A team of Medical University - Varna from the Faculty of Public Health took part at the 11th Conference of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), which took place in Ljubljana (Slovenia), from 28th November to 1st December. The topic of this year's event was "Winds of Change: Towards New Ways of Improving Public Health in Europe".
The Vice Rector for International Cooperation Prof. Todorka Kostadinova from the Department of Economics & Health Care Management participated in a working seminar entitled "Working Together for People-Centered Health Workforce". "During the seminar, with the colleagues from the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (Observatory), the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) and experts from more than ten countries, we discussed the new trends in scientific and applied research in the field of human resources, related not so much to the imbalance in the distribution of human resources for health, but to their concrete impact on the quality and accessibility of health services and human health," Prof. Kostadinova explained. "The Faculty of Public Health at MU-Varna is a member of ASPHER and works together with its colleagues from Europe for the enhancement of the key competences of public health professionals, for developing new trends in training, and sustainability in the realization of the graduating students in the training programmes in the field of public health."
“After submitting the recommendations under project Joint Action to the European Commission (Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning & Forecasting, under the EU health programme), we continue to work on research projects, related to human resources and to participate in the Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting Expert Network.
This year Medical University-Varna started working on a project of the International Organization of Migration. Within the framework of the event, held in Ljubljana, Assoc. Prof. Tsonko Paunov from the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology participated in a seminar on Migrants Health, which had two directions - Mental Health and Infectious Diseases. “We are working in the field of infectious diseases. In the spring we conducted trainings with customs officers, border police and social workers – the first people who get into contact with migrants. Out of the 16 participating countries, similar trainings have been held only in Serbia, Bulgaria and Malta. Within the framework of the seminar Assoc. Prof. Paunov presented exactly the practical implementation of the research to his colleagues.
After a preliminary selection, carried out by the conference scientific committee, the posters by Assist. Prof. Martin Mirchev from the Department of Social Medicine and Health Care Organization and Dr. Panayot Nikolov from the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology were ranked. Assist. Prof. Mirchev presented a poster on "Patient Information - between Public and Private Property". Dr. Nikolov presented a study on the impact of choreography and dance on the working abilities of primary school pupils.
Darina Velcheva
