Event(s) Summary
Number of Events Organized During Brain Awareness Week:
7
Year:
2016
Type of Events Held:
- Conference/Forum
- Exhibit
- Lecture/ Briefing
- Other
- Radio Show
- TV Show
- Other: 1. Visit to Ammanuel Psychiatric Specialized Hospital 2. Basketball competition between medical schools
Target Audiences:
- General Public
- High School students(9-12)
- Other
- Patients & Caregivers
- Professionals
- University students
- Other: Government officials
Approximate Number of People Reached:
500
Details of Major Brain Awareness Week Events/Activities:
To accomplish Ethiopian Brain Awareness Week’s objectives, the following activities were held. 1. Briefing lecture by Psychiatrists, Neurologists, and Neurosurgeons. The topics were: 1. Schizophrenia 2. Mood disorders 3. Parkinson’s disease and 4. Brain surgery in Ethiopia. This was held at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College. The aim of this event was to increase the audiences’ awareness about the diseases. 2. Experience sharing among different institutions working on mental health and brain related problems. They used presentations and exhibition as a means of media. This was aimed to let the institutions work together to reduce the mental health problem in Ethiopia and help each other and to work projects together as well. 3. A visit to Ammanuel Psychiatric Hospital. The aim of this event was to show the audiences how mental health problem vast in our country and help the hospital in different aspects. 4. Discussion on how to improve mental health services among audiences and staffs of Ammanuel Psychiatric Specialized Hospital. 5. Basketball competition between two medical colleges .i.e. St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College and Myungsung Medical College. The aim was to spread the concept of Brain Awareness Week among the youth. 6. On the country’s national television ‘Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC)’, “Tenachin” (which means ‘Our Health’) covered Ethiopian Brain Awareness Week on it’s news and made a weekly program Brain Awareness We 7. Different radio stations (Sheger FM 102.1, FM Addis 97.1, Afro FM 105.3) and News papers(Ethiopian Herald and Addis Zemen)covered the Ethiopian Brain Awareness Week. Generally the week was amazing and encouraging!
Event Planning & Publicity
Publicity Methods Used:
- Advertisements
- Emails
- Posters/Flyers
- Social Media
Which of These Publicity Methods Was The Most Successful?
Resources
What downloadable materials from the Foundation did you use for your events?
- BAW Certificate of Participation
What other downloadable materials would you like the Foundation to provide?
- Fact Sheets
- Lesson Plans
- Activities/Experiments
Feedback & Keys to Success
How do you feel BAW participation benefited your organization and the local community?
First of all the organizers are medical students of St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College. So what we benefited from organizing BAW are many. 1. We have understood how the society can be made aware of mental health problems. 2. Opportunities have come to us. Institutions working on brain and mental health are offering us to work with to bring a better change in the society. 3. The Federal Ministry of Health has gave us hope for the coming Ethiopian BAWs. 4. Most of all, satisfaction.
Please share any suggestions or lessons learned that may help others plan future events:
1. We suggest other partners to work with different institutions working on brain and mental health problems 2. We have learned to work on children and the youth because they are tomorrow’s hope and the reasons for change. 3. We have learned that we should go to the countryside and create awareness. In our society they have their own wrong definition of brain and mental health problems. 4. We also should work on avoiding the stigma. In our society people with brain and mental health problems are victims of stigma. 5. We should work on researchers. There are no that much researches done on brain and mental health in our country. Therefore, we should research and motivate researchers as well!
Did/do you like our Facebook page?
Yes
Was the information provided on Facebook useful?
Of course, it’s very helpful. I say keep it up!
