UNAIR NEWS – The World University Association for Community Development (WUACD) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) has held another international webinar. The event was titled “The International Webinar of WUACD Summit 2021.” Virtually, the event took place for two consecutive days, from Saturday, December 18, 2021, to Sunday, December 19, 2021.
On the second day, many speakers from various countries were invited. Among them were Prof. Dr. Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah and Prof. Dr. Sarjit S. Gill from Universiti Putra Malaysia and Assoc. Prof. Ira Nurmala, Ph.D from Universitas Airlangga. The three of them became the opening speakers at the webinar.
In his presentation, Prof. Dr. Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah emphasized public health. According to him, community health-based empowerment will improve the quality of life. Furthermore, the professor of community development also conveyed the importance of preserving nature.
“Public health can focus on the quality of life and improve it through health education in everyday life. In addition, the preservation of nature is also important to maintain the available ecosystems,” he said.
In general, Prof. Asnarulkhadi believes that prioritizing public health aspects can bring many positive impacts. The environment will be more organized and sustainable through a well-maintained ecosystem. “Therefore, we can prepare nature for present and future generations,” he said at the end of his presentation.
In line with the public health aspects that Prof. Asnarulkhadi emphasized, public health in general can be started on a small scale. One of them is the university scale, as delivered by Assoc. Prof. Ira Nurmala, SKM., M.PH., Ph.D.
The UNAIR health promotion coordinator said that campuses should pay attention to health. “It can be achieved through three strategies: advocacy, mediation, and willingness,” she said.
According to Assoc. Prof. Ira, advocacy is done by making health policies. “UNAIR has done this by issuing a letter regarding health policies on systems and infrastructure. Also, a letter was also issued regarding security policies, environmental cleanliness, reforestation, and smoking bans in the campus area,” said Assoc. Prof. Ira.
Meanwhile, mediation requires the involvement of various parties. “All parties must be involved in health promotion activities,” added Prof. Ira.
The last is willingness which is related to health promotion arrangements. “There must be a willingness for all parties to improve their health status in health promotion settings,” concluded Assoc. Prof. Ira at the end of her presentation.
The webinar was then continued with a discussion of various themes with a smaller scale of participants. For the discussion, the participants could choose the topics.
The various themes included increasing higher education capacity, making a resilient community and social involvement, health, welfare, and the environment, realizing a sustainable economy for subject matter experts, politics, and government. All of these themes were reviewed by professionals from various countries.
Author: Fauzia Gadis Widyanti
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
