students’ Association, is a non-for-profit non-governmental organization which was founded at 50’s. Its purpose is to benefit the animals and humans of the world.
What is Veterinary Medicine? Veterinary Medicine is an enormous field that encompasses many subjects, such as Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Microbiology & Parasitology, Pathology, Medicine, Surgery, Husbandry, Animal Welfare,
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Public Health, Food Safety and Hygiene, Imaging Diagnostics, etc. Concerning the animals, veterinary students study about the ruminants, equine, bovine, swine, dog and cat, exotics, wildlife, marine mammals, birds, fish, bees and snails.
What is SCOH?
SCOH is the newborn Standing Committee on One Health in IVSA that was founded in Utrecht in August 2013. SCOH is a ten-member committee that consists of one chairman and people from four different continents. SCOH’s purpose is to promote the Public Health sector of the Veterinarians as a more general idea of One Health and interdisciplinary collaboration.
ExCo Member of IVSA What projects has SCOH accomplished?
A veterinarian deals with Food Safety and Hygiene as meat or food (eggs, honey, cheese, milk, fish etc.) inspectors or microbiologists. They also deal with the zoonoses ( diseases who infect both humans and animals and can be transferred between each other) as an animal doctor. Moreover, the veterinarian deals with pharmacology and pharmaceutics of animal care and consequently cares about antimicrobial resistance.
Which are the Possible Joint Sectors of an interdisciplinary collaboration between VETS and PHARMACISTS? The most important joint sectors of vets and pharmacists collaboration within One Health are: • Antimicrobial Resistance • Pharmacology/Pharmaceutics of Animals’ • Medicines • One Health/Public Health
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What is the relation of Veterinary Medicine with Public Health?
SCOH has shown its great will and activeness from its first year of action by leading many projects. For example: • Local Veterinary Public Health Network (Local Officers for every chapter) • IVSA Campaign on World Rabies Day 2013 (12 • IVSA chapters worldwide participated in) • IVSA Stop TB Campaign 2014 (11 IVSA chapters worldwide participated in) • Sign for IVSA’s participation in the next World Healthcare Students’ Symposium 2015 Collaboration with GARC (Global Alliance for Rabies Control) • Collaboration with IFMSA-SCOPH (International Federation of Medical Students’ Association) • Collaboration with Stop TB Partnership • IVSA Veterinary Public Health Journal publication • Local One Health Projects (LOHP) And many more!!! It is my great pleasure to contribute to this pharmaceutical journal. I wish there will be a day where One Health and interdisciplinary collaboration will be not a unique situation, but a daily habit.
How VETS and PHARMACISTS can implement all the above?
• By joint online publications • By joint awareness campaigns • By writing articles to IVSA and IPSF journals • By designing posters • By participating in the World Health Students’ •
Symposium 2015 By becoming an affiliate member to SCOH
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Mr. Lucas Ercolin - Brazil
Chairperson of the IPSF PanAmerican Regional Office 2013-14
We share health and education! “You can not create experience. You must undergo it.” Albert Camus Hello students from around the world, my name is Lucas Ercolin, I am the Chairperson of the Pan American Regional Office (PARO), and I will share with you our experiences in Public Health, dividing it on two parts: Social Media and Projects.
World Health Day and World Diabetes Day. Some of the punctual posts have different focuses, such as the Valentine’s Day, that focuses on periodontal diseases, which are associated with the development of heart diseases.
Social Media, according to the definition by Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haelein is “a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”
However, considering that the three main American languages are English, Portuguese and Spanish, having all posts in these three languages is important to reach not only those who know English, but the majority of the students that have online connection. The evidence shows that the posts in Spanish are the most viewed. The time that we make it online seems to be connected with the impact, what makes the posts happen closer to the high internet traffic.
Considering this, our Public Health work on social media is based on the creation of original content from our RWG’s members and on sharing this with our members using the most popular online mediums (Facebook and YouTube) on the main dates (until the time this article was written): World Diabetes Day (November 14th), World AIDS Day (December 1st), Valentine’s Day/ Gingivitis (February 14th), World Tuberculosis Day (March 24th), World Health Day (April 7th). In addition, we have collaborated at the global level with IPSF as well. Most parts of the campaigns are developed to have more than only the post on the specific day, as they can last for days to a week, such as the
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The work flow needs to be professional from the very beginning, in order to guarantee that we will not miss the deadline, that the quality that we want will be achieved and that we have all the three languages, translated by native speakers. This method to develop Public Health on the American Continents is responsible for the high number of posts, Facebook and blog, that is even more active than the Global Facebook IPSF’s Page. However, the education on Public Health can not
whose objective it is to motivate the students to develop a Diabetes Campaign on the local level. The motto explains it: “A Public Health Campaign can be informative, simple and creative. You should do one too.”
be limited to sharing info, because education is a two-way work. If you are not thinking about what you hear, you are not learning. Because of this, we also highly value critical thinking. We did a post about the regulation system of Marijuana of the U.S. and Uruguay, countries that are changing the way that the world sees the subject and the way that we, pharmacists and pharmacy students, will deal with it, because in both countries the commerce is linked to a pharmacist. Another post, that will be online at the time that you read this article, is about immunization and the very existence of groups against it, some of them with Health Care Professionals, as pharmacists and physicians. Along with this learning process, of education and critical thinking, the last piece of the puzzle is the development coming from the members, what is part of the second part: Projects.
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However, if it is so simple and informative, why we do not see it more in the news? Probably we lack the motivation and expertise on developing campaigns. To answer these issues, the motivation will come from our main event on the Pan American Region: The 8th IPSF Pan American Regional Symposium. The group that runs the most creative Diabetes Campaign will get a discount for the symposium for all the participants and a trophy. What about the expertise? Many students never participated in a campaign, and only a few were part of the organization or development from the very beginning. For this we (Me and Ms. Sheena Patel) did our own campaign in a two minutes video called “IPSF PARO Creative Diabetes Campaign 2014”,on the IPSF’s Channel on Youtube (IPSForg), to show how simple it can be, even with only two people doing it, and still have impact. With this, we from the Pan American Regional Office are working hard in order to educate and to motivate pharmacy students to work on their local or national level as part of IPSF. And, as for you, why have you not started to develop a Public Health campaign?
We from PARO, in collaboration with Ms. Sheena Patel, Chairperson of Public Health (that is from the Pan American Region too) started a new project called “IPSF PARO Creative Diabetes Campaign”,
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International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation PO BOX 84200 2508 AE Den Haag The Netherlands Tel: +31 70 302 1992 Fax: +31 70 302 1999 Email: ipsf@ipsf.org Website: www.ipsf.org
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