Pragyan Basnet is a medical student at the Patan Academy of Health Sciences- School of Medicine in Nepal. His project, titled “Attain Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being in the Smallest Geopolitical Unit of Nepal i.e. the Ward Level”.
Nepal is a least developed country and a large proportion of people are below the poverty line and do not have easy access to health facilities. In this context, the government has provided various free services to rural and poor people, but still they are not used by many in absence of proper awareness. My project targets increasing awareness among people regarding these services. Besides, health of people is determined by a lot of personal practices like hand washing, substance abuse, lifestyle, religious and cultural practices, etc. Hence, my program also targets awareness about various healthy habits and enhance healthy behavioural change among people. The goal is the extend this project throughout the nation.

Paolo Lopez Medina is a Medical Student at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in the Philippines. His project, titled “Project H2O – Help to Others”, is a response to the need for potable water in disaster-stricken areas.
Natural calamities ravage the nation at an ever-increasing and unprecedented rate, often cutting off the Filipino people’s access to clean water. In this project, portable water filtration systems are used for early recovery of affected communities, effectively producing drinkable water from sources such as flood water, lakes, ponds, and groundwater until a permanent and definitive means of water provision can be re-established by local or regional government bodies. First mobilized during the 7.2-magnitude October 2013 Bohol earthquake, Project H2O has since distributed more than 1,900 filtration units across the country, helping at least 20,000 families during times of calamity, through careful coordination with local government units, rural health units, and Doctors to the Barrios. The project has extended assistance during typhoon Haiyan, the North Cotabato cholera outbreak, and most recently during the Taal volcano eruption in Batangas. Instead of just simply donating water, we give these communities the means to collect water independently. This allows the community to empower themselves during these otherwise desperate times. This poses a valuable lesson for future projects to look at the bigger picture when tackling problems such as scarcity of natural resources.

Daniel Kariuki Waruingi is a pharamaceutical student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya.  His project is Curbing antimicrobial resistance through effective education, infection prevention, research and innovation- Students Against Superbugs-Africa. An afternoon conversation with a friend on how we can help in reducing Antimicrobial Resistance blossomed into a working initiative. Anything is possible if you commit to it. A lot has changed since then and I believe we have impacted a lot of students and the community too. This has taken a lot of dedication, sacrifice, and teamwork considering that we are still medical students with a very engaging curriculum. The project works as a result of the passion and commitment of all key team players in the project. This commitment translates to an appropriate strategy design and the discipline to follow up on the strategies and framework laid down. Communication with key stakeholders has also been essential. Everyone has an opportunity of doing their little big thing for the world. As students, we are imparted with so much knowledge that if each one of us decided to empower the community with the topic they are passionate about, it would result in a massive positive impact. It is never too early to start or too late either, we started the project back when I was still in my first year of study. Back then I knew so little about organizational structure but I have learned a lot from that day because I had the will to learn. Antimicrobial Resistance is a real threat. A post-antibiotic era would be catastrophic. Each one of us has a role to play in reducing its prevalence. By educating a medical colleague, you might be educating a successful doctor in the future who will aspire to prescribe antibiotics rationally. By sensitizing another student, you might be engaging the next big artist who will compose a hit song on Antimicrobial Resistance that will change societal perceptions on antibiotic regimen compliance. Start small today and think big.

Lubega Martin is a nursing student at the Makerere University in Uganda. He created the “My Pregnancy Handbook’’. The My Pregnancy hand book is a small portable manual with authentic basic health information regarding pregnancy. It can be carried in any lady’s day to day handbag, so it can be read anywhere at any time. The information is presented in simple non-medical English that is understandable to even a primary level dropout. The text design and colour make the book attractive to keep the reader reading. Mothers can greatly depend on this book as a day to day pregnancy guide, it meets the demands of workingclass women who have limited time to attend antenatal classes. It also simplifies the work of midwives: it’s used to plan antenatal talks and it encourages and guides antenatal group discussions among mothers. It is a true reflection of a student’s ability to identify health care challenges, find and implement practical solutions.

Aishwarya Swathi Sridhar is a student at the Faculty of Dental Sciences, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences in India. She is getting her Master’s degree of Dental Surgery in Public Health Dentistry.
Her project, titled “Smile bright with habits right – every child deserves it”, focuses on Oral Health Promotion among school children.
Oral health being an integral part of general health, Dental Public Health professionals need to go extra mile to provide innovative, creative and sustainable benefits to children in the habitat where they spend 8 hours a day and approximately 14 years of their life time. Prevention being the crucial strategy for promotion of good oral health among young children, yet sustainability of such preventive care is remaining the biggest challenge. Hence, healthy Oral Habits and behaviour inculcated for school children should have a longer life which can be made feasible by constant reinforcement in the school by enhancing the school community participation.
Being solely passionate about interacting and socializing with school children gave us immense satisfaction while working on such a project that can help us to incorporate self-sustained Oral Health Related Quality of Life, to the children who deserve a better oral health today for a healthy productive future.  We as budding dentists had to develop unpersuaded compassion to promote their oral health of young children so as to provide a valuable oral health foundation for the future generations to prosper and seldom suffer from oral diseases. We should motivate academicians towards empowering the children with health oral habits and behaviours and ensuring that they develop positive mindset within children towards the importance of maintaining their oral health. Hence, as promising dental public health professionals, we can collectively contribute towards the goal of “Making every school a Health Promoting School” by WHO.

Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Daffalla is a Medical student at the University of Gezira, Sudan.
His project, titled “Let’s fight our Queens Killer”, focuses on increasing awareness about breast cancer and self-examination among girls and women in the Gezira state, Sudan.
This project was conducted in 16 secondary schools, 3 university female student compounds, and 26 villages in the Gezira state, Sudan. Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women, impacting 2.1 million women each year, and also causes the greatest number of cancer-related deaths among women. In 2018 WHO estimated that 627,000 women died from breast cancer – that is approximately 15% of all cancer deaths among women. In order to improve breast cancer outcomes and survival, early detection is critical. There are two early detection strategies for breast cancer: early diagnosis and screening. Limited resource settings with weak health systems where the majority of women are diagnosed in late stages should prioritize early diagnosis programs based on awareness of early signs and symptoms and prompt referral to diagnosis and treatment. A 120 medical students and 28 active female members in the community were trained in comprehensive health education about breast cancer and self-examination. They can now offer comprehensive awareness about breast cancer and self-examination to female students in the secondary and university level and women in rural areas.

Hasna Fikriya is a Medical student at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.
Her project, titled “ATTENTION”, has a target community of abandoned children who are not wanted by their families and then put together by the Hamba Foundation. Neglected children are vulnerable people who also have the right to be healthy and get access to health services. This community consists of children from various age groups and caregivers with different backgrounds. The goal of the project is to increase the knowledge and awareness of children and caregivers at HAMBA Foundation regarding Clean and Healthy Behavior (PHBS) by 75% by the means of socialization, FGD, and education to improve the quality of life and health of the community for 2 years.

This project succeeded in achieving its goals because it has been done a thorough assessment, from the secondary to the primary assessment. Thus, the problems raised in this project are truly in accordance with the real problems of the target community. In addition, this project also uses a method of material delivery that is appropriate to the characteristics of the community. For example, by using games and mini quizzes to deliver material to children, and to use discussion methods rather than presentations, as well as inviting communities to deliver material to their peers because the best learning method is to teach others. In addition, we also always monitor and evaluate this project through various methods such as observation, interviews, and using pre-test post-test so that we can always improve the project according to the problems and developments that occur. A little suggestion to one who wants to make a similar project: do a good assessment so that you get problems with high urgency in the community. Choose a method that suits with the character of your community and don’t forget to always monitor and evaluate as the project goes on. A good project is a project that is flexible and always developing. Innovation becomes important so that the target community enjoy joining our project and get the maximum impact of it.

Simon Peter Oteba Orapidi is a Public Health Student at the Moi University, Kenya.
His project, titled “Moi University One Health Students Innovations Club”, is a great example of interprofessional collaborations. There is a lot of synergy in working together as professions than addressing a health problem as a sole health sector.
The project is aiming at Achieving One Health for Humans, Animals and Environment, through a collaborative and multidisciplinary One Health Approach. This project seeks to address complex societal health problems in a holistic approach by involving different multiple sectors so as to come up with a more informed and lasting solution to such problems. Community involvement in our activities to ensure sustainability and acceptability of our project.
It has lasted since 2015 and is growing even stronger. The intervention topics depend on the needs of the communities.  We work with communities, local leaders and Community health volunteers, whom after our interventions, will continue with implementation and enforcement.

Evode Mbabazi of Kigali, Rwanda, is a medical student at the University of Rwanda. Mbabazi’s project, titled CINEMA Education for Health, confronts the issue of unintended pregnancies in Rwanda where approximately six girls between the ages of 16 and 29 become unintentionally pregnant every hour. CINEMA Education for Health is an audio-visual model for comprehensive sex education to get adolescents engaged in a hands-on learning process. CINEMA offers the choice to watch, listen to, or read each video to include deaf and illiterate individuals previously neglected by traditional sex education methodologies. This project has so far benefited 1,200 youth and intends to expand to include other medical schools and radio stations.

He won the SPFH 2019 and his award was deferred to 2020.

ECFMG and FAIMER are private, non-profit organizations based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. In partnership with each other and with other organizations around the world, ECFMG and FAIMER work to promote quality medical education and health care worldwide. ECFMG and FAIMER are leading experts on the world’s medical education systems and their graduates, the authenticity of physician credentials, the assessment of physicians, and research on physician migration and U.S. physician workforce issues. ECFMG and FAIMER offer programs and resources that serve global communities of medical educators and regulators; physicians and medical students; and those investigating issues in medical education, assessment, and health workforce planning.

The Network: Towards Unity For Health (TUFH) is an international, intersectoral and intergenerational organization that fosters equitable community-oriented health services, education and research with the goal of improving health locally and globally. We convene innovative health care organizations, universities, community institutions, and thought leaders from all over the world. We host an annual international conference, weekly expert virtual symposiums and a MEDLINE indexed journal, Education for Health. Our Pillars of Work include: Social Accountability; Interprofessional Education; Population Health; and Community Approaches to Engage and Serve Remote and Rural Health, Indigenous, Refugees and Migrants, Women and Elderly Populations.

The Student Network Organization (SNO) is a Non-governmental, Non-Profit organization structured for professional and social purposes and is an independent organizing body within The Network: TUFH. SNO is an organization focused on creating an international network of students, associations and institutions to provide international experiences to students as a complement to the training of future health workers, highlighting the importance of working in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.