International Conference on Impact of Global Issues on Women and Children, 2017

The conference was inaugurated by Smt. Priyanka Mary Francis, IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Udupi Zilla Panchayat, and Manipal. The chief guest in her address emphasized on the initiatives taken by the district to manage malnutrition among pregnant woman and to reduce infant mortality rates. She briefed about the supplementation of nutritious food to the pregnant women through the ICDS scheme. She also highlighted on development of android applications on the same concern towards empowerment of women for the ASHA workers.

Dr. H S Ballal, Pro Vice Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal presided over the function and in his address, he highlighted the vision of Late Dr.TMA Pai in dealing with issues such as ill health, illiteracy, and poverty. He also said that it is the responsibility of every citizen to see that the women are empowered and are supported to achieve higher status. He commended the roles taken by women in various sectors as prominent leaders.  

Dr Anice George, Dean, Manipal College of Nursing Manipal, welcomed the gathering and introduced the chief guest of the inaugural function.

Dr. Basanti Majumdar, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University, Canada gave an overview of the conference and provided the statistics of conference participants. The conference was collaborated with 24 institutions both national and international from 14 countries.

Dr. Linu Sara George, Professor, Manipal College of Nursing Manipal compered the program. All the heads of constituent institutions of Manipal Academy of Higher Education and about 420 National and International delegates around the world were present in the event.

The First day plenary sessions on “Lessons learned from global disasters” (Flood, Tsunami and Earthquake) were taken by three speakers from Japan. Dr Mariko Ohara, R.N., PhD, Professor, Japanese Red Cross College of Nursing, Tokyo, Ms Masako Saito, RN. MN, Dept. of Nursing, Tokyo Kasei University, Dr Yoshiko Tsukada, PhD, Professor, Saku University, School of Nursing, Nagano Pref. In their talk, they have highlighted about the effects of disaster on the life of the people in the country and various activities taken for prevention and mitigation of the disaster prone people. They also emphasized on various training programs taken to empower the people in the disaster prone region specially to meet the needs of women and children.  

The next session was on the theme, “Impact of Violence/War/Terrorism on Child and Women” by Ms. Meyenburg-Altwarg Iris Karin, EFQM Assessor and President European Nurse Directors Association (ENDA), Germany. She spoke on various forms of violence among children. She stressed upon teaching the children to say ‘stop’ and talk openly about abuse and discussed on the role of nurse to manage child violence.  

The session on the theme, Biological Health Issues, was dealt by Dr Majeda A. Al- Ruzzieh, PhD RN, Chief Nursing Officer; King Hussein Cancer Center, Jordan. She discussed on the topic Care Coordination for Women with Cancer: Excellence Driven by Nurses. She stated that the major role of clinical nurse coordinator is to work with the multidisciplinary team and coordinate home care visits for the women with cancer. 

Dr Elissa Ladd, PhD, Associate Professor, MGH Institute of Health Professions Boston, USA discussed on cervical cancer. In her speech, she emphasized on early prevention of cervical cancer by screening and vaccination. She highlighted the important role of nurse in educating the public on early symptoms of cervical cancer, destigmatization of reproductive process by participating in camps and conducting outreach programs.  

Dr Gugu Mchunu, PhD, Professor, Academic Leader/ Head of Department: Nursing Discipline, University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Nursing and Public Health, South Africa discussed about HIV and AIDS in South Africa. In her speech, she has provided the new concepts which emerged from their study such as ‘taxi queens’ and ‘blessers’. She talked about various teaching strategies which help in preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS.  

Dr Asha P Shetty, Principal, Yenopoya College of Nursing Mangalore, India dealt on impact of globalization in children. She emphasized on educating the parents and teachers about good and bad impact of globalization in children.
The above sessions were moderated by Dr Patricia M. Burrell, PhD, APRN, BC, CNE Professor of Nursing, Hawaii Pacific University, USA, Dr. Judith Noronha, Associate Dean Manipal College of Nursing Manipal, India, and Dr. Kasturi Adiga, Principal School of Nursing, Manipal, India.

The day came to an end with Cultural programme depicting the Indian culture and McMaster Students displaying the culture of various nations that participated in the conference.  

On second day of the Conference, about 110 research papers were presented by both international and national delegates. They shared their knowledge on various themes such as Adolescent Male/ Female issues, Biological Health Issues, Impact of Violence/War/terrorism on Children and Women, Prevention/Rehabilitation: Physical and Mental Health of Children and Women in the form of Scientific Paper and Poster Presentation. 

Chat sessions were held followed by paper and poster presentations on different topics (Aging process, Cancer, Children health issues, Globalization, HIV/AIDS, Transcultural issues), which was conducted by the eminent leaders with the view to develop networking, to enhance professional progress, and to share the expert knowledge in the field. 

The Day 3 of the Conference began at 9:00 am with the plenary sessions on the theme Empowerment of women and children. The sessions were moderated by Dr. Majeda A.AL-Ruzzieh, PhD RN, Chief Nursing Officer; King Hussein Cancer Center, Jordan, Ms. Iris Karin Meyenburg-Altwarg, Dipl. pflegewirtin, RN, EFQM Assessor President European Nurse Directors Association (ENDA), Germany, and Dr. Mchunu Gugu, PhD, Professor, Academic Leader/ Head of Department: Nursing Discipline, University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Nursing and Public Health, South Africa.

First session was taken by Dr Chet Raj Pant, MBBS, MD, MHSc, Chairman Medical College Infrastructure Development Committee, and Nepal. He spoke on vitamin D supplementation program in order to save sight and lives of children. He also discussed on various training program for the Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV) to implement this program. He proudly stated that Nepal was awarded the Millennium Developmental Goal (MDG) award for its commitment and progress towards achievement of MDG’s related to improving maternal health.

Dr Muralidhar V Pai, MBBS, DGO, MD, FICOG, Professor and Head Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Kasturba Medical College, India discussed on the topic ‘Priority Health problems of woman in India”. In his presentation he emphasized on various important issues related to woman’s health in India, such as nutritional related problems, reproductive health issues, infectious diseases, malignancies and age related problems and its prevention.  

Ms Nada S. Massoudi, Director of Nursing Security Forces Hospital Program Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), talked on essential competencies for caring Saudi Arabic Society. She stressed on the need of nurses who come from different culture to empower them in order to provide quality of care to the people.

Dr Wakako Fujita, RNM, PhD, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Japan spoke on the theme “Women and Children issues”. She emphasized on upgrading the quality of monitoring labour in resource limited countries. She highlighted on the need to strengthen the competence of the clinical nurse midwives.

Dr Anahid Kulwicki, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean and Professor, Lebanese American University Alice Ramez Chagoury School of Nursing, Beirut Lebanon dealt about Prevention/Rehabilitation: Physical & Mental Health of Children, highlighted about the acculturative stress among Arab American Immigrants in USA.  

Dr Puangrat Boonyanurak, PhD, Director of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Nursing, Thammasat University, Thailand took a session on Depression in ageing: Community Care Services. In her speech, she started that depression and suicide is increasing in older people. She talked about the General Ecological model at 3 levels such as Family, community and society. She discussed on various activities under this model like religious, cultural, National and local events, educational, occupational, social welfare activities and others.

Dr Patricia M. Burrell, PhD, APRN, BC, CNE, Professor of Nursing, Hawaii Pacific University, USA talked on the theme, Women and Children issues and focused on Transcultural competence related to women and children: Mental Health Issues. She discussed on various issues such as cultural, mental health (poverty and mental health, substance abuse, sleep problems, narcissism and sociopathy), stress and other issues. In her speech, she emphasized on the need of the nurses to develop cultural competencies to understand the uniqueness of health related problems and pay attention to understand the language of the people where they work.  

Dr B Unnikrishnan, MD, Associate Dean and Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore spoke on the Status of women and children in Indian scenario. He highlighted the statistics on different issues and discussed on the infant feticide, female literacy, gender inequality, reproductive health status of women, violence against women, dowry issues and child trafficking. He also briefed about status of children in India.

The third day of the conference concluded with Chat sessions on various themes and vote of thanks by Dr. Anice George Dean, Manipal College of Nursing Manipal. The fourth day that is 12th of January was exclusive for sightseeing.