UNESCO Chair
“Training and empowering human resources for health development in poor lands
Owner: Prof. Francesco Castelli, teacher of Infectious Diseases
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created in 1945 to promote the connection among civilizations, cultures and peoples based on respect for common values. It is through this dialogue that the world can fullfill sustainable development, in mutual respect for rights and the fight against poverty, which constitute the core of UNESCO's mission and activities ”. In particular, UNESCO promotes and supports all efforts to achieve the broad and concrete aims of the international community including the Millennium Development Goals UNESCO's mission is to contribute to peace, poverty eradication, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, science, culture, communication and information.
UNESCO recognizes two specific priorities:
- Africa
- Gender equality
Among others, UNESCO focuses on fighting HIV / AIDS infection by promoting the following actions:
- Education of adequate quality for all, which lasts for a lifetime
- Promotion of adequate scientific and political knowledge for sustainable development
- Attention to social and ethical challenges;
- Promotion of cultural differences and the culture of peace;
- Promotion of a society open to inclusion through information and communication.
The UNESCO Training and empowerment of human resources for health development in poor lands was founded in March 2014 at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences of the University of Brescia in order to contribute to the achievement of global aims (Millennium Development Goals - MDGs up to 2015 and later the Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) about limited resources, especially concerning gender equity , maternal and child health and the fight against HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases related to poverty .
To success, the UNESCO Course of the University of Brescia will complete and empower the educational programs already existing at the Course of Infectious and Tropical Diseases and the cohoperation center Center for team activities on TB / HIV co-infection and for the TB elimination strategy , extending the chances of curricular and extracurricular training also to high school students and NGO operators. Part of the training activities would be in English latter on.
Overall, the mail aim of the course is pursued through:
- The promotion of high level training activities pre and post-graduate) focused on Global Health, also cohoperating with Higher Education Institutes of poor countries with cohoperation center about activities on TB co-infection / HIV and for the TB elimination strategy , active at the University of Brescia.
- The organization of scientific meetings focused on Global Health forthe interested scientific community, both Italian and developing countries
- The promotion of projects regarding HIV / AIDS infection, other sexually ills, tuberculosis and malaria in highly endemic countries and in Europe, especiallly on gender aspects.
The results expected are:
- The awareness of the students of Medicine and Surgery, but also of the other macro-areas that make up the University of Brescia (Economics, Engineering and Law), towards the issues of Global Health.
- Training of health workers involved in health cooperation projects and for any reason in favor of the health of disadvantaged populations.
- Carry out high quality scientific research for an ever better understanding of the social impact of infectious diseases, in particular aspects related to gender.
The UNESCO chair Training and strengthening of human resources for health development in poor lands of the University of Brescia is part of the Italian UNESCO plan, coordinated by the Italian National Commission for UNESCO.