TNMU Hosted the Fourth Scientific Symposium with International Participation “Public Health in the Social and Educational Dimensions – Challenges in the Conditions of Globalization of Society and Prospects for Development”
On September 21-23, 2022, the fourth scientific symposium with international participation “Public health in the social and educational dimensions – challenges in the conditions of globalization of society and prospects for development” was held online in I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University.
This scientific event was organized by TNMU scientists together with representatives of Akkon University of Human Sciences in Berlin (https://www.akkon-hochschule.de) and the state institution “Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine”.
The plenary session began with a welcome speech by the Vice-Rector for Scienсe and Education of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, MD, DMSc, Prof. Arkadii Shulhai, who greeted the participants of the symposium on behalf of the University Rector, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Prof. Mykhaylo Korda and Vice-Rector for Research Doctor of Medical Sciences, Prof. Ivan Klishch, having told the participants of the symposium about the history of cooperation with scientists from Akkon University in Berlin, ways of creating, developing and accrediting the Master’s program in Public Health at TNMU, international cooperation in the direction of public health development at TNMU; and the welcome speech of MD, DMSc, Prof. Timo Ulrichs, Vice President of Akkon University for Human Sciences, Director of Institute for Research in International Assistance (IRIA), Berlin, who has been providing significant scientific support for the development of training programs and scientific symposia on public health in Ukraine for a long time, in particular thanks to cooperation with scientists of TNMU, and who outlined new scientific assets and horizons in this field.
In both congratulatory speeches, there were words of support for experienced and young scientists and wishes for success in the scientific field, as well as sincere words of support for Ukrainians in this difficult time and wishes for a peaceful sky over Ukraine!
The moderators of the plenary session were MD, DMSc, Prof. Hanna Saturska, Head of the Institute for International Assistance (IRIA)/Akkon University for Human Sciences, Dr. Gaby Feldmann and MD, DMSc, Prof. Nataliia Terenda. The translation of the reports was provided by the PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Yurii Petrashyk and Master of Sciences Diana Saturska–Collins.
Representatives of the German scientific school of Public Health (Doris Rahn, Dr. Fekri Dureab, Tareq Al-Ahdal) and representatives of many Ukrainian scientific schools of Public Health delivered their reports at plenary session. The translation of the reports was provided by Diana Saturska and Associate Professor Yurii Petrashyk.
Doris Rahn gave a very interesting report on the functioning of insurance medicine in Germany, in particular, the company AOK North-East. Her report on “The German Health Care System: Basic Principles, Obstacles and Current Challenges Using the Example of the AOK NORDOST” discussed the main foundations the German health care system, in particular about the “5 pillars” of the German social security system, such as health insurance, pension insurance, occupational accident insurance, unemployment insurance, long-term care insurance, deductions for which are mandatory for every German and the aggregate share of which in the incomes of citizens the government tries to keep below 40%. The speaker highlighted the current challenges and promising directions for improving the German health care system, in particular, increasing the role of primary health care as a way to prevent significant health care expenses by reducing the share of inpatient treatment in them; improving communications between various structural elements of the health care system in order to ensure continuity of medical care; ways to ensure equal access of the population to medical care, in particular in rural areas, etc.
Dr. Fekri Dureab, Research Associate, Institute for Research in International Assistance (IRIA)/Akkon University for Human Sciences, Berlin, gave a talk on “Infodemic Management During Crises”. The scientist highlighted issues of terminology, key elements of the concept of infodemic, methods of identifying infodemic during crisis situations and ways to overcome negative consequences.
No less interesting was the report of the next speaker from Germany, Tareq AL-Ahdal, (Research Associate, Institute of Global Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg; Fellow Institute for Research in International Assistance (IRIA)/Akkon University for Human Sciences, Berlin), on the topic “Data Mining, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence in the Public Health Research”. In this report, the scientist gave a clear definition of intelligent data analysis, in particular using the example of intelligent data analysis from Twitter, the definition of artificial intelligence and outlined possible methods of using machine learning and the application of machine learning and intelligent data analysis in public health research. Examples of the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific use of data obtained from social networks, in particular Twitter and Facebook, were very interesting for the participants of the Symposium.
The plenary session continued with speeches by representatives of both the academic community and leading specialists of the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department of Public Health and Physical Education of the National University of Ostroh Academy Ihor Hushchuk made a speech on “Addressing the challenges of staffing in the field of public health sector”. Valeriia Lekhan, MD, Prof., Head of the Department of Social Medicine, Health Care Organization and Management of the Dnipropetrovsk State Medical University, continued to highlight the issue of improving medical care (the topic of the speech was “Providing a continuum of medical services as a way to improve the quality of medical care for patients with outpatient-sensitive diseases”).
An active discussion was sparked by the report of Ivan Soroka, adviser to the Minister of Health of Ukraine, Chairman of the Ukrainian Medical Club, member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, on highlighting the relevance of the widespread introduction of telemedicine technologies into the health care system of Ukraine.
The work of the symposium was continued by the speeches of the leading specialists of the “Centre for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine”. Their speeches highlighted the issue of studying the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the spread of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (by Denys Dmitriiev)
and the issue of infection prevention and infection control at COVID-19 vaccination points against (by Iryna Yanytska).
The health coordinator of the International Rescue Committee, Sviatoslav Linnikov, continued the discussion on errors in communication campaigns aimed at countering the spread of COVID-19 among vulnerable population groups.
Yana Terleieva’s reports “Tuberculosis as a global public health problem: achievements, wartime risks and prospects” were interesting and relevant.
and Sofiia Ohorodnik “Analysis of the main causes of OTC antimicrobial use among target groups in Ukraine in 2021.”
Further discussions of public health problems took place at breakout sessions.
They were also started by leading specialists of the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, who presented diverse views on studying the problem of HIV infection in Ukraine:
Larysa Hetman (report on “Providing medical services to patients with HIV infection in conditions of war”);
Serhii Salnikov (report on “Integrated biobehavioural research among people who use drugs by injection”).
Ivan Titar (report on “Biobehavioural research among men who have sex with men”).
Vladyslav Romanchuk (report on “Substitute maintenance therapy: assessment of barriers to access to replacement maintenance therapy and assessment of service delivery models in the context of their effectiveness”).
Representatives of regional disease control and prevention centres of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine took an active part in the breakout sessions:
Yurii Bondarenko, Cherkasy (report on “Epidemiological assessment of the state of water quality of the Kremenchug Reservoir for 2021”);
Yuliia Maksymenko, Odesa (report on “Prevalence of food poisoning caused by botulism among the population of Odesa region”);
Ludmyla Tymofiichuk, Tetiana Kolodnitska, Chernivtsi (report on “Some aspects of epidemiology and prevention of Lyme disease in Bukovina”).
In total, about 150 participants took part in the fourth scientific symposium with international participation on public health, including professors, teachers and students, organizers and experts in the field of public health in Ukraine and Germany. The Ukrainian part was represented by more than 30 institutions of higher education, scientific and medical and preventive institutions. The knowledge gained during the discussion will contribute to the creation of a scientific basis for the strategic decisions in the field of public health and the development of educational activities related to the training of public health specialists in Ukraine.