SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

Introduction

Health is fundamental for a good quality of life, a fundamental human right and a key indicator of sustainable development. Being free from illness or injury directly affects our capacity to enjoy life. One way to assess health in a population is by looking for wellbeing at any institution or community. Good health provides the rights of human being to education, elevate economic opportunities for all and eliminate poverty within communities and countries around the world.

In order to accelerate progress and address new health challenges, all departments at the university need to partner to develop health care solutions and provide wellness for communities and nations.

The SDG3 provides an opportunity for IUL staff and students a support for delivery of health needs around their communication activities, and safety practices and provision of benefits. By ensuring that all have a safe educational conditions and access to health services to establish healthier productivity.

At the last recent 5 years, progress has been raised at IUL toward (Good Health & Wellbeing). The faculty of Health and Nursing Sciences with collaboration of local and nation sectors address inequalities to build good health for all. It keeps on the following objectives by complete and impressive gains:

  1. To improve clinical research citations
  2. To increase number of graduated students
  3. To ensure health impact on the community related to collaboration, outreach, sport, reproductive and mental health and smoking control.

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

Good health about the body as well as about the mind is essential to us. Staying in good health is important to all of us, and can become particularly important in the future. 

Special care must be taken by all the active bodies to ensure good health. Among the noble goals that the Islamic university of Lebanon (IUL) aspired to was the improvement of health and wellbeing outcomes. To achieve this vision, IUL set out many collaborative plans to establish its position within the framework of health community service. Namely, the mission was carried by the applied departments in the Faculty of Health including nursing, physical therapy, speech therapy and medical laboratory. In specific, nursing department aims to graduate qualified health professionals with scientific competencies and high work skills, in order to meet the needs of the labor market in Lebanon and the world.

IUL and good health and well-being

Faculty collaborative community Accordingly, IUL constantly cooperates with the Lebanese Nurses Syndicate. This cooperation is evident to increase the number of graduates to meet the needs of the labor market, and to achieve excellence in practicing the profession of nursing in application, education, administration and research. Hoping to strengthen the health of the individual and society in Lebanon and its surroundings that needs an increase in the number of nurses by 8% annually according to WHO. This yearly escalating need for nurses has made the university visits schools and holds exhibitions to stimulate, high school students, to register at the Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty. Moreover, the university has signed agreements with hospitals in the region in order to encourage employees who hold professional degrees to pursue their studies and obtain university degrees within practical and material facilities and financial discounts of 50%. Furthermore, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty organizes many health activities including the Health Day on May 12 of every year on the occasion of International Nursing Day. On this occasion, free health services are provided aiming at early detection of some chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and thalassemia by conducting free examinations, in addition to spreading health awareness through lectures and publications.

Moreover, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty has signed numerous agreements in collaboration with local and national health institutions within the framework of scientific and practical cooperation. These institutions are considered to be the training centers for IUL students. Within the framework of cooperation with the Lebanese Nurses Syndicate and for the sake of serving the individual and society, IUL nursing students participate in the Council of Representatives of the Nursing Students Association. The representatives hold regular meetings to discuss their scientific and practical needs. They also participate in the union’s activities that aim to spread health awareness and provide health services.

At the level of the Arab world, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty participates in the Council of the Arab Union of Nursing Faculties and sharing its scientific activities, in particular, IUL represents Lebanon in the Scientific Association. In the context of promoting scientific research in the field of health and nursing sciences, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty participates in the periodic seminars organized by “Chaire recherche sciences infirmières- Laboratoire Education et pratiques en santé – Université paris Nord” The faculty participates in presenting its scientific research through the seminar in the presence of its francophone students.

Outreach programs and projects in the local community

When we work together, we can make a real difference. We know that there is no one person or organization can solve the challenges in our communities on their own. Sustainable change comes from honest collaboration and strong partnerships that broaden our impact. That’s why the Faculty of Nursing & Health sciences at IUL is proud to serve as an active member of our community, encouraging our students, staff and faculty get involved and be committed to being engaged and making a difference throughout our community.

Accomplishments

As part of the Nursing and Health Innovation’s commitment to community engagement, we are proud to host A Day of Social Outreach, the annual service initiative for students, staff and faculty to get out of the office and make a tangible impact with our community partners. A Day of Social Outreach was created to connect the university with the Health Solutions through local community volunteer opportunities. In addition to offering impactful volunteer opportunities to faculty and staff, A Day of Social Outreach provides a mechanism for teams to work together in a unique setting fostering cooperation and collegiality such as the International Nursing Day celebration, Health interviews for children, Activities of special needs children and community training.

Health interviews for children are done by the pediatrician of the faculty team concerning affected health problems among children in Lebanon.

  • Some Interviews for medical purpose done by DR Lina Mortada as follows
    • July 15 2020 interview on importance of childhood visit on manar TV
    • November 21 2019 Winter respiratory disease in children kawthar tv
    • Aug 9 2019 Gastroenteritis in children kawthar TV
    • April 12 2019 allergy in childhood kawthar TV
    • April 26 2020 Fasting in children sahat Tv
    • May 6 vaccination in children Sahat TV
    • Nocturnal enuresis Nour Radio
    • HPV vaccination in Lebanon

Activities of special needs children have a special place in the faculty, attending many of their activities and coordination with the special need societies to ameliorate their education and life style by doing symposium and theater presentation.

Sports facilities with the local community

The Islamic University of Lebanon has developed a plan to improve the health of its students and personnel under the category of a healthy mind in a healthy body. To achieve this vision, a big sport facility has been erected to serve the mission. After the establishment of this building, the university noticed the necessity of placing this sport facility under the service of local community and general publics. During the last four years, many local activities have been done especially with schools and other public institutions. After realizing this idea and after the impressive results achieved by the university, there was an initiative to look internationally and the university achieved great results in this regard.

To meet the Chief Health guidance on physical activity the sport sector at IUL work together to ensure that all student have physical activity access. Through this plan, Faculties will be supported to review their sport and physical activity provision and ensure that all students have access to apply needed sport.

Sport and physical activity can enrich young people’s lives, and should be considered alongside other important activities like arts, culture, work and volunteering, to ensure young people have access to a variety of experiences. Sport is one of the Departments for Education’s five foundations for building character, and can help young people to develop skills such as confidence, self-belief, dedication and resilience. Sport also instils values and virtues such as friendship and fair play. In an increasingly digital world, giving young people opportunities for face-to-face engagement with their peers in their own and other communities is vital in developing socially as well as tackling loneliness and social isolation. And volunteering through sport can help young people to give back and play a role in their communities.

Sport organizations face the challenge in sport participation. Traditional methods of addressing this challenge such as promotional ads and top-down initiatives that ignore community needs have not succeeded in sustaining sport participation. This action plan supports the impact of the building sport communities model in which community development approach based on three key elements: identifying a community champion, developing collaborative partnerships, and delivering quality sport programming; however, using a community development approach to not only increase sport participation but also develop communities through sport are presented with implications for practitioners.

Activities that the department of Sport participated or carried out in 2016/2017:

  • Organizing Ramadan tournament (schools and public)
  • Organizing sport sessions for companies, banks and universities
  • Opening of the sporting activity day in the presence of the President of the Lebanese Federation
  • Participating in Beirut Marathon
  • Participating in Chess Championship
  • Participating in the Independence Day
  • Participating in the Independence Day meeting with Universities (Football-Basketball)
  • Honorary match with the Army Officers on the occasion of Independence Day
  • Participating in Al-Ghazia marathon
  • Honorary match with the Internal Security Forces team on the occasion of Independence Day
  • Participating in Chess and Table Tennis Championship
  • Participating in Table Tennis Championship
  • Participating in The glorious holidays meeting with universities (Football – Basketball)
  • Organizing Customs honoring match on the occasion of World Customs Day
  • Participating in the Lebanon qualifiers for the World Mini Football Championship
  • Participating in the Universities Table Tennis Championship
  • Participating in the mini-football Lebanon Universities Championship (the university won the championship)
  • Participating in the Lebanon Universities mini-football Championship (the university won the third place)
  • Organizing and participating in the Lebanese Universities Basketball Championship
  • Participating in the Lebanon University Muay Thai Championship (the university won the first place in “open weight”)
  • Participating in the Lebanese Universities Championship for Kyokushinkai (the university won the second place)
  • Participating in the Lebanese Universities Championship “Throwing pistols”
  • Participating in the mini-football World University Championship in Serbia (the university won the third place)
  • Organizing many Iindoor activities throughout the year for students and employees (football, basketball, and table tennis)

Activities that the sports department participated or carried out in 2017/2018:

  • Participating in the companies and institutions championship, organized by wiki leagues (the university won the first place)
  • Participating in the Universities Championship in Table Tennis
  • Participation in the Universities Championship in Swimming
  • Organizing and participating in the Universities Basketball Championship in cooperation with BIU
  • Participating in the Universities Football Championship (mini football), (the university won the third place)
  • Participating in Al-Ghazia marathon (with schools)
  • Participating in the Mountain Marathon (with schools)
  • Participating in the independence day (with public)
  • Participating in the universities championship in mini football, (the university won the first place)
  • Participating in the Universities Championship in Shooting Pistols, organized by LGU, (the university won the fifth place)
  • Participating in the Universities Championship in Muay Thai in cooperation with the Lebanese Union of Muay Thai, (the university won the first and second places)
  • Participating in the Kyokushinkai Universities Championship, (the university won the second place)
  • Participating in the universities’ running championship (the university won the first place)
  • Participating in the Universities Basketball Championship 3 * 3
  • Participating in the Universities Football Championship (the university won first place)
  • Participating in a mini university tournament in the two games; football (mini football) and basketball game in Nabatieh
  • Participating in the World University Championship, which was held in Serbia – May 2018 (the university won the third place)
  • Organizing an open day sport activity with the Lebanese Customs Corporation team, on the occasion of the National Customs Day, in the sports hall in the university
  • Organizing an honored activity (mini-football) with the Lebanese national team before leaving to participate in the World Cup
  • Organizing an open day sports activity with the Lebanese Army team, in cooperation with the Jarjou Club

Organizing a football tournament (mini football) for universities, institutions and companies on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

Activities that the sports department participated or carried out in 2018/2019:

  • Participating in Kfereman mini-football tournament (our university won the award for the most organized team)
  • Participating in Customs mini-football championship (our university won the first place
  • Joining the activity with the Lebanese Army (the Support Brigade) on the occasion of the Army Day
  • Organizing sports activity (gymnastic ball) with General Security
  • Organizing sports activity (mini-football with Haikazian University on the occasion of the International Day of the University Sports
  • Organizing sports activity (mini football) with the Internal Security Forces on the occasion of Independence Day
  • Organizing honorary activity with the sports media team
  • Organizing sports activity football match in Sarafand with schools
  • Participating in Tyr marathon (our university won the first place)
  • Participating in Hall-ball sports activity on the occasion of the glorious holidays
  • Organizing a sport activity for staff and employees (mini football)
  • Organizing activity with Al-Resala scouts (Hall-ball) on the occasion of the International Day of Scouts
  • Holding an internal tournament for all students in mini-football and table tennis
  • Participating in the staff tournament in the football and basketball games
  • Participating in the Universities Championship in Suburb Crossing (our university won, the first place)
  • Participating in Hassan Kassir sport tournament for universities
  • Participating in the companies and institutions championship organized by wiki league (our university won the first place)
  • Participating in the Universities Championship in Athletics (our university won the second place)
  • Participating in the international tournament in mini-football
  • Participating in the Lebanese Universities Championship in shooting a pistol “Judge Nasri Jamil Lahoud Cup 2019”
  • Participating under the supervision of the Lebanese Sports Federation of Universities (our university won the third place)
  • Participating in Limassol International Marathon in Cyprus (our university won the first place in the age group and the second place in the general ranking of the 5 km race)
  • Participating in the Universities Championship
  • Participating in the women’s race organized by the Beirut Marathon Association (our university won the first place)
  • A number of students of the Faculty of Health, Department of Physical Therapy, participating as a medical team for sports activity “Women’s race”

Activities that the sports department participated or carried out in 2019/2020:

  • Participating in Homin Al Fawqa sports activity for schools
  • Participating in Bayssour tournament organized for universities and schools (our university won the first Place)
  • Participating in the companies and institutions sport tournament in Kfarchima (our university won the first place)
  • Participating in an honorary sport activity that was at Al-Nasr Club, Al-Bazouria
  • Participating in an honorary sport activity that was held at Youth and Sports Office, Jabal Amel Region, Abbasiya
  • Participating in Arab mini-football Championship in Abu Dhabi
  • Organizing Indoor Championship, Imam Musa Al-Sadr Football Tournament

Sexual and reproduction health care services

The main focus nowadays in the Islamic higher education institutions is the challenges faced by sexuality education approach among students. Despite the absence and total limitation of free facilities and services related to sexuality, we have attempted to focus on these issues during the students attending of obligatory curriculum courses that equip students with knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values related to reproductive system and sexual health care issues.

Mental health support

University students often experience high levels of stress. Any number of potential events, academic failure, the loss of loved one, job termination of close relatives, and so on- may require students to make adjustments in the patterns of their daily living. Not all life transitions are negative, but even positive events, when accompanied by significant changes and demands, have the potential to be distressing. Many students weather the “stormy periods” of their lives without professional assistance; others may find that the distress of being a student provides an occasion to consult a mental health professional. Thus, the faculty of health seeking help with different students concerns such as depression, anxiety, relationship problems, family issues and academic difficulties. Faculty and Staff, play an important role in detecting and helping distressed students. However, identifying and responding to students in distress is not an easy job; it can be confusing and overwhelming. Mental Health Services insured by free psychologist consultation who is a member in the faculty of Health & Nursing Sciences and she deals with the different suspected cases:

  • Academic pressure or failure
  • Conflict with classmates/Professors
  • Difficulty adjusting to university life
  • Trouble adjusting to different culture
  • Career indecision
  • Athletes (pressure/ expectations)
  • Eating disorders
  • Drug/alcohol abuse
  • Sexual or physical problems
  • Identity/sexual confusion
  • Family problems
  • Grief and loss
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Loneliness
  • Relationship problems/break-ups
  • Low self-esteem
  • Financial problems

Smoking policy

The Islamic University of Lebanon is a tobacco-free university. Smoking, the use of tobacco products or tobacco-related smoking products, is not allowed on the premises of the university. The policy is intended to be educational, to de-normalize smoking as an acceptable social practice, especially among youth who may otherwise pick up a life-long tobacco addiction during their time at the university. It will also protect members of the community from second-hand tobacco smoke on campus. The success of this policy depends on the thoughtfulness, consideration, and cooperation of smokers and non-smokers. It is the responsibility of every member of the IUL community to not only comply with the policy, but to encourage others to comply with it in order to promote a safe, clean, and healthy work and learning environment. The policy is intended to give IUL a leading role in the implementation of Law 174, which legislate bans on smoking in all indoor public places; bans tobacco advertisement of all kinds, as well as tobacco sponsorship and promotion; and requires large health warnings on all tobacco packaging.

Conclusion and future perspectives:

Good health and wellbeing are among the noble goals of the Islamic university of Lebanon (IUL). Special care is taken by all the stakeholders to ensure good health and to improve health and wellbeing outcomes.

The Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) takes important care to spread the awareness concerning the health and wellbeing. For that and in order to be part of the worldwide efforts regarding the health and wellbeing, agreements are signed, activities are done and also educational programs are included in the curriculum of many departments.