U21 University Mental Health Declaration Launched

Universitas 21 and U21 Health Sciences Group have together launched the U21 University Mental Health Declaration this week as part of the U21 Health Science Group’s Annual Meeting hosted virtually by University College Dublin. 

 

Now more than ever, universities will be delivering education in the context of increased levels of stress and anxiety across their staff and student populations and this timely publication sets out U21’s collective set of 5 principles on University Mental Health.

 

Vivienne Browne, Associate Director, Government Relations and Policy at Orygen, Australia and Chair of the U21 Health Sciences Mental Health Group said, ‘Poor mental health and wellbeing can significantly impact a student’s academic experience, potentially leading to poorer attendance, performance and sometimes can see students leave their studies all together.  Actively supporting good mental health and wellbeing and supporting students and staff experiencing poor mental health benefits students, universities and society.’

 

Work on the declaration began in 2018 at the U21 Health Sciences Group Annual Meeting, hosted by the University of Melbourne, considering:

  • The prevalence of mental health issues in universities
    • The impact on students, staff and the broader community
    • Student wellbeing within university policies, course design and professional accreditation
    • Examples of good practice and/or evidence for effective mental health interventions in university settings
  • Disruption to studies and concerns about academic progress
    • Financial distress due to reliance on employment through the hospitality and retail sectors
    • Quarantining of some students within university campus accommodation which has led to mental health impacts from isolation and stigmatisation of some cultural populations
    • International students who have experienced restrictions of entry into the country they are enrolled to study in or who have been sent home due to enforced border protection and prioritised support for national citizens.

 

The 2020 COVID19 pandemic has significantly disrupted business and life on many university campuses resulting in increased levels of anxiety and distress for both students and staff. Staff are concerned about tenure in their positions (particularly with many employed as sessional and contract teaching staff) and will be adjusting to a new way of delivering learning online. Students have and will continue to experience unique challenges and psychological stressors including:

 

Professor Barbara Dooley, Dean of Graduate Studies and Deputy Registrar at University College Dublin, whose studies focus on youth mental health, said ‘The U21 Declaration on University Mental Health has been endorsed by the U21 University Presidents. This endorsement signifies that the mental health and well-being of students and staff is recognized as a global issue.’

 

The Five Principles are as follows:

  • Principle 1: The University and everyone in its community commits to its role in creating, promoting and sustaining a positive environment for optimal mental health and wellbeing amongst its staff and students.
  • Principle 2: Students and staff are at the heart of our concern; therefore, all discussions and delivery of improved services around mental health will consult and engage with the community it aims to serve.
  • Principle 3: The University commits to its role in linking staff and students who require additional support for their mental health to professional and evidence-based mental health supports either on-campus or off-campus.
  • Principle 4: The University will facilitate the building of an evidence base through monitoring and evaluating the need for, and outcome and effectiveness of, all mental health and wellbeing policies, programs and services delivered by the University.
  • Principle 5: The University takes seriously and will address promptly, prejudice related to mental ill-health and will endeavour to foster a stigma-free environment of support and understanding.

 

https://universitas21.com/what-we-do/u21-university-mental-health-declaration

 

Note for Editors:

Universitas 21 (U21) is a leading global network of research-intensive universities that empowers its members to share excellence, collaborate across borders and nurture global knowledge exchange.

We value cultural difference, connect perspectives from around the world and harness the collective expertise of our exceptional members to deliver programmes, activities and initiatives, which could not be delivered through a single university or via bi-lateral agreements. 

www.universitas21.com

 

The Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group is a unique global university network of Health Sciences staff and students that includes members from 19 universities worldwide, and a collaborative group of Universitas 21.

 

For more information contact:

Rachel Edwards – Rachel.edwards@universitas21.com


COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten food industry, security, nutrition and international food trade in highly integrated global system

Interview with Prof Pat Wall, UCD

At the U21 (Universitas21) Health Sciences Group (HSG) Meeting which is being hosted by UCD, the global university network of Health Sciences staff and students will today hear more detail on specific challenges to effective prevention and control of COVID-19 in the food industry and how certain countries are unable to satisfy demand from national production coupled with an increased reliance of importation of food. There is also evidence that trade restrictive measures are compounding the intensity of this impact, increasing prices and reducing availability of supply on international markets.

 

Speaking on ‘COVID-19 and Food Safety’ at the meeting, Prof Pat Wall, Prof of Public Health, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, UCD said ‘We are now seeing the effects of overcrowded accommodation and congregated industrial settings that some workers in the food production industry in Ireland are enduring. These workers live in close proximity to each other and, at work, often share large work tops where COVID-19 laden droplets may be contaminating the environment emphasising the importance of identifying and excluding symptomatic workers. Certain elements of the food industry also present  environments that are favourable to the spread of COVID-19 with metallic surfaces, low ambient temperatures and high relative humidity.’ 

 

Professor Wall summarised the challenges to effective prevention and control of COVID-19 in the food industry as follows;  

  • Maintenance of physical distancing on production lines and during breaks 
  • Adherence to the use of face coverings 
  • Continued attendance at work while symptomatic 
  • Adherence to heightened cleaning and disinfection 
  • Communication to overcome language and cultural problems 
  • Sharing transport to and from work 

 

“COVID-19 controls should include implementation of more staggered shifts in the food industry, zoning in the factory and have workers operating in pods at work. There is no point having workers segregated in pods at work if they travel to work and live with workers in other pods. The industry needs appropriate use of adequate PPE and acrylic screens to increase physical separation. This should be complemented by regular health questionnaires, temperature checks and exclusion of workers with symptoms to self-isolate or transfer to isolation facilities, if it is not possible for them to isolate in their own accommodation.”

 

“The food industry needs access to rapid swabbing, testing and delivery of results to individuals and management. The only way asymptomatic workers will be identified is by comprehensive testing” concluded Prof Wall

 

Also speaking at the U21 HSG meeting on ‘Food System Resilience Tested by COVID-19’, Dr Peter Alexander, Interdisciplinary Senior Lecturer in Global Food Security, University of Edinburgh said “While reactions to restrict food trade have only occurred so far on a modest scale, there is evidence that export bans were in place in 10 countries in June 2020. However risk remains of more dramatic trade policies decisions and subsequent copycat measures with potential for harm for the food industry and consumers in both importing and exporting countries. Food price increases or supply shortages triggered by COVID-19 and exacerbated by shifts in international trading arrangements would act to worsen food poverty with associated harm to health.”

 

One Health, the central theme of the U21 HSG meeting is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation, and research whereby multiple sectors from the human, animal and environment health worlds communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes. The vision of UCD ‘One Health’ is to maximize the health and well-being of humans, animals and the environment through academic excellence, collaborative research, education, and outreach.

 

The U21 HSG is a global university network of Health Sciences staff and students that includes members from 19 universities worldwide. The vision of ‘One Health’ U21 scholars is to maximize the health and well-being of humans, animals and the environment through academic excellence, collaborative research, education, and outreach. In essence 'One Health' is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation, and research whereby multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better global public health outcomes. UCD College of Health and Agriculture Science was selected to host the 20th. U21 HSG Group Annual Meeting in August 2020.

 

The central theme of the 2020 U21 HSG meeting is ONE HEALTH: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO HEALTH. Please see FULL MEETING PROGRAMME on the UCD U21 HSG 2020 page


2020/2021 Trimester 1 Guidance for Students

Student Guidance under Level 5 Restrictions

The Level 5 measures announced on Monday 19 October designate higher education as essential insofar as onsite presence is required and such education activities cannot be held remotely. To provide you with certainty in what to expect and facilitate your planning, the current level of restriction on academic activities are to be retained until the end of this Trimester.

This means that activities that are currently taking place on campus can continue:

    • Practical and laboratory classes
    • Clinical teaching and associated activities
    • Practice based teaching
  • Online teaching will continue as per timetables. 
  • Where there is any change to this position, your Module Coordinator will inform you of changes to the delivery for each affected module.
  • The campus will remain open so that Libraries and study areas can be available. Details on these spaces are available here.
  • On-campus catering can continue, for collection only.
  • Campus-based research can continue.
  • The UCD Student Health Service can provide necessary onsite support to meet your mental health and welfare needs.

You will be required to wear a face covering for all on campus teaching and learning events, in all the libraries and internal public spaces of the campus apart from:

  • When actively eating and drinking in designated seating or social areas.
  • When an underlying medical condition prevents their wearing.

Further details of all the facilities and services available both on campus and virtually can be found here.

Read carefully the specific requirements for attendance on campus outlined in the Short Guide for Students Returning to Campus.

If you have been on the Belfield campus and subsequently receive a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, please contact the Duty Manager at 01-7167999 as soon as possible. A team is available to guide you through our internal contact tracing process which takes place in parallel and in collaboration with the HSE contact tracing process.

It is important that you continue to observe the public health guidelines wherever you are and keep safe and well. Please ensure you carry your student ID as you may be required to demonstrate that you are travelling to UCD for educational purposes. Please be assured that the campus is a safe and welcoming environment and our faculty and staff are ready to provide you with the best educational experience we can offer, at distance or on campus.


Threats from 550k Zoonotic Viruses are Accelerating Rapidly Driven by Expanding Population & Increasingly Interconnected World

At the U21 (Universitas21) Health Sciences Group (HSG) Meeting which is being hosted by UCD, the global university network of Health Sciences staff and students will hear how the One Health approach to viral detection, discovery and characterisation has helped to identify all of the viral diversity in every species and can begin to rank the risk of these viruses for interspecies transmission. Meeting attendees will hear also that 60% of all infectious diseases and 75% of all emerging infectious diseases have a link to zoonoses (disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans)  so understanding the disease threats and developing mitigation strategies to prevent infection and spread of viruses are key to preventing future devastating pandemics.

 

One Health, the central theme of the U21 HSG meeting is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation, and research whereby multiple sectors from the human, animal and environment health worlds communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes. The vision of UCD ‘One Health’ is to maximize the health and well-being of humans, animals and the environment through academic excellence, collaborative research, education, and outreach.

 

Speaking on Pandemic Preparedness at the meeting, Prof Jonna Mazet, Professor of Epidemiology and Disease Ecology and Exec. Director, One Health Institute, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, US said ‘We can reasonably estimate that there are more than 500,000 zoonotic viruses, about which we know nothing or very little, that have the potential to spill over from evolutionary host species to vulnerable ones and cause disease. Threats posed by pandemics and epidemics are now clear to every household around the world where a single lethal microbe can emerge suddenly and spread rapidly to every community without regard to national borders or to social and economic standing”

 

“The SARS, Ebola, and Zika outbreaks did little to prepare us for the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, which serves as a clear call that we are vulnerable to emerging viral threats. The Global Virome Project is a strategic response to the growing need to better predict, prevent, and respond to future viral pandemic threats and to protect us all from their worst consequences. This brings health professionals and scientists from many disciplines together to share protocols and data under one umbrella and therefore countries will gain the benefits of shared global and regional virus identification and disease mitigation strategies, while maintaining autonomy to respond to local needs’ continued Professor Mazet.

 

Also speaking at the U21 HSG meeting, Prof Stephen Gordon, Professor in Infection Biology, UCD Schools of Veterinary Medicine, Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and Medicine and the U21 HSG Meeting Academic Director said ‘The One Health approach allows us focus on the interaction of human, animal and environmental health coupled with integration of ideas in plant health, climate, water and air quality, and urbanisation. Sometimes that breadth can be difficult to manage with One Health so in this meeting we have tried to pull out some key themes that speak to the diversity of One Health and that are particularly relevant to the current pandemic, which of course resulted from the close interaction of humans and animals. The mobilisation of research that we have witnessed since the onslaught of this pandemic is also unprecedented in terms of dealing with an infectious diseases and this will provide us with the knowledge, therapies and ultimately the vaccine which will control the pandemic.”

 

The U21 HSG is a global university network of Health Sciences staff and students that includes members from 19 universities worldwide. The vision of ‘One Health’ U21 scholars is to maximize the health and well-being of humans, animals and the environment through academic excellence, collaborative research, education, and outreach. In essence 'One Health' is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation, and research whereby multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better global public health outcomes. UCD College of Health and Agriculture Science was selected to host the 20th. U21 HSG Group Annual Meeting in August 2020.

 

The central theme of the 2020 U21 HSG meeting is ONE HEALTH: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO HEALTH. Please see FULL MEETING PROGRAMME on the UCD U21 HSG 2020 page