E-SCOPHians SCOPH Newsletter
E DI T O R I A L Honorable SCOPHians, I’m pleased to offer the 4th issue of E-SCOPHians, the official SCOPH Newsletter. Articles appearing in this publications have been written by SCOPHians from different NMOs. A simple recognisation to all efforts made to improve Public Health and SCOPH specifically. So, thank you for being the best committee ever and for making your voice heard. These papers contain statements, opinions and projects held during this month-April. We have World Health Day celebrated in Nigeria, Autism in Italy, HY 5 in Kurdistan, Mental Health
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day in Cairo and in Tunisia. Again, I advise you all dear SCOPHeroes to contribute to your own cause by launching several campaigns and working on projects. And keep in mind that media and Publications are among the tools to promote your actions. That's why, please for any kind of assesment, approach me or any member of SCOPH International Dream Team
Inside Editorial 1 Autism-SISM 1 Kidney Day-Nigeria 2 HY 5-Kurdistan 3 1St Aid- Associamed Tunisia 3 Mental Health-IFMSA Egypt 4
Briefing • ISSUE 1 h t t p : / / i s s u u . c o m / m a rw a d a l y /docs/scoph_december_ene w s l e t t e r
All the best, MARWA DALY Development Assistant on Publication and Marketing of SCOPH
• ISSUE 2 h t t p : / / i s s u u . c o m / m a rw a d a l y /docs/february_e-scophians • ISSUE 3 h t t p : / / i s s u u . c o m / m a rw a d a l y /docs/escophians_final_final
-AUTISM- SISM A ut i s m i s one of t he l e s s k now n p a t hol og i e s i n t he w o rl d . T h e re ’ s a l a c k o f e d uc a t i on mak e s p e op l e a f f e c t e d b y t he s e p a t hol og i e s m o re e x c l u d e d a n d a t t h e l i m i t of society. S t a rt i n g ri g h t f ro m t h i s p ro b l e m , t h e S W G f o r m e n t a l he a l t h, A ut i s m S e c t i on, of S IS M , d e c i d e d e x p l o r i n g t h i s f a l s e m y t h s a n d d e s t ro i n g t he m ! We set the deadline of the
2 n d A p r i l , t h e In t e r n a t i o n a l Day of Autism Awareness. T h e n w e s t a rt e d w i t h a p e ri o d o f s e l f t ra i n i n g a n d c o l l e c t i o n o f a l l k i n d o f i n f o rm a t i o n w e f ound a b out t he t op i c . We have analyzed them and d e c i d e d w ha t ha d t o b e our g o a l s : d e m o n s t ra t e l a c k o f k now l e d g e a m ong p e op l e , s p re a d ri g h t a nd s h o rt information easy to remember, g i v e t he c ha nc e t o p e op l e t o g e t m o re i n f o rm a t i o n f ro m a
c o rre c t s o u rc e , a nd do e v e ry t h i n g i n o rd e r t o c a t c h y oung p op ul a t i on’ s a t t e nt i on! T he s e c ond p ha s e w a s t ha t o f s e l e c t i o n a n d o rg a n i z a t i o n o f i n f o rm a t i o n a n d d a t a , a n d t he n w e d e c i d e d t o m a k e a v i d e o f ro m d i f f e re n t p a rt s o f It a l y t o s h o w t h e l a c k o f k n o w l e d g e a m o n g u n i v e rs i t y s t ud e nt s a nd g i v e s om e us e f ul i n f o rm a t i o n . We received a lot of curious a n d d i f f e re n t a n s w e rs t o t h e
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q u e s t i o n s w e m a d e . M o re o v e r t o g i v e ri g h t a n s w e rs a n d i n f o rm a t i o n s a f t e r t h e y a n s w e r w e a s k e d h e l p a n d c o rre c t n o t i o n s t o a c h i l d p s y c h i a t ri s t w h o w o rk e d w i t h p a t i e n t s . B e f o re t h e re l e a s e o f t h e v i d e o w e m a k e a n e v e nt on Facebook inviting more than 5 0 0 0 p e op l e : i n t hi s e v e nt w e c re a t e d a c o u n d o w n , e v e ry d a y w e w r o t e i n It a l i a n a n d E n g l i s h a s t a t e m e nt a b out a ut i s m w i t h “True” or “False” and the e x p l i c a t i on a b out i t ; w e p ut a l s o i n t h e e n d o f t h e s h o rt
e x p l i c a t i o n s o m e l i n k w h e re f i n d m o re i n f o s . A l s o w e a s k e d t o t he P G a c o v e r a n d a p ro f i l e p i c t u re i n o rd e r t o c h a n g e o u rs a n d m a k e a v i rt u a l f l a s h m o b . Moving on multiple way, we re a c h e d a l o t o f p e o p l e a n d f a c e b ook d a t a s s a y t he v i d e o a n d t h e i n f o s w e re s h a re d b y a m o re t h e n 5 0 0 p e o p l e a n d s e e n b y a l m os t 2 0 0 0 p e op l e ! Paolo Micciché & Matteo D a m e r i , S IS M
World Kidney Day in Nigeria T h e e v e n t w a s b o rn o u t o f necessity for SCOPH Nigeria t o p l a y i t s ro l e i n t h e a w a re n e s s o f k i d n e y d i s e a s e s . It w a s o n e d a y e v e n t h e l d a t a t e rt i a ry i n s t i t u t i o n o f l e a rn i n g b y t h e n a m e f e d e ra l c o l l e g e o f e d u c a t i o n z a ri a , k a d u n a , Nigeria. It started with i n t ro d u c t i o n o f k i d n e y d i s e a s e s a n d h o w t h e y c a n b e p re v e n t e d b y e m p h a s i z i n g o n d ri n k i n g safe water. All participants w e re a s k e d i f t h e y a re h y p e rt e n s i v e , d i a b e t i c a n d i f t h e re w a s a f a m i l y h i s t o ry o f
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h y p e rt e n s i o n , d i a b e t e s a n d c h ro n i c k i d n e y d i s e a s e . T h e y a l s o h a d t h e i r b l o o d p re s s u re c h e c k e d , w i t h u ri n a l y s i s f o r b i l i ru b i n , u ro b i l i n o g e n , k e t o n e s , g l u c o s e , p ro t e i n , b l o o d , n i t ri t e , u ri n e p H . s e ru m u re a a n d e l e c t ro l y t e w a s d o n e f o r a l l participant too. There was on t he s p ot c ouns e l i ng f or p a rt i c i p a n t f o r t h o s e w h o w e re f o u n d t o b e a t ri s k o f d e v e l op i ng k i d ne y d i s e a s e a nd t h o s e w h o h a d b l o o d p re s s u re a b ov e 1 4 0 / 9 0 m m H g . T he s t a t i c s o f t h e re s u l t a re s t i l l b e i n g
c om p i l e d . T he up c om i ng a c t i ons a re t o ra i s e a w a re n e s s a b o u t regular drinking of safe water. B a s e d o n t h e re s u l t s t h a t w e g o t , w e a re p l a n n i n g t o c a l l t h e m w h e n t h e i r s e ru m u re a and electrolyte are ready. This b e c a u s e u ri n a l y s i s re s u l t a l o n e c a n ’ t re a l l y g i v e u s a c l e a r i d e a of t he k i d ne y f unc t i on OPARA KENNEDY IFEANYI SCOPH D NIGERIA
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Campaign for Hand Hygiene Hand washing is a very important part of everyone’s daily life, not only does it give you a sense of cleanliness but also prevents many diseases from emerging. When we are young, our parents have always taught us to wash our hands after touching pets, playing in the garden, before/after eating and even after using the bathroom. So by the time we become adults, hand washing becomes “second nature”. On 10th April 2014, IFMSA SCOPH attended Ishik Gulan primary school in Kurdistan, North of Iraq. The aim was to promote hand hygiene for 300 students aged between 7-9 years. The motivation for this project was brought about in the national meeting held by the IFMSA medical students during August 2013.. So I took it upon myself to change this fact and lead this project. I grew up in Australia so I wanted to see if the kids of Kurdistan had a good knowledge about hand hygiene, when we should wash our hands, why we should wash them and the correct technique for hand washing. I have to say that kids were not only
competent in all these fields but they seemed very excited and even taught us a few things. The day began with about 60 students and we showed them a PowerPoint explaining hand hygiene terminology such as germs, hygiene, and soap; then we explained why, when and how we wash. After we showed the children the “correct” method of washing our hands, we choose some volunteers and practiced until the children understood the main concept; we also taught them that sneezing into your elbow is important to prevent the spread of germs. Then the students were divided into smaller groups to do various activities; some did hand painting, other placed glitter or coloured hand stencils and some sat on the mat and read books or watched videos related to hand hygiene. All these activities were then repeated for the next four groups of students. At the end of the day we gave each 300 students a certificate to encourage them to continue hand washing and teach others the importance of what they learnt that day. Before the
day concluded the students raised their hands and took 5 promises to continue washing their hands. We also placed all the hand stencils and hand painting on 2 large posters and gave them to the school as a reminder of the fun day we had at the school. Hopefully this is the beginning of something great and Kurdistan can start participating in hand washing day and finally be a part of the WHO campaign. C h a ra A b d u l l a IFSA Kurdistan
First Aid-Associa-Med TUNISIA Because nothing is more precious than seeing a little kid learning how to make the world a better place … Because even the children can be the ones saving others… SCOPH Tunisia, the Standing Committee on Public Health (Associa-Med Tunisia) chose
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teaching young people fist aid in order to promote the art of life_saving and to show them how to handle life threating moments and to learn how to manage emergencies! Our Project started with tow trainings for SCOPHeroes to show them how to deal with
children and how to teach them first aids. Then, Time to rich our goal! In only three days, 3 Hours a day, in three different establishments (Primary, secondary and high school), we trained 120 students aged from 9 to 18 years old! Page 3
This is public health ! This is our responsibility to change ! It was just a start to make such trainings permanent in our schools!We will keep rocking Hajer Ben Souda Associamed Tunisia
A day at El-Abassia hospital for mental health illness On April 16th, we as Cairo Model World Health Organization - CMWHO were in the oldest mental health illness hospital in Egypt. The day was aiming to launch a campaign fighting against mental health illness stigma. We were in their shoes for a day. We dedicated ourselves to draw a smile in every face we see. We designed social activities including simple games, drawing playing with clay, music and dancing. We wanted to mingle with them to prove to the whole world that we should stop stigma now. It was the one of the most moving experience in my
life;The dancing music is everywhere. They are dancing, laughing, singing, some are sitting on the corner living peacefully in a world may be this world is not typically ours. Still they are sharing ours with a peaceful look. When we shared some fruits together, one of the patients hugged and thanked me. I got touched; hundreds of thoughts from our world came suddenly to my mind. That picture about a person living with mental illness as a mad person hitting everyone. Then we came to the drawing table where some of the patients start to draw.The answer was an action, and nothing worth more than a
visionary one. Today CMWHO members started an initiative working for hopefully promoting mental health. This started from our deep belief in the cause after a touching inspirational field insight. It was just the start. Today I can say that I am proud, not only coming from the fact of being CMWHO founder and the current president, but from the simple fact " I am a CMWHOer I shared in making some people happier " Today was j u s t t h e s t a rt S u p p o rt t h e C a us e . . . F i g ht S t i g m a a g a i ns t mental health illness." BAHER BASEM Higazy IF M S A E g y p t
SCOPH
E d i t o r i n c h i e f : M a rw a D a l y D e s i g n a n d L a y o u t : M a rw a D a l y E m a i l a d d re s s : da.scoph.pub@gmail.com