BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Newsletter Date: December 2017
Secretary General Henry Campos Vice-Secretary General Elsie Kiguli-Malwadde Former Secretary General
Planning for the 2018 Network: TUFH Conference is underway!
Jan De Maeseneer
Greetings Network: TUFH Community,
Executive Director
The Network: Towards Unity for Health (TUFH) Annual Meeting in Limerick, Ireland, is on! The Secretariat office, local conference hosts and advisory committees are working hard to give you a memorable experience. This year’s theme, "Community Empowerment for Health: A MultiSectoral Approach," continues to advance collaboration with others outside the traditional health network.
Angele Russell Regional Representatives Geraldine Beaujean (Europe) Godwin Aja (Africa) Khalifa Elmusharaf (Med. & Mid. East) Dimity Pond (Western Pacific) Kamayani Mahabal (Southeast Asia)
The call for abstract submission for the Pre-Conference workshops, TUFH Talks, and Thematic Poster Sessions is now open. More information about the annual meeting is available at http://tufh2018.com, As we approach the coming of a New Year, our focus turns to family, friends, and the new wonders ahead. We wish to extend our gratitude for your commitment to equitable health around the world. We wish you the gifts of love, friendship and good health.
David Marsh (North America) Paulo M. Carvalho Jr (Latin Am.) At-Large Members Francisco Lamus Bjorg Palsdottir Klaus von Pressentin Paul Woorley Education for Health Michael Glasser Student Network Org. Alejandro Avelino Bonilla Newsletter Editor in Chief Alberta Steans-Parsons Interns Shaina Speights Aricia De Kempeneer Samridhi Mittal
Inside the Issue:
Holiday traditions Limerick site visit Interview: Henk Schmidt Region: South East Asia SNO section Community highlight: Safinah Best poster winner Message Board of Directors
Sincerely, Alberta Steans-Parsons Editor in chief
You've Only Just Begun...A Farewell After much consideration, I have decided to resign from my role as Executive Director of The Network: Towards Unity for Health (TUFH), effective January 31, 2018. When I joined The Network: TUFH as Executive Director two and a half years ago, I arrived with two distinct goals: (1) to ensure a smooth transition of the Secretariat from University of Ghent to FAIMER and (2) to increase membership through understanding the value of the organization and providing a space where members could interact with one another. Despite challenges, we were able to accomplish both of those goals. I am very appreciative of our journey together and am proud of the accomplishments we have had over the past two and a half years, including the recent launch of the membership management system, the transition of the Secretariat to FAIMER, professionalization of the organization, and the two successful conferences. FAIMER has named Alberta Steans-Parsons as interim Executive Director, effective January 31, 2018; until then, I will work with the team to ensure the transition goes as smooth as possible. Please feel free to contact me via email or phone; I have also included my personal email below in case you would like to stay in touch after Jan 31. Thank you all for your hard work during our time together; I look forward to hearing amazing things about the organization for years to come! Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year, Angele Russell personal email: angeledouglas@gmail.com Angele Russel
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Community Update
Site Visit to University of Limerick Members of the secretariat office recently visited the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland to meet with the local host organizers of the upcoming 2018 Network: TUFH Conference on “Community Empowerment for Health: A Multi-Sectoral Approach.” We are proud to announce the following details that came out of the site visit. Registration will open in early January 2018. Registration cost will increase slightly however members will receive the follow benefits included in the cost: An additional conference day Mobile App access to full conference program, Keynote speakers bios, abstracts, pop-up changes, on-site meetings, description of regional working group and their meeting times and Wi-Fi information Online custom poster printing by Troy Printing Daily lunch during main conference Breakfast included with room booking Scientific sessions Sponsored dinners most nights Shuttle service from Shannon Airport Accommodations will be booked online for onsite stay at Cappavilla Village and Kilmurry Village. The two residential villages are equipped with Wi-Fi and are minutes away walking to the conference venue. The 6/8 en-suite bedroom apartment rooms share a large kitchen/lounge area. Guests enjoy a continental breakfast delivered to the residence daily, which provides an opportunity for participants to stay and meet each other in a relaxed setting. Groups can request en-suite bookings together upon registering. Two Post Conferences will be offered: Maastricht University will also host a 2-day post conference in the Netherlands. Experience and learn about the Maastricht Educational Student Centered Learning Model. Information about airfare, and hotel accommodations is forthcoming. Visit our website for information: http://tufh2018.com/postconference/ The Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau will offer post conference excursions touring the city of Limerick and its nearby counties. More details are forthcoming.
Discover the 2018 Conference Venue - Limerick, Ireland
Limerick Fact: The University of Limerick has the longest footbridge in Ireland and one of the longest footbridges in Europe - it is called the Living Bridge.
Click Here
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The Early Years Remembered by Henk Schmidt By Alberta Steans-Parsons Henk Schmidt began working with The Network: TUFH in 1982, assisting the secretary general, Jacobus Greep, in building the organization from 19 member institutions to 150 member institutions. He collaborated with Ine Kuppen and Pauline Vluggen to organize the first seven biannual conferences of The Network, as well as two special conferences in Penang and Durban. Schmidt continued to contribute to The Network by founding, with Ine Kuppen, this newsletter in 1985 and The Network Journal Annals of Community-Oriented Education (now Education for Health) in 1987. He further edited and co-wrote several books on medical education inspired by Network conferences, including Tutorials in Problem Based Learning (Volumes 1 and 2), New Directions for Medical Education, and the Handbook of Community-based Education: Theory and Practice. Between 1987 and 1995 he was the Network’s associate secretary general. “I enjoyed the opportunity to work with towering personalities, such as Zohair Nooman and Esmat Ezzat (former secretary generals), Vic Neufeld (a former chairman), and Tamas Fulop (the former director of Health Manpower Development at the World Health Organization). It was also satisfying to meet the challenge of making a difference in the way health professionals were educated: I was one of the originators of the problem-based learning approach to education. I found it fun to develop new features of a conference such as the thematic poster sessions.”
Dr. Henk G. Schmidt
Click here to read more.
Regional Highlights - South East Asia By Aricia De Kempeneer and Myron Godhino
Kamayani Bali Mahabal is the regional representative of South East Asia. She is a feminist and activist in Gender, Health & Human Rights. She lives in India. Health patterns in South East Asia have changed. Over the years the epidemic and chronic diseases, environmental transformations, and international health institutions have created new connections within the region. Read more here.
Man Bahadur Paudyal is the SNO Regional Representative for South East Asia. A third year medical student, he resides in Nepal. Read more on his experience here.
Each community update will feature a different region to get a feeling of what it’s like to live, study, and work there as a health professional.
Heidi West is a Co-Founder and Director of Programs and Operations at the Global Environmental Health LAB (GEH LAB). GEH LAB is active in Myanmar (Burma). Read more on GEH LAB here.
Ricefields in Thailand
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Community Update
SNO Goes to the Next Level The Student Network Organization has been growing over the past few years. SNO is a part of The Network: TUFH, our origin. As SNO, all our values, competencies, and code of conduct are rooted in The Network: TUFH. We work on connecting students, universities, and other organizations as well as promoting interdisciplinary teamwork in health sciences. In this way, we strive to oppose the traditional lecture system and conquer with Paulo Freire and his book “Pedagogy of the oppressed,” where he challenges the global concept that ensures that the best students are those who can remember and apply all the depositions from the best teacher. The reality is that the best students are the ones who get actively involved in their learning process and consolidate it through creation of new knowledge.
Limerick Fact: Irish coffee, a brew infused with Irish whiskey, was invented in Limerick village Foynes in 1943!
Over time, since the birth of SNO, our question has been, “What can we do differently as students?” As the African proverb says, “Even the young can drum and the old dance.” We derive our satisfaction from contributing to the growth of The Network: TUFH. We continue to reach out to as many students globally as possible, sharing our vision and fulfilling our objectives. We envision a global body of students impacting communities and individual lives, sharing their work with the global community primarily through conferences. Within The Network: TUFH conferences, SNO students can present their research/project activities to the big gathering. It is indeed a great opportunity for them to get recognition and feedback for their work on a global platform. Click here to read more.
Interview with Adriana Adriana Paola Molina Sanchez is a recent medical graduate and former SNO member who has grown with The Network: TUFH.
Adriana Paola Molina Sanchez
How did you come to discover The Network: TUFH and SNO? One day, one of my lecturers who is on the executive committee of The Network: TUFH, sent a communication to us “the students he was teaching,” about the call for abstracts and presentations for The Network: TUFH conference. I took a step to inquire from him as well as search for details about that conference. I was so thrilled by what I got to know about the conference and made what I now call a “regrettable” move to submit an abstract on my community project. My longing for The Network: TUFH conference further increased when my abstract was accepted for a presentation. Well, being part of the conference as a student meant being part of the students’ family (SNO). For more, click here.
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Community Highlight - Safinah Kisu Museene By Alberta Steans-Parsons If you meet a nurse from Kampala, Uganda, chances are that nurse was touched by the work of Safinah Kisu Museene, an educator who has pioneered nursing education in the capital city. Over the past 15 years, Safinah has traveled the world to learn about effective strategies for clinical teaching and assessment, and she has brought them back home and implemented them at central and eastern Uganda nursing schools. All the while, she has also continued to practice nursing at area hospitals. Now, Safinah is going national. In May, she was named a commissioner for Business Technical Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) in the country’s Ministry of Education and Sport. In this new position, she is responsible for formulating policies, mobilizing resources, and monitoring and guiding the governance of professional education of all mid-level health service providers in Uganda. Safinah says that throughout her time as a nurse, she wanted to see a nurse achieve a national level of decision making. “I have worked very hard to be in a position to be that nurse and my appointment to this position has answered my dream.” It’s a big job, but one that she is ready for because of the complex mix of skills she developed in her many years as a nurse educator, administrator, and leader. She adds, “It requires one to be kind, gentle, patient, empathetic, and interested in his/her work.”
Safinah Kisu Museene
Click here to read more about Safinah.
Limerick Fact: Limerick, Ireland’s third largest city, was founded by the Vikings in 812. Limerick is one of Ireland’s oldest cities, with a Charter of Incorporation older than that of London’s, dating back to 1197!
2017 World Summit Best Overall Poster Winner - Amal Hassan By Alberta Steans-Parsons I would like to thank The Network: TUFH for this opportunity. I am honored to receive the best overall poster award. My colleague and I worked hard on this initiative and we are very happy to be recognized for our work through our poster. The most amazing thing about attending a Network: TUFH conference is that we gather to share and create a new knowledge and then transfer it to our countries. We introduce our health problems to the world in order to figure out the solutions and learn to overcome from others triumphs. I made a lot of friendships from different countries, and now I am in touch with them The Network conference was that opportunity for me! For the full interview, click here.
Amal Hassan and Wefag Ahmed
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Community Update
Message from the Board of Directors The Network: TUFH-WHO Collaboration Henry Campos (Secretary General) & Elsie Kiguli-Malwadde (Vice Secretary General)
UPCOMIMG CONFERENCES
15th Asia Pacific Medical
Education Conference (APMEC): 10-14 January, 2018 ~ Singapore
WONCA 5th Vasco da
Gama Forum: 26-27 January, 2018 ~ Porto, Portugal
WONCA East Mediterranean region conference 2018:1-3 March, 2018 ~ Kuwait city, Kuwait
18th Ottawa Conference
on the Assessment of Competence in Medicine and the Healthcare Professions: 10-14 March, 2018 ~ Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
WONCA Vll Cumbre
Iberoamericana de Medicina Familiar: 13-14 March, 2018 ~ Cali, Colombia
The Network: TUFH is a network of networks that includes individuals, institutions, and organizations committed to improving the health of the people and their communities. In line with this we work closely with the World Health Organization (WHO). The Board of Directors recently had a meeting with Ibadat Dhillon, a liaison officer for the Education Hub at WHO to discuss how this collaboration could be improved and to learn more about the Global Health Force Network and its work. Ibadat Dhillon is currently serving as a technical officer with the WHO’s Health Workforce Department. He has previously served as a health sector advisor for the Danish Government, the Irish Government, and the United States government. He has additionally worked with the Aspen Institute, where his work contributed to the development and adoption of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. Ibadat Dhillon has graduate level training in international law and public health. Here are the four main points discussed. Please read the full message here.
Holiday Traditions Around the World! My Holidays by Aricia De Kempeneer For me the holiday season equals family. In my family we have Christians, atheists, and Buddhists, but we all celebrate together in December. It’s a time to be merry, joyful, and have fun just being together. I count myself very blessed with a loving mother and father, a brother who is always there for the hard and the fun times, a loving boyfriend, and a big family full of nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles and grandparents and a big family in law as well. So much love coming together is wonderful. Click here for more.
ICPHMT 2018: 20th International Conference on Public Health and Medical Technology: 15-16 March, 2018 ~ Paris, France
9th Annual CUGH Conference: 16-18 March, 2018 ~ New York City, NY, USA
International Conference on Public Health: 22-23 March 2018 ~ Colombo, Sri Lanka
Suggestions on conferences and events that might interest our members? Feel free to share them by contacting us at newsletter@thenetworktufh.org
Holiday Traditions in India by Samridhi Mittal India is a land of diverse cultures with multiple religious, ethnic, lingual diversity. It is an integration of several cultures which make it so unique. Every culture has its own traditions, customs, festivals, dressing style, food preparations, prayer forms, and a different holiday calendar. The most exciting and amazing fact is that despite having several cultures, every Indian enjoys and celebrates most of the festivals together. Click here to read more.
Call For Stories! Any ideas for stories/features for our newsletter? Feel free to share them by contacting us at newsletter@thenetworktufh.org; your story or idea could be featured in our next edition!