On April 27^th, under the sponsorship of Palestine Cellular Communications Company (Jawwal), the Faculty of Nursing at An-Najah University organized the scientific conference titled “The Health Awareness Crisis in Palestine between: Customs and Traditions” in celebration of the World Health Day.

Attendees included Dr. Aidah Al-Kaissi, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, Professor Jawad Fateyer, President Assistant for Graduate Affairs, Dr. Ghassan Abu Hijleh from the Faulty of Medicine, Mr. Ahmed Sayegh and Mr. Yousef Dwaikat from Jawwal, as well as a number of Medicine and Nursing students and representatives of several medical institutions in Palestine.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Al-Kaissi delivered a speech in which she said that the World Health Organization (WHO) in this day warns of the increasing resistance to drugs and the ever-increasing difficulty in treating many kinds of infections. This would lead to the extension of the treatment period resulting in higher treatment costs and more health risks.

The WHO calls upon governments, health professionals, the industry departments and the civil society institutions to take immediate and collaborative steps in order to control the spread of the drug-resistance phenomenon and reduce its negative impacts. Dr. Al-Kaissi also said the world is close to losing such significant treatments since more and more drugs used in treating several diseases are losing their medical effect. If no corrective or preventive measures are taken, the world will shift back to the pre-antibiotics age, meaning that many common types of infections will be difficult to treat resulting in more deaths among human beings.

Furthermore, Dr. Al-Kaissi explained that the WHO distributes a package of policies that determine the scale of measures that governments and partners must take in order to fight the drug resistance phenomenon. Such measures include: set and execute an extensive funded national plan, reinforce detection and laboratory capabilities, insure the provision of basic drugs with guaranteed quality, encourage the reasonable use of drugs, reinforce drugs’ prevention and fighting, as well as support innovation and research for the purpose of introducing new equipment. She also explained that the conference discusses health transformation which refers to the increase in exposure to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and high blood pressure.

Dr. Abu Hijleh first thanked the University’s administration for supporting the faculties of Nursing and Medicine through providing them with the latest medical equipment. He also presented a short description of the reality of the health sector in Palestine and the significant role that doctors play in serving modern medicine.

Mr. Al-Sayegh delivered a speech in which he emphasized Jawwal’s interest in communicating with An-Najah University and said that such conference focuses on discussing the status of medicine as a profession in Palestine. He also expressed admiration by the advanced level that the Faculty of Medicine at An-Najah was able to achieve so far and mentioned the new Teaching Hospital as an example of the University’s great achievements.

Mrs. Najwa Subh from the Faculty of Nursing gave a presentation about the health awareness in Palestine, in addition to discussing awareness regarding patients’ rights and duties which was presented by Mr. Sulaiman Turkman, Director of Nursing at Al-Maqased Hospital and Chairman of the Nursing Association in the West Bank.

Dr. Halima Al-Sabbah from the Faculty of Medicine gave a presentation about nourishment for patients with chronic diseases.

The conference also included an exhibition that was held in the Faculty of Nursing’s yard where a number of medical tents were set which offer free-of-charge medical tests including: Diabetes’ test, blood pressure test, breast self-examination, Osteoporosis, Thalassemia, in addition to weight, height and waist circumference measurements.

All the abovementioned tests were performed by lab technicians at the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, in addition to others from the Little Hands Society and the Thalassemia Society.

Dr. Al-kaissi also gave a presentation about awareness of patients with cardiovascular diseases which was followed by a discussion of health awareness vs. superstition.

Other presentations included caring for diabetes patients by Dr. Osama Al-Taweel, and health awareness for diabetes patients by Dr. Intisar Al-Aalem from the Diabetes Center in Ramallah.