Another milestone was achieved in July. The VFAHT National Council planned a series of Online Workshops on Viral Hepatitis as part of our 3-week Awareness Campaign in recognition of World Hepatitis Day on July 28, 2020.

These workshops were aimed at polishing the clinical skills of the participants and raising awareness about prevention. The content was thoroughly reviewed by our Project Advisor, Dr. Aiman Sheikh, and her team of medical health professionals.

Objectives:

To impart clinical and preventive knowledge about Viral Hepatitis including:

• Understand the art of history taking, about Hepatitis.
• Learn steps to reach a diagnosis, including physical examination and diagnostic tests.
• Understand the basic epidemiology of Hepatitis A, B, and C, and E.
• Learn about the various complications that are to be expected in patients.
• Learn how to manage and treat cases of Viral
• Understand the importance of prevention of Hepatitis A, B, and C and E, including vaccination of Hepatitis A and B.

Participants were taught about Hepatitis A and E on the first two days and Hepatitis B and C in the next two days using different case studies.

The workshops consisted of:

1. Study segments 
2. Energizers
3. Team activity and scenario discussion
4. Game Sessions to reinforce concepts about Hepatitis

Approximately 80 volunteers were catered to, ensuring interaction with each of them and clarifying each aspect of the disease.

A lot of positive reviews were received where participants applauded this effort and wished to see more of these in the future. To quote a few:

“It was lovely being a part of such an amazing discourse. Looking forward to more such amazing ventures”

• Usama Cheema from AMDC

“This was really a great session. I learnt alot. It was more beneficial than our initial ward lectures. Kudos to you all”

• Ayesha Razzaq from KEMU

“Everything was really appreciable. It was a great opportunity to have such an interactive session while sitting at home.”

• Aiman Jeet Kaur from FJMU

The World Health Organization (WHO) laid out 10 points for policymakers in 2019. These points identify specific areas where there is a lack of awareness, resources, funding, and effective policy. Our goal was to make use of these in our campaign to combat the spread of hepatitis in our country.

5 teams from the Local Councils at

1. Rawalpindi Medical University
2. Shifa Tameer E Millat Medical University
3. Fatima Jinnah Medical University
4. Aga Khan University
5. FMH College Of Medicine And Dentistry

volunteered to participate in this. Each team consisted of 5-8 participants.
Two out of the 10 points were assigned to each of the participating teams to research and then make a short presentation detailing the information/statistics laid out by the WHO and outline recommendations and strategies to counter these problems in Pakistan. These teams were given a week for this task from July 15-21.

A webinar was then hosted by Ayesha Rehan (President VFAHT National Council) and Ramsha Zafar (Regional Vice President- Sindh) and moderated by Asia Kausar (Project Director VFAHT). Representatives from each team presented their work and the suggestions were discussed. To conclude, a final proposal is being compiled in which the recommendations will be prepared that can be forwarded to proper government channels that deal with public health-related issues in the country.

This activity not only encouraged participants to research and present statistics and the current policies to eradicate Hepatitis but also promoted critical thinking and a healthy discussion on a virtual forum.

It is imperative for aspiring healthcare professionals to not only have a strong grip on medical knowledge but also to possess unquestionable history-taking skills that are exhibited in conjuncture with empathy and gentle behavior on behalf of the doctor. To achieve this, VFAHT-DUHS VCAN Division, in collaboration with VFAHT-AIMC Bloodborne Disease Division, organized the ‘Online Hepatitis History taking Workshop’ on Aug 31st – Sept 1st. The workshop, targeted at medical students from the second year and above, aimed to impart invaluable knowledge regarding hepatitis and its specific history-taking process that would lead to a confirmed diagnosis while brushing up on ethics and non-textbook principles of history-taking.

The Workshop was conducted in two phases:

• The First Phase, conducted on August 31st, included a 2hr speaker session by Onaizah Baqir, MD (Infectious Disease Specialist) residing in the US. She first highlighted the general principles of history taking, associated ethics, the dos, and don’ts, and then she moved on to discussing hepatitis and its disease course before finally concluding it by explaining the hepatitis-specific history taking process to the participants.

This helped reinforce the history-taking knowledge of the participants along with strengthening their hold on knowledge about hepatitis, its pathology, and disease course.

• The Second Phase, conducted on September 1st, included a practice session for all participants in an effective and organized manner. It was conducted purely by the teams of VFAHT-DUHS and VFAHT-AIMC in collaboration. This session aimed to provide participants the opportunity to implement the acquired knowledge they gained in the speaker session and translate it to enhance their pre-existing skills regarding history-taking. They were given a chance to act as doctors and take a proper history of acting patients (VFAHT moderators) to diagnose their condition, which was essentially a type of hepatitis.

In conclusion, the Workshop was successful in achieving its aims and was very well-received by all participants. For most of them, especially in the second year, it was a new and overwhelming experience, but equally rewarding and productive. The overall feedback received was extremely positive as well. It was a kind workshop and the Team hopes that they can conduct more such workshops in the future with a more diverse set of topics and diseases to cover.