PROJECT:

WOMEN’S HEALTH PROMOTION AND PREVENTION

Base and significance

Women’s status, traditionally difficult in Serbia, has become more and more difficult and complicated for economic and social crisis, affecting every state in transition process, including Serbia and Montenegro. According to social-demographic indicators, this directly reflects in lower life quality, higher morbidity and mortality of women of all ages. These are the reasons why we need to act preventively through the education and women’s healthy lifestyle promotion. In achieving an effective and organized education of women, permanent increase of woman’s health consciousness by getting adequate information and organized promotion events in Primary Health Care Centers is   indispensable. Thus, we have conducted a continued education of health care providers (physicians and pharmacists) who work in Primary Health Care Centers. Considering their experience in permanent contact with patients, we found them having the best qualities for organizing a promotion campaign in order to prevent disease and decrease risk factors for women’s health in all ages. This is of great importance for a wife as an individual, her family and the whole society, because it directly affects on decreasing expenses in women’s health funds.

Common (general) goals:

• Prevention of diseases and decreasing risk factors in women’s health through the development of social and cultural conscience on needs as well as the importance of permanent care for women’s health.
• Education of health care providers (physicians and pharmacists) who work in Primary Health Care Centers, towards promotional and preventive measures and activities for improved health and women’s life quality.
• Improving women’s public health knowledge and positioning pharmacists in public health sectors.

  Direct goals:

• Health advancement for women of all subgroups (young, middle aged and elder women) through the educational and promotional programs and activities of pharmacists in public pharmacies and physicians in primary health care centers.
• Prevention of against arising sexually transmitted diseases, promotion of health and skills for better counteracting of risk factors in cardiovascular diseases, as well as depression and appearance of osteoporosis in middle and old aged women. 
• Developing and providing services and consulting referral centers for women’s health in Pharmacy Institution “Belgrade”
• Developing and providing health care professionals and public associates network in the project.   
• Development of website on health promotion and women’s life quality testing.

 Project structure:

• Training pharmacists, physicians and volunteers for team work to realize project goals;
• Promotional material (general leaflet and three separate health educational leaflets) for all groups of women (young, middle and old aged);
• Work development of pharmacists in Primary Health Care through the existing consulting referral centers for young women (program for prevention sexually transmitted diseases appearance), popularization of work with older women and creating new consulting referral centers in Pharmacy institution “Belgrade” (centers for women in reproductive period, women in menopause with an accent on preventing cardiovascular diseases in women) 

Planned activities:

• giving advices by the phone or alive conversation, giving promotional material (leaflets);
• carrying out of documentation and collecting information return
• designing website, questionnaires and developing suitable software
• monitoring, validation and project evaluation (health, economic and social aspects). 

Project duration: 12 months (April 2006- April 2007.)

Project holder: Belgrade University School of Pharmacy

Executing partner: Pharmacy Institution Belgrade

Project Manager: Ljiljana Tasic, PhD, Associated Professor, Belgrade University School of Pharmacy

Education and implementation coordinator: Dusanka Parojcic, PhD, Assistant Professor, Belgrade University School of Pharmacy

Implementation and marketing coordinator: Sanja Jovic, MSc Pharm, Pharmacy Institution Belgrade

Design, implementation and project evaluation coordinator: Katarina Ilic, PhD, assistant Professor, Belgrade University School of Pharmacy ; Natasa Bogavac- Spasojevic, MSc Pharm, Belgrade University School of Pharmacy

PR coordinator: Vukica Kocic-Pesic, MSc Pharm, Pharmacy Institution Belgrade 

Project patronage: Ministry of Health, Republic of Serbia

Project partners: Women Society (AŽIN, Women in Business), JAZAS-a youth, YUMSIC, NAPSER

Media support: ‘’Blic zena’’ magazine, ‘’Studio B’’ television  

Participants – Primary health care centers: Zemun, Zvezdara, Vozdovac, Lazarevac i Palilula

Place of project realization

•  Belgrade University School of Pharmacy (three one day seminars for education and preparing existing programs and new devices developing for project realization, as well as elaborating marketing material for all women populations – younger, average and old age) ;

·       Educational seminars held on Belgrade University School of Pharmacy, including preparation of existing and development of new tools for project realization, preparation of promotional material for women of all ages- young, middle aged and elder women

• Implementation - Pharmacies: Pharmacy institution ‘’Belgrade’’ and Primary health care centers; website, media and citizens association.