28-th of March 2022

  On March 22-24, 2022, the annual meeting of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) – the USA-based organization representing the academic centers specializing in public health – was held. This year the conference gathered (on-line) about 1,000 participants. The achievements of This Is Public Health (TIPH) Global campaign were presented. TIPH Global was aimed to build the public awareness in the area of public health, as well as to inform about the professional career opportunities awaiting the alumni graduating in public health. For the last 12 months, the academicians and students of the Institute of Public Health FHS JU MC were involved in the implementation of TIPH Global project (in alphabetical order: Tomasz Bochenek, Dominika Dusza, Michał Frączek – acting as TIPH Global Ambassador, Szczepan Jakubowski, Marcin Kautsch, Magdalena Kozela, Paweł Moćko, Magdalena Mrożek-Gąsiorowska, Ilona Nenko, Rafał Nowak, Beata Piórecka, Maciej Rogala, Stojgniew Sitko, Marzena Tambor – project manager, Monika Tiahnybok and Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz). The achievements of the project were presented during a separate poster session, along with the achievements of the other 19 universities from around the world, participating in the TIPH Global project.

Due to the tragic events in Ukraine, resulting from the Russian aggression and the on-going hot war, as well as the subsequent humanitarian and public health crises, a special session was also organized as part of the ASPPH conference. It was titled “Late Breaking Session: The Health Impacts of the War in Ukraine”. During this session Tomasz Bochenek participated in the discussion of effects of the current war and war’s impact on the humanitarian situation, public health, the Ukrainian health care system and other European countries. More importantly (!), the guests invited directly from Ukraine participated also in this session, representing the research and teaching staff of Ukrainian universities cooperating with the Institute of Public Health FHS JU MC within TIPH Global campaign. These were Igor Guschuk from the National University Ostroh Academy in Ostroh, and Larysa Zasiekina from the Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Lutsk. Thanks to our Ukrainian Colleagues, the American academic world had the unique opportunity to learn first-hand about the devastating influence of the on-going war on the Ukrainian citizens and society, as well as the heroic efforts of the Ukrainian nation aiming to overcome the Russian aggression.

ASPPH websites: https://www.aspph.org/aspphevents/2022annualmeeting/

Prepared by: Tomasz Bochenek