European health groups launch teaching materials on violence and health

Press release, 9 December 2016, London, United Kingdom

European health groups launch six online teaching cases to educate nurses, doctors, students and others on the health aspects of violence, war and armed conflict. They will be presented at the Medact conference “Healthy Planet – Better World” on December 10th, 2016 in London.
 
The cases are part of an educational series to help health professionals to engage in the identification and prevention of violence from the micro level (such as domestic violence, refugee discrimination, and torture) to the macro level (such as nuclear weapons, climate change, and war). These interactive videos and lesson plans complement twelve case studies which depict challenging situations for health professionals in preventing and reducing violence – as well as promoting peace, sustainable development and human rights.  All the cases aim to show the role of doctors, nurses and others in building trust, understanding, mutually enriching structures, and cultures of peace.

The six online video cases are intended to be used as the basis for group work and class discussion in both, formal and non-formal educational settings for health professionals and their students. Accompanying teaching notes are available for teachers and trainers. The materials are developed by nine organizations from Norway, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK and are available free-of-charge.

They are designed for European health professionals and students no matter where they live and work. The material is also useful for those who wish to do humanitarian or development work or who want to work with human rights or medical peace organizations.

For the past ten years the Medical Peace Work project (MPW) has been working to educate health professionals about their role in violence prevention and peacebuilding. The project includes health professionals of all backgrounds and nationalities.

To access the courses, go to www.medicalpeacework.org. We invite you to register your interest for our upcoming MOOC (massive open online course) on medical peace work.

For more information about the case studies, contact:
Dr Aditya Vyas, +44 7487676197, a.vyas@uea.ac.uk (Medact UK)
Dr Klaus Melf, +47 91761591 (Norwegian Physicians Against Nuclear Weapons)