As many as 134 students and 13 faculty members from Maastricht University, The Netherlands, McMaster University, Canada and Manipal University, are participating in a Global Health Symposium, which is underway here since April 19 and will conclude on May 2.
Addressing presspersons here on Monday, Sanjay Pattanshetty, Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health, Manipal University, said that as many as 77 students from the Department of Public Health were participating in the symposium. It was for the fifth consecutive year that the Manipal University is hosting the symposium.
The Global Public Health Symposium is a platform where students and faculty members from three countries share and enhance their knowledge related to various global health problems. The symposium would help the participants to come up with innovative ideas for promoting healthy lives.
As part of the symposium, the students of the three universities are working in teams in different public health fields in rural areas of Udupi.
They will visit rural areas like Belman, Alevoor, Hiriyadka, Kaup and Padubidri in Udupi and studying different topics related to public health including communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, geriatric care, pollution, mental health issues, and primary healthcare.
The projects were designed to give hands-on experience in public health issues in developing countries. Students were learning to function in multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary and international teams. The field exposure would help the students to do systematic mapping. This would also prepare them to be future global health and public health leaders.
At the end of the symposium, students would be presenting their proposals. They will receive feedback from the faculty, experts and each other, allowing them to improve on their projects.
In addition, the symposium will provid students an opportunity to build international networks that will support and guide them in their career. Global health concerns could be solved only through cooperation of various countries, Mr. Pattanshetty said.
Andrea Bauman, Associate Vice President Global Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Director, Masters of Science in Global Health, McMaster University, Canada, Anja Krumeich, Director, Masters of Science in Global Health, Maastricht University, were present.
