Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
AM2009 Edition
Introduction
Dear SCOPHians, SCOPH Dream Team and our beloved SCOPH Director, Florian Stigler.
It all began back in late 2008 when two bright-eyed public health enthusiasts were honored to be selected as
Development Assistants for SCOPH Projects 2008-2009. Brought together by fate and a little help from Flo of
course, the world of fish and chips, football and grey, wet weather – the United Kingdom (UK), met a strange and
bizarre new world of the Alps, Lederhosen and sausage – Austria. Together united as one it was our goal to think ‘big’
in our mission to support SCOPH projects around the globe. As one may say ‘the rest is history’…
At the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA) August Meeting 2009 in Ohrid, Macedonia,
we are proud to present the 2nd edition of the SCOPH Project Booklet. The SCOPH Projects represented within this
2nd edition were selected based on votes of worldwide SCOPHians and the concept behind this venture is to publicise
SCOPH projects within and beyond the IFMSA. It is our hope that the business card approach taken by this
publication will allow a reader to gain a mind-blowing first impression of the visions of diligent SCOPHians tackling
worldwide public health issues through community and student-based projects. Furthermore, we hope to stimulate
the minds and encourage all readers to take the ideas and concepts behind each project featured within this
publication to their country of residence with a newly inspired mission to implement as many projects as possible
back home.
Naturally we can’t take all the credit for such a publication and we would like to make a personal pledge of thanks and
gratitude to all those involved in the design, content and implementation of the first and second editions of the
SCOPH Project Booklet. Enjoy!
Yours,
Contents
Page
Executive Summary 2
Priority Campaigns - IFMSA Campaign on Malaria (ICOM) & Anti –Tuberculosis Initiative Project
Tobacco Initiative Project (TIP) & Transnational Obesity Network (TON) 3-6
Child Health – Smile X, Teddy Bear under the Christmas Tree & Teddy Bear Hospital 7-8
Chronic (Non-Communicable) Diseases –You Have Only One Heart & Ladies in Red 9-10
Community-based Projects - Community Support & National Health Week 11-12
Donation Projects – Marrow & Organ Donation 13-14
Global Health – Equip, Crossing Borders & International Students Network on Aging & Health (ISNAH) 15-17
Mental Health & Illicit Drug Use – Mental Health Initiative Project (MHIP), Eating Disorders& Fashion
Show, Aware, Not Stone! 18-21
1st Aid 22
Road Safety 23
SCOPH Exchange 24
World Health Days andProjects
Links 25
A project a day keeps the doctor away… 1
Special Thanks 26
Executive Summary
Dear SCOPHians,
In this moment, in your hands, you are holding the ‘SCOPH Project Booklet’. This is a special
opportunity for you and if as a consequence of this booklet you go on to organise a project on your
own, for all the people you will reach. This booklet has been made to give you an overview of the
variety of projects you can organise within the Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH).
The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) represents more than one million medical
students all over the world and covers more than 100 national organisations. SCOPH works on different kinds of
activities which all, in some way, affect the health status of our own communities deeply. This provides us with huge
potential and a strong global voice as the future health professionals – but the most powerful tool is still what YOU
are doing - in your own local committee!
A local action gives you the chance to affect your own community directly. You are able to educate people concerning
a disease, its early symptoms and possible treatment(s). You can raise awareness surrounding risk factors, prevention
and promote a healthier lifestyle. Furthermore, you can influence policy makers through your advocacy. These goals
may be achieved through marketing materials and the media.
There is so much you can do and you are able to contribute towards unwavering change within your society. Through
the same process you will improve your skills in working within professional organizations, team-work,
communication, project-management and leadership. Moreover, you will be a health professional with awareness for
real public health problems within your community and will hold the knowledge to enable potential solutions. So…
Involve others!
Your local committee and other medical students are there to help you. Create a team! This booklet is not just for you
– offer it to EVERYBODY, within your town and National Member Organisation (NMO), and new projects will
raise up! Promote these projects as you can!
Right now I would like to say thank you, especially to Louise Mulcahy (UK) and Christopher Pleyer (Austria) - the
fantastic editors of this second version of the ‘SCOPH Project Booklet’! You have made this massive step for SCOPH
possible, together with all the wonderful authors of each article. Thank you on behalf of SCOPHians and all the
worldwide projects that will become active because of this ‘SCOPH Project Booklet’!
Florian Stigler
Projects
IFMSA Director on Public Health 2008-2009 A project a day keeps the doctor away… 2
Priority Campaigns
In order to achieve these goals we need to get active on the local level – let’s organize activities on the World
Malaria Day, 25th of April!
World Swim against Malaria (www.worldswimagainstmalaria.com): The biggest swim event of the world can also
be a big event for the IFMSA. It raises the worldwide awareness concerning malaria and puts pressure on our
politicians as well as simply being fun. It is also a fundraising event with 100% of the funds being used to buy nets -
one net costs just $5 and just 8 nets save a life statistically!
Health Education Campaign: Our main goal should be to raise the awareness and to educate society concerning
the symptoms, the treatment and possible prevention of this disease. This can be done through educating kids and
teens through educational games e.g. competitions on drawing, short stories or even poems or to create posters and
flyers to spread your malaria messages to the general society.
Bite Back: The Malaria project consists of 3 steps. As students complete each activity, they will receive a wristband
– one will say “B” for believing, another “U” for understanding, and the final one will have a “G” for giving –
spelling out “BUG.”
B: The campus community is encouraged to sign a petition to show its concern over malaria.
U: Increasing awareness is the key. Movies about malaria are shown and health information distributed.
G: A donation campaign “Send Nets to Save Lives” is raised. It only costs $10 to provide an insecticide-treated bed
net that can prevent this deadly disease.
Peer Education Training – TMT (Train Malaria Trainers): An active training session at previous preGAs,
which can also take place in your country! Create a peer education network by training medical students with the
skills needed to act out interventions for the community or to educate other medical students on Malaria.
1. Organise an awareness-campaign.
Tell people more about early symptoms like coughing and about ways to
prevent and to treat TB. Use posters, leaflets and flyers and try to get more
attention by asking the TV or newspapers to report your activities.
2. Advocate against TB.
Demand attention and speak as the voice of medical students. Collect
signatures and write a statement to put pressure on your Ministry of Health and
government to take action against Malaria.
3. Be active on the World TB Day.
It is celebrated on the 24th of March within IFMSA and all over the world. Share your plans and ideas with
SCOPHians all over the world by sending emails to the SCOPH Yahoo-Group.
We have different kinds of activities in IFMSA to achieve these goals and they
are combined under the umbrella of the Tobacco Initiative Project (TIP). You
can also use some of these projects and activities presented in this article in your
own local committee.
Smoke-free Party.
It’s a party, it is fun and it is serious: second-hand smoke is deadly and one of
the most underestimated risk factors for preventable diseases. In the EU alone,
80, 000 people are dying every year because of second-hand smoke [WHO]. This
activity can raise awareness especially for this risk factor. Furthermore, it can
help raise our voices for the creation of health care policies like smoke-free pubs
and discotheques AND it can strengthen the image of being a non-smoker
effectively. Just look for a discotheque and the owner will be happy if you want
to organise a party for him. Just create posters and flyers and that’s it!
Smoking-ologist
This transnational project is integrating the concept of role-play simulation in its activities. The participants will
reflect on the role profile of a doctor who is a smoker (Smoking-ologist) in an artificial social setting where smoking
is a medical specialty (Smoking-ology), implying that the smoker doctor promotes smoking. Such a concept will
expose the participants to first-person experiences of personalities, motivations and backgrounds of doctors who are
smokers.
Smile X
Hello there, IFMSA folks! We are proud to introduce to you “Smile X”, the craziest project of our association!
Smile X is a project that gives medical students the opportunity to be in contact with the most beautiful kind of
medicine: the clown-therapy. Inspired by doctors like Patch Adams and Dr. Marc Christensen, Smile X is a
transnational project that was created in Italy and that now exists in 4 countries. After a hard learning process on
clown techniques, medical students visit paediatric wards in order to try to establish a joyful relationship with the
little patients. In general the clowns are divided into pairs and dressed up with the famous red noses. They develop
games, gags and music presentations with the children, although the hospital’s dynamics are always respected.
Our aims are to create a less stressed atmosphere inside our hospitals, giving children back their playful and
spontaneous universe of childhood that may be lost with the admission. Moreover, we try to offer medical students
tools and techniques to approach our patients in a friendlier way, which will eventually make medical treatment
more comfortable for both patients and ourselves. Smile-X is about organizing clown therapy courses for medical
students (held by doctors and students), creating a network to exchange all our experiences and to promote our idea
of a harmonic doctor-patient relationship. Our goal is not become clown doctors for the rest of our lives. We also
do not think that all of us, once graduated will carry a red nose in their coat. What we really want to learn is how we
can be better doctors and how we can be closer to patients’ problems!
Paint your nose and come to play with us. Become a clown-therapist too! To join us, or to get more information,
please contact project.smile@yahoo.com! Our team will be glad to talk to you and believe me... I'm not joking this
time ☺.
This is the reason why every year more and more medical students and local committees of IFMSA-Poland join the
project “Teddy Bear under Christmas Tree” - the initiative, which aims to bring happiness to children who have to
stay in hospital over Christmas. The project attracts medical students and gives them the opportunity to learn how
Please contact:
aleksandra.herbowska@gmail.com
npo@ifmsa.pl
Let the magic begin, children become parents and teddy bears their ill little ones! Through their own personal toy
and without the stress of being the patient children come in contact with the hospital scenery. Parallel to this,
through the role of parents children feel safe and interested in what is going on in front of them. They learn how to
be responsible and realise that visiting a doctor is not something they should be afraid of.
And the game starts! Does your belly hurt? We should give you a little of this fantastic syrup
“Strawberrex”. Is your Teddy sick because of too much chocolate? Daddy’s kiss was not
enough to make it feel better? Don’t worry our doctors are there to help you! The teddy-
doc’s must face poisons, broken tails and beaks but through using their imagination they
always manage to apply the right treatment!
In the end, children feel so comfortable with us, that they start asking us questions about
auscultating their own hearts, taking pride in the fact that “they are not afraid of doctors”! When
we ask them what they want to become when they grow up we love getting the answer,
“DOCTOR!!!” The procedure shown above is just the main concept, since medical students in
different countries have adjusted this to their needs, circumstances and limitations as well as course ideas!
It is therefore not coincidental that more than 30 National Member Organisation’s (NMO’s) have chosen to run this
project and that thousands of children play with us each year. It’s such a simple and attractive idea and importantly it
has to do with children, our future. - Public Health without prevention is just not an option!
In 2005, CVDs represented 1/3 of global deaths [WHO]. However, the majority of CVDs
are preventable and controllable. In IFMSA-Poland we introduced a project ‘You have
only one heart’ to help reduce the risks of heart diseases through local activities. Our
challenge is to deliver interventions, which promote behavioral changes in individuals and
in the population as a whole. Because in Poland, we find the worst situation in small cities
and villages, where the availability of information is not as good when compared to the big
cities, we decided to target the inhabitants of rural areas in our country.
The project ‘You have only one heart’ is highly successful and in 2008 we screened over 500 patients. This initiative,
stimulated by results, motivates project members to develop their medical skills and learn how to talk to patients.
So it is worth to keep the heart healthy, because you only have one… For more
information about the project, please contact: npo@ifmsa.pl
Cardiovascular disease - who do you think is at risk? – Does the answer: “Men…” first come to your mind? Maybe,
it shouldn’t anymore...? Since 1984, the number of CVD deaths for females has exceeded those for males according
to the American Heart Association. Although most of the society regards CVD as a male problem, in fact it is the
leading killer of females too. Furthermore, all cardiovascular diseases (both heart diseases and stroke) claim the lives
of more women than all forms of cancer combined.
Women are often thought to be better protected against the development of CVD
because of the cardio-protective effect of estrogen. However, we know that with
increasing age the risk also rises for women and after menopause it is just as high as in
men. This may result in underestimating the problem and leaving women with untreated
risk factors. Moreover, the clinical manifestation of ischaemic heart disease in women is
different than in men (women are more likely to have shortness of breath, nausea,
vomiting, back or jaw pain - WHO). Unfortunately the awareness of these facts is low
within society. This lack of knowledge and the misperceptions that CVD is not a real
problem for women leads to many serious consequences: women tend to ignore
symptoms of CVD, do not report them to doctors and thus are diagnosed later than men.
We have decided to take an action and in order to change this situation and in 2006 we
set up a new project: ‘Ladies in Red’. The initiative aims to draw attention to CVD in
women and to raise the awareness that CVD is a serious health problem for them.
During our activities, which are mainly carried out in shopping centers, we educate
women about heart diseases and encourage them to take steps to prevent CVD. To
reach these aims we promote healthy lifestyles. We also hand out leaflets concerning the
risks of CVD. Moreover, during every action, we create the opportunity for women to
undergo prophylactic examinations – i.e. we measure blood pressure, cholesterol and
sugar levels and calculate the BMI.
Through this project we also make medical students more sensitive to the issue of
cardiovascular disease within women and the importance of its prevention. It is a very
important theme for us, as future doctors, to know the gender differences concerning
heart disease, but also to remember that CVD has no gender boundaries!
According to WHO, cardiovascular disease accounts for a third of all women’s deaths worldwide. As medical
students, we can change it together! So let’s make women start loving their hearts and start showing it by practicing
healthy lifestyle!
For more information about the project ‘Ladies in red’ do not hesitate to contact: npo@ifmsa.pl
Community Support
“A community is a group of people that share common elements: language, customs, values, geographical situation, roles,
and so on. One of the main goals in a community is to follow the same objective”
The medical students are the voice, the communicators and the people that are closest
to the community. We are the people who have the time and the enthusiasm to
contribute actively for our communities, can prove that we as future medical doctors
can have a positive impact on our environment and that in the end, all our efforts are
definitely worth it.
We as medical students are often confronted with pain, suffering and sorrow but we also
see joy and gratefulness. We can see how patients have doubts about their health and
sometimes because of the lack of time they sometimes do not get satisfactory answers
from our attending professors.
The community support project can be set up by creating and coordinating groups that are able to work in the
communities’ primary attention centers. Within group discussion or one-to-one consultancies all people from the
community have the chance to ask questions. During the whole day students will try to clarify all the doubts in the
best way possible, keeping up the quality of primary care attention.
The amount of people you can reach in one setting can be set according to the quantity of medical students
involved, keeping a 1:10 ratio. This way the students will be able to speak to 2 or 3 persons at the same time, trying
to keep the conversation as interesting and dynamic as possible. All students can participate in this project even
those at the beginning of their medical careers. Also physicians and all people interested in basic health knowledge
can get involved in specific activities.
With this project not only the community wins but also all involved students because their medical skills will be
tested; they will see themselves confronted with unexpected situations since every patient has different questions,
even different ways of focusing and describing the same problem.
The community support project allows the establishment of strong relations between
public and private entities and the students, eventually facilitating the coordination of
actions and making the planning of activities easier and quicker. Additionally, students will
be prepared to act faster during crisis and tragedies in communities, giving their best and
most efficient attention.
In all, two million people are reached in Ghana every year. This number might seem completely unrealistic to you
but I have seen it with my own eyes when I joined the National Health Week of Ghana two years ago. A few
hundred teams of medical students spread all over the country - my own team which consisted of 3 people reached
at least one or two thousand people during this week. And this happens just in Ghana, a relatively small country
with 3 medical schools - in Nigeria 28 medical schools organise projects like these … think of the potential!
Availability: In Ghana medical students are supported by their government and every medical student has one week
off to join this event. For the beginning you can also start with one school which means you will have to contact
your Dean to ask for one week off or at least for one day.
Transport: The medical students can be sent by bus to different areas of your country or your region. You can look
for money from the government, university, a sponsor or share the costs amongst participating students.
Local Community: You have to think about what is the best way to approach the locals. To make this possible you
will need to get in contact with the local doctor or the traditional chief of this area/village. They will need to
organise accommodation and food for the students and arrange meetings at the church, market, schools, and
faculties and wherever else you can approach lots of people.
This is a unique project in IFMSA. It pushes the idea of being ‘effective’ to its limit and the organising countries can
be more than proud of it. Every NMO of IFMSA should think about how to adapt this project idea to its own
countries needs, it’s a fantastic concept which can be organised all over the world – also in your NMO.
Contact scophd@ifmsa.org for further information.
Marrow
Every year, thousands of people worldwide with blood born diseases such
as leukaemia reach a stage in their illness where their only chance of
survival is through a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. Unfortunately,
only about 30% of patients have access to a Human Leucocyte Antigen
identical sibling, and so 70% will need an unrelated donor for a bone
marrow transplant to become a viable option. A database called ‘Bone
Marrow Donors Worldwide’ (BMDW) is an amalgamation of all the
unrelated bone marrow registers throughout the world and comprises of a list of people willing to donate stem cells.
However, despite amalgamating all of the world’s registers, there are just 11 million potential donors on BMDW
(compared with a world population of approximately 6 billion).
Marrow was inspired by Karen Morris, a student who suffered from Chronic Myeloid
Leukaemia. Karen had a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor but sadly she
died post-transplant in September 1998. Despite this, Karen’s spirit continued to inspire
others to work towards saving lives. One of those inspired individuals was a previous
close friend, James Kustow, a medical student from Nottingham University. Driven by
Karen’s strength and determination he realized that as a medical student, he had access to
many young people who, he felt, may wish to help save lives. From this simple analogy,
James Kustow founded Marrow in honour of Karen and it gives us great pleasure to
celebrate our 10th anniversary this year and we have now grown to exist in over 30 medical
schools across the UK.
Marrow is a volunteer student organisation whose ultimate aim is to give every student the opportunity to join the
bone marrow register. In the UK Marrow works in association with the UK’s largest national bone marrow register,
The Anthony Nolan Trust (ANT) charity, who is recognised by the WHO as part of the international bone marrow
and stem cell register - BMDW. Today, we contribute over 25% of the potential donors recruited to ANT bone
marrow register and fundraise over £45 000 annually for the trust. We have even gone on to inspire international
Marrow groups in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Austria. Furthermore, last year Marrow was
awarded with the Rex Crossley ‘Best International Project 2008’.
Marrow helps to take back lives from leukaemia by organising donor recruitment
clinics in universities across the world and by raising the charitable funds needed for
these lifesaving activities. Students run the entire clinic, from welcoming others to
counseling potential donors and taking their blood samples for tissue typing. Each
Marrow within a country is then, like the UK, linked to a national bone marrow or
blood donation organization that carry out the tissue typing and take over the care
of potential donors.
If you are interested in starting Marrow in your country of residence then please
contact marrow@medsin.org. You may also sign up to the UK’s Marrow central at
www.marrowcentral.co.uk to gain further insight to the world of Marrow.
Medical students should take the initiative, and launch a campaign to promote organ and tissue donation through
educating medical students and other students in our countries about the topic, and emphasizing the importance of
this act, leading to its acceptance. In other words, we believe that by raising public awareness on the importance of
organ and tissue donation, we can encourage people to list themselves as potential organ donors. The campaign also
comprises of lectures, round table discussions and assuring an interdisciplinary approach to the issue of organ
donation.
In 2005 this project was restructured, and applied for the transnational status at the IFMSA’s August Meeting (AM)
in Egypt. The project received final recognition as an IFMSA transnational project in March Meeting (MM) 2006 in
Chile, and at the same General Assembly (GA) was awarded the best ‘IFMSA Educational Project’. In April 2006
the first seminar on Organ Donation and Transplantation for Medical Students, held in Split, Croatia, was organised.
The seminar was attended by a majority of medical students, but also by physicians and patients who had had an
organ transplant. During the seminar, cooperation with Euro Transplant International Foundation, Croatian Donor
Network, Donor Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Croatia and a
number of governmental and non-governmental organizations were established.
Since then, educational activity has included a pre-GA workshop on organ donation and transplantation prior to the
AM2006 in Serbia and all National Member Organisation’s (NMO’s) participating in the project are constantly
organizing different types of local educational and promotional campaigns. In December 2006 petitions were
organized in Serbia whereby members of IFMSA Serbia who worked on the project Organ Donation and
Transplantation, collected signatures from citizens on several very busy places all around town. Melhim Bou Alwan,
the 2007 coordinator of the IFMSA transnational Organ Donation project organised a very big and successful
seminar on Organ Donation and Transplantation in April 2007, Lebanon, and last year Goran Mijaljica, 2005-2006
coordinator of the IFMSA transnational Organ Donation project, gave his take on organ donation at the European
Regional Meeting of the IFMSA in Brijuni. We intend to provide seminars in 2009 and more information will be
available in the next few months.
The application process for participation in the Organ Donation Project is quite simple – please contact the current
project coordinators, penelopa777@yahoo.com and markojovic10@yahoo.com to get the necessary information.
It is thought that students who have studied global health are better equipped to understand root causes in addition
to the clinical manifestations of ill health. Global health education in your medical curriculum or through
involvement in extra-curricular projects such as the one’s featured in this booklet, helps to foster a generation of
health professionals who are committed to health for all, as enshrined at the International Conference on Primary
Health Care, Alma-Ata, in 1978. We see health professionals as having a commitment not only to their patients but
also to the health of international society as a whole. The growing number of health professionals who are
committed to global health equity can form a powerful group of advocates for health for all.
If you are interested in finding out more about global health activities within the IFMSA, please email
thinkglobal@ifmsa.org.
EQUIP
“SCOPH’s REMEDY to medical supply disparities”
Do you live in a country where hospitals use the most advanced medical technology or one where hospitals lack
basic equipment? Either way, check out EQUIP: IFMSA’s new transnational effort to engage students in medical
supply collection and redistribution (www.amsa.org/cph/equip.cfm).
EQUIP Goals:
Based on 3 E’s: Environmental benefit, global health Equity, and cost-Effectiveness, EQUIP aims to:
EQUIP Motivation:
Each year, thousands of tons of usable medical supplies valued at $200 million are discarded from United States
(US) hospitals alone. This tremendous amount of waste negatively impacts not only the environment through
landfill use, but health care budgets through expensive regulated waste disposal. Conversely, clinical facilities in
developing countries face daily challenges meeting their medical supply needs. The most needed supplies include
gloves, sutures, drapes, gauze, syringes, beds, IV tubing, catheters, sponges and dressings. While US regulations
prohibit the reuse of surgical supplies domestically, many of these materials are readily reusable and receivable for
oversea use.
EQUIP Progress:
Since EQUIP’s 2008 launch, over two dozen AMSA-USA chapters have expressed interest in starting recovery
programs at their local hospitals and have received teaching packets from REMEDY. Lessons learned from this
pilot project phase will be shared with SCOPH and other National Member Organisations at future IFMSA General
Assemblies’. The more students that take initiative, the more supplies will be recovered, redistributed, and reused!
Get involved!
If you live in a country with surplus supplies:
• Volunteer to help if your hospital has a recovery program.
• Start a recovery program if your local hospital does not have one.
• Transport donated supplies when you go on international exchanges.
• Encourage your hospital to join Med-Eq.
• Spread the word and write to local media about medical surplus.
Please tell us what you decide to do so that we can help (npo@ifmsa-usa.org). Thank you for making a difference!
Education and Projects: We want to educate medical and healthcare students about refugee and asylum seeker
health needs, thus creating a cohort of future health professionals who will be well prepared to provide high quality
care that meets their needs. What have we done? Educational resources about refugee and asylum seeker health
issues have been compiled into a DVD called Refugee Health Resource Pack and have been distributed to
universities across the country to those who are interested in including this as part of the medical school curriculum.
We submitted a motion to the British Medical Association Medical Students Conference 2009 to make it
compulsory for refugee and asylum seekers’ healthcare issues to be included in the core curriculum in medical
schools.
Through local and national projects we seek to improve the health and healthcare of refugee and asylum seekers
through projects with local communities and organisations. Through practical engagement in these projects we also
aim to inspire and educate our volunteers about refugee and asylum seeker health issues. In addition, we support
campaigns such as “Defend Primary Healthcare” against the government’s denial of healthcare to failed asylum
seekers. Cross borders and join us! Contact: crossingborders@medsin.org
Information dissemination: This focuses on promoting awareness among health care professionals on global
population ageing and special needs of the elderly as well as their rights and sexuality by a website, surveys and
formative sessions. Furthermore, our goal is to offer professional and research exchanges to students.
Curriculum Development: Despite the ongoing ageing of the population, basic geriatric training does not exist in
all the medical faculties around the world. Thus we need to demonstrate this deficiency and furthermore, participate
in the development of the need of curricula changes.
Are you thinking about joining ISNAH? All we need is your name as the coordinator of ISNAH in your National
Member Organisation, to be in contact and to work with you. You can also get an insight into what ISNAH is at:
http://www.mediaweb-site.com/isnah/. Hope to see you soon and involved in ISNAH!
As a rule, the MHIP aims to debunk common myths about mental health and combat the stigmatization of people
suffering from mental illnesses. We also recognize the importance of a multidisciplinary approach; psychiatrists,
psychologists but also community workers, nurses, general practitioners and researchers are equally important when
dealing with mental health issues. While mental health remains a neglected aspect of the global health agenda,
MHIP’s action strives to promote equitable access to mental health resources, especially in middle- and low-income
settings.
Many mental health projects are budding in every country. The MHIP aims to rally all NMOs with mental health
activities. In the near future we will provide a platform that will enable medical students to network and share their
ideas. As more and more countries from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds join this initiative, it will become
increasingly important to stress the cultural influence on many mental health aspects.
What’s next for the MHIP? It animated working groups in regional meeting in January, building the momentum for
the next general assembly in March. A survey run for the March Meeting theme event revealed that the interest for
mental health issues ranked highest. The MHIP will stress the psychological consequences of conflicts by holding an
interactive lecture on post-traumatic stress disorders.
In sum, the MHIP objectives are clear: at an international level it creates a students’ network and educates future
physicians on the global importance of mental health issues and at a local level it promotes activities that consolidate
public health perspectives in mental health. This task has never been more relevant, for there is a strong evidenced-
based set of actions recommended and proven cost-effective to alleviate the burden of mental disorders.
You can join the MHIP by visiting our yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ifmsa-mhip
Want to join our cause or are you interested in learning more about eating
disorders? If so you may contact:
or
The main objective is to encourage people to love themselves just the way they are.
No one should ever be in a position to change for someone else in order to feel
better about themselves. As we say in Mexico….
markosaucedo@gmail.com
The project started six years ago and is one of the projects carried out by the Slovenian Medical Student’s
International Committee (SloMSIC). It cooperates closely with some other public health projects on the local and
national level. Furthermore, non-medical students are invited to take part as well.
Knowledge about drugs among Slovenians is limited and the topic remains highly stigmatized. Because of this there
is a great need to make the public aware, and even greater, to educate medical students on how to react in the case
of drug poisoning. Also, medical students should be a relevant and reliable source of information about the effects
of individual drugs, especially as you can find all sorts of sometimes misleading information on the internet and
elsewhere.
Our activities:
November is the “month of prevention”, so many of our activities are scheduled then:
we distribute our brochure (effects of drugs and its abuse) in the city centre, at many
faculties and at major public places. Furthermore, we organize public lectures about
drugs and addiction, and a three day, educational-motivational weekend for our
volunteers.
From November to May we have courses, lectures and debates for members of the
project. Each time we invite an expert and have a conversation with him/her about
various topics in the field of drugs and addiction. In the last few months we invited a
psychiatrist, a tobacco expert and an ex-drug addict.
Every year in April we organize a round table in order to stimulate the debate about contemporary drug-related
problems. This year’s topic was consumption rooms, last year we talked about recognizing addiction and ways to
prevent it. We usually invite three to four experts and often more that hundred people attend the event. This is a
great way to open a public discussion about a subject that is still taboo: drugs, drug addiction and how to diminish
stigmatization of addicts.
Another important activity is our web page, that offers verified information about
the effects of drugs, how to help in case of overdose, some interesting facts about
specific drugs and a quite active forum. Because its nature is not strictly medical, this
project is a great opportunity to meet and bond with students from other faculties.
Law students, social work students, psychology students and many others are always
welcome to join the project and help make the world a better place.
Do you want to join us? For any questions, or comments please contact: katjaprunk@gmail.com - We will be
pleased to help you.
Why 1st Aid? We have been holding courses in teaching first aid for several years now.
They usually target an audience consisting of children aged between 10 and 13 years. At this
age children are no longer interested in playing with teddy bears and sexual education is
probably not a useful topic for them at this time. On the other hand an interesting and
dynamic presentation in teaching this age group some of the theoretical and practical
principles aspects of first aid is something kids of this particular age enjoy. Furthermore the
knowledge and skills they acquire will be able to help them in crucial situations of their life.
How? The coordinator of the first aid course (usually LPO) forms a team of 10-20 people.
The team usually works together actively for one to two semesters. The coordinator is in
charge of organizing the events, which usually includes finding a patron (usually a well
known doctor or professor), making sure the team is well educated in the topic, assembling
the teaching materials (CPR figurine, ppt, first aid equipment) and as the most difficult task,
he is in charge of setting up a schedule of all coming trainings.
Outcome - Ever since the first course in first aid, we have been boosted by the enthusiasm
of the university students, the praise of the staff and the support of our university
administration and officials. The whole organization and its members have gained respect
as students who care not only for their studies in public health but also act as role models
who are not afraid to show their commitment by performing extra work and giving back to
society.
Quick Facts - In the last year we have held first aid courses in 47 elementary schools, 172
classes of students adding up to about 4000 children aged 10-13 years in the Czech
Republic.
Once upon a time... IFMSA members from the local committee of Brno held a first aid
course in their hometown. They had a three hour course at an elementary school for the
students of the 7th grade. About a week after their visit an accident occurred in which a
student found one of his classmates unconscious. He did not hesitate and applied the
knowledge he had acquired shortly before in the first aid course. He checked for basic life
signs, put his classmate into a stabilized position and called an ambulance. Suddenly the
unconscious friend who was heavily poisoned started to regurgitate. A spokesperson of the
ambulance company confirmed, that if it had not been for the students’ abilities and
actions, the poisoned boy would surely have suffocated and died. Luckily for him, this did
not happen thanks to the young rescuer who knew exactly what to do.
This has led to a large number of RTAs, which are one of the leading causes of death globally, particularly in
children and adolescents, besides being the second leading cause of orphan hood. Thus, the World Health
Organization has described the problem of RTAs as an epidemic, which will become one of the top 3 leading causes
of death in the world within a few years.
There are three main reasons that have caused this dramatic increase in RTAs:
1. Very poor road infrastructure, which sometimes causes or worsens traffic crashes.
2. Few controls to regulate the maintenance of both roads and vehicles. For example, drivers who do not
receive standardized instructions are more at risk to miss out on much needed check-ups and repairs to
guarantee the safety of their vehicle.
3. Finally, human behavior, which depends on the training they should receive from driving schools and the
behaviour of the rest of the society on driving standards and their sensitivity to risks.
Therefore, our main objective is to reduce the number of accidents that occur, and thus the number of injuries and
deaths caused by them. We do this by… Raising awareness among medical students and the general population
about the responsibility that entails driving a vehicle and to respect the safety and integrity of the other drivers and
pedestrians! Creating awareness of traffic regulations! Displaying statistics of RTAs!
How to set up a road safety project: You just need to assemble a team and illustrate the importance of road safety
education in your country. Then you can make stickers, posters, flyers, books or videos about road safety. The idea
is to clarify that it is our responsibility to be informed and not allow road accidents to affect even more people than
they already are. Further to this we also conduct surveys of students to verify that the campaign has achieved the
goals we set in the beginning.
This project was born in November 2005 in Mexico as a new way to represent
the”Día de Muertos” and it is given great importance at a national level with
excellent results. However, this is a problem that crosses borders. Recognizing
that main causes of accidents are due to speeding, driving under the influence of
alcohol and ignoring road signs are crucial. Medical students can take action to
address this public health problem.
If you're interested in learning more about this project and want to know more about how to set it up your country,
contact: noph_ifmsa_mexico@yahoo.com.mx to acquire the necessary information ☺
Have you ever thought about volunteering in a public health project? Or do you know about a
project which needs volunteers? If yes then SCOPH-Exchange is exactly the right thing for
you! SCOPH-Exchange is a platform for Volunteer-Based Projects of IFMSA. Essentially,
SCOPH-Exchange provides a network for these projects and at the same time gives medical
students from all over the world the opportunity to support these projects as a volunteer and to
gain experience in the different fields of public health.
Many projects around the world are confronted with the problem of not having enough people involved to realize
their idea or keep a venture running. Resources are limited and therefore coordinators are more than grateful for
every helping hand. The IFMSA and its National Member Organisation’s (NMO’s) offer a wide range of projects for
students who would like to temporarily participate as a volunteer, either abroad or in their own country.
Orphanage Initiative Project – Presently there are approximately 100,000 orphans or children abandoned by their
parents in Romania. The staff in orphanages is highly overburdened with the large number of children. The
Orphanage Initiative Project, which is coordinated by IFMSA-Norway and IFMSA-Romania gives medical students
the chance to participate actively in the daily work of an orphanage and give children the attention they really need.
SCOPH-Exchange Projects:
• Romania: Orphanage Initiative
• India: Calcutta Village Project
• Brazil: Cepas
• Rwanda. Public Health Exchange
• Kenya: The Kenya Project
• Guatemala: Vivir en Amor
• Nepal: Suvadra Project
Do you know about a project, which could join SCOPH-Exchange? Joining the SCOPH-Exchange Network is easy.
All you have to do is to contact SCOPH Development Assistants on projects (contact details below) and fill out a
single form. If you are involved in a volunteer-based project you can give medical students from other NMOs the
chance to participate and work as a volunteer in your project. In exchange students from your NMO have the
chance to participate in all the other projects within SCOPH-Exchange.
1st International Day for Older Persons 24th World Tuberculosis Day
http://www.who.int/topics/ageing/ http://www.stoptb.org/
30th International Leprosy Day & Neglected August (Heart & Lifestyle)
Diseases
http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/
September (Ageing)
Editors
Louise Mulcahy
Christopher Pleyer