IOF-AMGEN HEALTH PROFESSIONAL AWARENESS GRANTS AWARDED AT BEIJING CONFERENCE

PhysOrg.com
September 24th, 2009

While awareness of osteoporosis among the public and health
professionals is growing, there is still work to be done to ensure
that doctors and other health professionals are adequately prepared
to advise patients on the best possible care for osteoporosis.

Presented today at the International Osteoporosis Foundation’s (IOF)
Worldwide Conference of Osteoporosis Patient Societies in Beijing,
the 2009 IOF-AMGEN Health Professional Awareness Grants aim to support
innovative and cost effective projects by IOF member societies that
focus on improving knowledge and raising awareness of osteoporosis
among clinicians and allied health professionals.

The five grants, valued at 10,000 USD each, were awarded to the
following IOF member societies:

* Armenian Osteoporosis Association for a broad campaign to increase
knowledge among the population of Armenia, encompassing educational
seminars and training sessions for doctors and medical students.

* Aktion Gesunde Knochen – Action for Healthy Bones (Austria) for
a campaign to provide osteoporosis education to nurses and GP’s
assistants. With improved knowledge and communication skills these
allied health professionals can make an important contribution to
osteoporosis prevention and encourage adherence of osteoporosis
patients to prescribed treatment.

* Bulgarian League for the Prevention of Osteoporosis (BLPO) for a
novel teaching project that involves "patient role-play" in one-day
courses for health professionals. The engaging format of the course
is aimed at enhancing the health professional’s ability to identify
high risk patients.

* Hungarian Osteoporosis Patient Association (HOPA) for the production
of a video clip featuring an entertaining role play where cases
studies and questions raised by patients are put into the form of
a dialogue and play. HOPA expects that the CD will become a key
resource in encouraging patient centered-healthca eoporosis Society
Singapore, for an awareness program specifically targeting allied
health professionals, including nurses, dieticians, physiotherapists
and pharmacists.