7 IHS Celebrated Movember 2017 The IHS Student Council organized the Movember 2017 campaign under the supervision of Dr Deeni Rudita bin Idris, a nursing lecturer, with the support of Movember Brunei. Movember, an internationally known campaign first founded in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, is a month-long event that focuses on raising awareness on men’s health (such as men’s mental health, testicular cancer and prostate cancer). It is also known as a no-shave month, whereby supporters show their support by growing mustaches and beards in the month of November. There are currently 20 participating countries and roughly 5,348,726 Movember supporters. The opening ceremony was held on the 8th November 2017 in IHS. Among the invited guests were Dr Hjh Rafidah (the Dean of IHS), Dr Zaw Wint and Dr Anne Cunningham (the Deputy Deans of IHS), Muhammad Ashmeer and Muhammad Alif Mursidi (President and Head Executive of Leadership and Innovation of the Student Representative Council of UBD, respectively). This initiated a month-long activities that includes putting up posters on testicular self-examination in the male washrooms in IHS for early detection of abnormalities, signing of the IHS Movember banner, and selling Movember badges (with 5 different designs). Dr Deeni Rudita bin Idris has also been invited to take part in several of Movember Brunei’s activities in relation to Movember. A sharing session has been held at Cultivate Bistro, at the Progresif headquarters in Gadong, to increase the public’s awareness about Men’s Health. In addition, a Zumba session open to everyone was held on the 11th November 2017 in accordance with IHS Movember. Overall, the IHS Movember 2017 has been a great success, thanks to the support from IHS students and staffs, as well as students from other faculties. The Institute of Health Sciences organized a Mental health Day Forum in conjunction with the World Mental Health Day on 15th November 2017. Both Professor David Koh, Assistant Vice Chancellor (Innovation and Enterprise) at UBD, and Dr Hilda Ho, Consultant Psychiatrist, spoke about various mental health at the work place issues. The forum aimed to raise awareness on mental health and mental illness, particularly among staff and students of higher institutions, reduce stigma towards individuals suffering from mental illnesses, as well as highlighting the importance of good mental health in relation to work and productivity. This is in line with this year’s theme that was set by the World Federation for Mental Health— Mental Health in the Workplace. The Diploma in Health Science cohort 7 of Politeknik Brunei students, who are currently doing their elective Mental Health Nursing module, presented their projects and activities during the forum. Mental Health Day Forum at IHS
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