Students’ health project – MedSIN Sudan

Name of the activity: Students’ health project

Country/NMO: MedSIN Sudan

Program: Healthy Lifestyles & Non-Communicable Diseases, Maternal Health and Access to Safe Abortion

Contact information: contact [email protected] or [email protected]  to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: Continuous Activity

Category: Campaign

Focus area: Prevention of NCDs and Health Promotion, Tobacco Prevention, Cardiovascular Disease, Healthy lifestyle, physical health 

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being)

General description:

Students’ Health Project aims to raise the awareness Of Khartoum medical students with regards to physical, psychological, and social health through various programs and approaches (capacity building activities, peer support program, awareness campaign, Advocacy efforts) that raise the

 levels of student health in general at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum.

Problem statement:

Diverse academic burdens and insufficient time management skills leave medical students with no time to take care of their health, also education strategies encourage schools to increase students’ academic performance and ignore their health. This project aims to educate and equip medical students with the knowledge and skills required to maintain their health. It also aims to implement peer support groups and advocate for the inclusion of the latter in the university’s medical education system.

Target groups:

• Medical students

Beneficiaries:

• Medical students

Objectives:

To raise awareness among the targeted group about physical health and its long-term effect on their quality of lives throughout the two terms of the project. 

To raise awareness among the targeted group about mental health, its importance, and the most common mental disorders among medical students, how to prevent them, and how to deal with them throughout the two terms of the project. 

To raise awareness among the targeted group about social health, the importance of having a social support system on the overall health status, and how to improve their social health throughout the two terms of the project.

To implement a peer support system as an intervention in regards to students’ health issues, by the end of phase 4 of each term of the project, and assess its effectiveness through research.

To assemble the most important information regarding the students’ health and peer support programs in a resource by the end of the 2nd term of the project. 

Indicators of Success:

By the end of phase 3 of each term of the project, 70% of the activities attendees will record a significant increase in their knowledge about:

Different aspects of physical health (healthy lifestyle, healthy nutrition and diet system, risk and causes of obesity, unhealthy habits such as smoking and alcohol consumption, how to prevent,  and how to deal with visual impairments and lower back pain as the most common physical health issues among medical students, … etc).

Mental health and the importance of taking care about it.

impact of social activities, social networks, social support and social relationships on their overall health 

By the end of phase 4 of each term of the project, at least 7 4th year medical students are chosen to lead the peer support groups.

A resource is released at least by the end of 2nd term of the project.

At least one meeting with the faculty administration representatives is held to share the findings and results of research.

Methodology:

The overall project strategy has been set to fulfil certain objectives, it has been divided into phases, each term will have a different plan set by the appointed project coordinator, that should stick to the set strategy and should be aligned to the determined phases as follows:

1st:Team Formulation and capacity building – 1st month of each term

2nd:peer support groups participants selection and pre-evaluation surveys, 2nd/3rd month of each term of the project

3rd:Capacity building for the students, through different approaches, sessions, workshops, training, discussion clubs ..etc, throughout the whole period of the project

4th: Training Mentors and peer support leaders and capacitate them about how to support, lead, and guide

5th: Peer Support Groups implementation

6th: Small working group to produce students’ health and peer support groups toolkit, 2nd term of the project

7th: Analysing and finalising the Research, second term of the project

8th: Advocacy

Plans for evaluation:

Evaluation forms: pre and post evaluation forms for the sessions and training to assess the success of the activities.

Monthly report to the LMO Sec gen to assess the progress of the project and implementation of the annual working plan. 

Half term and annual impact report. 

Research: to assess the effectiveness of the peer support groups system before and after its implementation through pre and post evaluation surveys.

Monthly peer support group leaders’ reports and meetings. 

External collaborations:

The project has been already endorsed by the educational development Centre (EDC) of the faculty of medicine, university of khartoum, which is the administrative body responsible for students and professionals issues related to medical education. 

The type of support: supervision mainly (assist in advocacy process)