Your Guide to SCOPH

Table of Contents

Message from the Public Health Officer……….......................…… 1 Message from the SCOPH Secretary ……............................……… 2 Beat the Burn ………………………………………………...………………… 3 World Heart Day …..................................................................………… 4 World Diabetes Day ………….............................................................… 5 First Aid ……………………………………………………………………....… 6 Let’s Get Physical ………................................................................…… 7 SCOPH Goes Local ……………………………….................…………… 8 Blood and Organ Donation ……............................................……… 9 Health Education …………….............................................................. 10 Data Management (Health Statistics) ………….....................… 11 HealthFest ……………............................................................................ 12

Message from the Public Health Officer Dear MMSA members, Allow me to begin by sharing with you the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA) vision for the Standing Committee on Public Health;

“The Standing Committee on Public Health works towards ensuring a healthy global society that is empowered through its knowledge, skills and opportunities to live a life of complete physical, mental and social well-being.”

As the Public Health Officer within the MMSA, my aim for this year is to implement the IFMSA vision on a national level by organising various different events tackling all or some of the most common public health issues in our country. This year, SCOPH has a jam packed year filled with health checks, health talks and health education on the most prevalent diseases in Malta, sports tournaments, first aid courses and first aid volunteering, health statistical reports, blood and organ donation awareness, skin care protection and so much more!

Through all these projects and events we reach the vision for a healthier society whilst further developing our own capabilities to become competent and skilful health professionals.

With this in mind, I am proud to present to you the first ever edition of “The MMSA SCOPH Guide”, an online publication, which gives you a deep insight on all the events taking place throughout the upcoming year. This publication lists all the dates that one must keep in mind as well as a brief description of what we have in store. I encourage all of you to actively participate in as many SCOPH events as possible. Through your help and participation we would not only be able to fulfil our aims as a standing committee but you would also gain confidence, skills and experience as future medical professionals! So flip through the pages of this publication to find out more.

In conclusion, I would personally like to thank all the members of my SCOPH Team for all their hard work and motivation and for being the helping hands behind all the SCOPH events. I would also like to thank all the public health activists out there with whom I am glad to share one common goal – educating and empowering the public on our greatest wealth – HEALTH!

Martina Gerada MMSA Public Health Officer 2014-2015 scoph@mmsa.org.mt

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Message from the SCOPH Secretary

Hey everyone!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jordy, and I am a second year medical student.

This term, I am serving as the Secretary of the Standing Committee on Public Health. Basically, my job is as follows:

• Helping the Public Health Officer to plan the SCOPH Calendar for the upcoming term.

• Assisting the Public Health Officer throughout the term. This includes administrative work, including taking down minutes in meetings with the SCOPH team as well as externals and making them available for the entire SCOPH team.

This also includes helping to co-ordinate SCOPH workshops and sessions, such as the TRD sessions.

• Acting as the SCOPH Head whenever the Public Health Officer is not available by attending any meetings and ensuring the smooth running of events, and keeping the Public Health Officer up to date with the ongoing events.

• Working hand in hand with the rest of the SCOPH team to ensure that the aims of the standing committee are met during the term.

• Finally, coordinating HealthFest 2015 at the end of the term - see more on

page 12!

If you have any queries related to SCOPH, do not hesitate to send an email on scoph. secretary@mmsa.org.mt.

I wish you luck in your studies, and I hope to see most of you during our events!

Jordy Borg MMSA SCOPH Secretary 2014-2015 scoph.secretary@mmsa.org.mt

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Beat the Burn Emma Camilleri (3rd Yr) Stephanie Farrugia (2nd Yr) Gabriel Gauci (2nd Yr)

beattheburn@mmsa.org.mt

‘Beat the Burn’ strives to reach as much of the public as possible in order to raise awareness about the importance of proper sun protection, by highlighting the dangers of excessive UV exposure and by giving reliable information which can help people avoid the harmful effects of the sun on skin and eyes. This was successfully done over the past years through outreaches, peer education sessions and also by the publication of Ripple magazine, and it is our aim to continue doing so this year.

This year Beat the Burn has a lot of exciting projects in store. First, we are aiming to take the Beat the Burn project a step further and make it an internationally recognised project.

This summer various countries decided to collaborate with our campaign with the aim of starting this project within their own countries as well. The BtB team is also aiming to produce an original music video about sun protection, to be used during our Peer Education events as well as an informative seminar which will be held in the coming months.

Make sure to keep in mind Summer of 2015 since most of our events, outreaches and Peer Education sessions are mostly held during the Summer months!

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World Heart Day Alexia Grech (2nd Yr) Marylou Fenech (2nd Yr)

worldheartday@mmsa.org.mt

The main aim for organising World Heart Day is to raise awareness about one of the leading causes of death in Malta; cardiovascular disease and by promoting a healthy lifestyle.

This includes stroke, heart attack and much more.

This year, World Heart Day, took place on Sunday the 28th of September in Bugibba.

During this event, we collaborated with the World Heart Federation to encourage people to make heart healthy choices which will enable them to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

Special guests during our event included the Parliamentary Secretary Hon. Chris Fearne as well as the renowned cardiothoracic surgeon Mr Manche. Health checks to over 400 people were carried out and the event got extensive coverage from local media. Needless to say, this was an extremely successful event.

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World Diabetes Day Ahmad Almass (4th Yr) Bernice Farrugia (2nd Yr)

worlddiabetesday@mmsa.org.mt

The aim of this big event is to raise awareness on the effects of one of the most prevalent diseases in Malta; Diabetes, as well as educating the public on its complications amongst the general population.

World Diabetes Day is one of the first opportunities for all the first years to involve themselves in the MMSA. It is one of the biggest public health events in the MMSA calendar.

During the event we will offer free health checks to the public that include blood pressure, blood glucose and BMI testing, that apart from serving as an opportunity for the public to have free tests and awareness, it also serves as a platform for the MMSA where we can exhibit our dedicated selves; after all, we ARE the doctors of tomorrow. So don’t miss this amazing opportunity to firstly learn how to perform these tests during the preparatory meeting and secondly to be part of this huge public event. This year the event will take place on the 15th of November in front of the Law Courts in Great Siege Square in Valletta. This year we will be taking this event to an all new high as we have something very exciting planned!

So make sure you mark the date on your calendar!

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First Aid Abbie Morrow (3rd Yr) Alice Stanton (3rd Yr)

firstaid@mmsa.org.mt

This year we aim to have medical students more hands on than ever before, and equip new students with life saving abilities they can use once they get to clinical years or even in an unexpected emergency situation.

Throughout the year we will be organising first aid courses to help you to put all that theory into practice. The dates for Semester One courses are between October 20th to November 6th and November 10th to November 27th. Dates for Semester Two will be released later this year. Once certified you will have the chance to take part in first aid events around Malta through the MMSA certification. If you wouldn’t know what to do in an emergency situation, come along, because this is your chance to learn and maybe to save somebody’s life.

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Let’s Get Physical! letsgetphysical@mmsa.org.mt

Sari Samman (2nd Yr)

As the “Let’s Get Physical Coordinator” it is my job to make sure that you as medical students get the opportunity to maintain a healthy lifestyle whilst also balancing the rigours of med school.

Throughout the year, I’ll be in charge of organising various sporting tournaments and events that will get your blood pumping, work up your competitive nature, and hopefully reward some of you with some fantastic prizes. Amongst our events scheduled this semester is our highly anticipated annual 5-a-side football tournament. Next semester will also see our inaugural MMSA Olympics kick off, which is sure to attract attention from all over the university as med students pit their sporting goods against the very best of other faculties.

If playing sports socially rather than competitively is what you are looking for then don’t worry. As part of this year’s scheme, we will be implementing a system whereby you can find other med students interested in playing the same sports as you. So come on guys, don’t be afraid to break a sweat and discover the sporting champion within!

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SCOPH Goes Local

mmsagoeslocal@mmsa.org.mt

Gianluca Fava (3rd Yr)

MMSA-SCOPH offers free health checks to the public, to make them aware of their bodies’ parameters. In this way, people get to know if there is anything wrong, or can simply have a wakeup call about their health status.

During this scholastic year, I will be in charge of coordinating public health checks carried out by the MMSA, particularly those organized in liaison with local councils and private companies. These typically include blood pressure, blood glucose and BMI measurements.

Lots of preparation is required for these events but they would certainly not be possible without the active participation of many enthusiastic medical students such as yourselves.

See you at our next event!

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Blood and Organ Donation blooddonation@mmsa.org.mt

Melise Mifsud (3rd Yr)

Blood and organ donation campaign has two aims: to promote the importance of blood and organ donations and more importantly to encourage both medical students and the public to give blood on a regular basis.

Throughout the year, SCOPH will be organising blood drives at University and other various MMSA events in order to make it easier for everyone to donate blood. Blood donation days will also be organised, where as a group we go and give blood at the main blood bank in Pieta’. These days are especially for those first timers who are willing to do this wonderful charity but are hesitant to go on their own. Apart from this, our campaign will be promoted during MMSA’s public events such as World Diabetes Day. It is during these occasions where we have the opportunity to educate the public and also encourage them to become blood and organ donors.

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Health Education Gianluca Fava (3rd Yr) Dawn Grech (2nd Yr)

healthed@mmsa.org.mt

The aim of this project is to educate the public on all the different health issues by coordinating MMSA Health Talks and the publication of the SCOPH Health Education Booklet.

During the coming months we will be working on SCOPH’s brand new project – the Health Education Booklet. It will consist of short articles on a number of different health topics written by medical students and reviewed by professionals in the field. This informative booklet will then be distributed to the public during official MMSA events. We will also be in charge of organising various Health Talks which will take place during SCOPH events throughout the year. These will be targeted towards the general public and will discuss topics related to the event taking place on the day.

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Data Management datamanagement@mmsa.org.mt

Stefan Malaguti (3rd Yr)

‘My role within the SCOPH team is to gather, process and present statistics about parameters (BP, Diabetes, BMI) to reflect portion of the Maltese population attending MMSA health checks.

After each health check event of MMSA, including World Heart Day, World Diabetes Day and others, the aim is to collect all the possible data regarding parameters (BP, Diabetes, BMI) and to sort the data according to certain criteria, including normal vs. abnormal values, ages, sex, and whether or not they are a) aware of their condition or b) on current treatment. All the data collected will then be processed and be presented at the Annual General Meeting as the first ever health statistical report presented by the MMSA.

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The MMSA HealthFest 2015

scoph.secretary@mmsa.org.mt

Jordy Borg (2nd Yr)

The aim of this big event is to educate and empower the public in a holistic celebration of health!

HealthFest is the biggest SCOPH event of the term. It is an amalgamation of all MMSA health-related projects, so it truly is a holistic celebration of health. The project constitutes of events both on campus and off campus, and we have some exciting plans for this year!

Make sure to keep the 16th of March to the 21st of March in mind. A call for the roles in the organizing committee will be sent out in due course, so stay tuned if you would like to be part of this great celebration!

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This Is What Makes Us SCOPH