ACTION, is the abbreviation of Asian Collaborative Training on Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Natural Disasters, and Refugee Management is a transnational project, held by SCORP IFMSA in the Asia-Pacific Region. Its aim is to provide essential knowledge and skills required to prevent, relieve, and rehabilitate victims of natural disasters and infectious diseases, to medical students in the region. This year is the 12th time of ACTION since its first on 2004. This is also the 3rd time for Indonesia to have an honor as the hosting country.
The event took place on August 21-27 in Surabaya, consisting of some lectures, outdoor simulation, workshops and field trip. This year, the organizing committee chose the theme of âInfectious Diseases Related to Disasterâ. Because disasters do not only cause loss of life and infrastructures damage, but it also cause a lot of harm to the survivors, including infectious diseases that eventually can lead to death.
In the event of disaster, the daily life of survivors, including their foods and water, hygiene and sanitation, are at a high risk of contamination with pathogens, especially if the disasters took place in an endemic area of infectious diseases. By taking this theme for ACTION 2017, we hope that medical students, especially in Asia Pacific region who has a high prevalence of infectious disease, can learn more and therefore will gain more skills in the event of disaster and infectious disease.
On the first day in the morning the OCs picked the delegates up and took the delegates directly to Universitas Airlangga to have the welcoming session and play some Indonesian games around the campus area such as kuda bisik, pipa kelereng and so much more. They also spent the night enjoying live musics and singing along together at the Welcome Party.
The next day, they got two lectures from Department of Anesthesiology FM Unair about âDisaster Risk Reductionâ and âDisaster Managementâ followed by a General Emergency Life Support workshop. During the workshop, the delegates learned how to safe peopleâs life in the term of emergency, they also learned how to use the splint to traumatic patients. Beside the academics schedule, they also learned about Indonesian culture : membatik session. Each of the delegates given a scarf sized batik to be decorated and colored by they own creativity.
The following day, the delegates were taken to the Institute of Tropical Disease, a research center inside the Universitas Airlangga. They strolled around the laboratories of some infectious diseases, they were also explained about how the machine works and learned through the scientific posters. In the evening, they experienced of kite making and also how to make the kite flies. After dinner, the delegates tried some jajanan on the night market nearby.
The delegatesâs enthusiasm raised when they were having the infectious disease lecture by dr. Sustini and dr. Musofa. It may caused by the unique ethiology and epidemiology of the disease and the treatment required to solve that they did not know before. After lunch, the OCâs and delegates gathered and played together inside the hall, they threw a ball to each other while a dangdut music played in background, it was full of joy and laughter. The last session of that day was country presentation by each delegates, they showed the problem faced by each countries especially the infectious disease and disasters.
On Friday, all the delegates were taken to Bhumi Marinir to have the disaster simulation arranged by MARINIR and BPBD. The first simulation is water simulation, they were trained how to keep survive even if they are in the middle of a sea of nowhere. And the second simulation is the real disaster simulation which they were grouped into some small groups : command post, medical team, information center, rapid response team, field kitchen and group of victims. The scenario of the simulation was a flood in a regency in East Java due to high rain intensity. Everyone was so excited during the simulation. They were taught to use the real handy talky, to write a real disaster report, to ride a TRCâs motorcycle, they also tried to cook the real special food that produced for the disaster victims provided by BPBD.
The sixth day, Prof. Dr. dr. Kuntaman M.S. Sp.MK(K). as a member of  Antimicrobial Resistance Control Committee gave a lecture about âAntimicrobial Resistanceâ including how to prevent antimicrobial resistance towards disaster victims. On that day, the delegates were also experiencing the atmosphere of working inside the microbiology laboratory to try Ziehl-Neelsen staining and examine TBâs suspected sputum. In the end of the day, is the most awaited session, country fair and farewell party. The session opened by the mesmerizing Tari Saman from Saman FKUNAIR. Then the delegates were going around the hall to visit each countryâs booth and try some traditional food such as Baklava from Turkey and Plum Juice from India. Delegates from each county also had to perform on the stage, some of them danced, some other sang and many more. After all the performances, all the delegates and OCâs took a picture together as a goodbye photo.
The last but not least, on Sunday, the delegates who join the Social Program were departed to Lombok for 3 days. The other delegates joined the city tour explored some museums and landmarks around Surabaya City. The journey was officially ended at A Café @ House of Sampoerna as we finished our Indonesian lunch.
ACTION 2017 leaves an unforgettable memories, for OCs and delegates. We hope that everything we learned during the event not only memorable, but also useful and can be applied for reducing the disaster risk around the world!