Lecture Series Promoting Health Awareness in Armenia Concludes
Contributing to the Future WiRED–Armenia Community Health Worker Program
By Allison Kozicharow; Edited by Elizabeth Fine
WiRED International reports the successful completion of a year-long project built on a series of lectures focused on health education in Armenia.
The Event: September 11, 2024, Vanadzor, Armenia
WiRED, in partnership with “Miasin” NGO and the “Orran” Benevolent NGO, conducted the fifth and final session of the lecture series entitled “Health is the Key to Well-Being.”
The goals of the lecture series were twofold: (1) to promote public health awareness, empower the healthcare community and enhance the knowledge of frontline workers in the healthcare sector and (2) to contribute to the training of WiRED community health workers in Armenia, focusing on public health and primary healthcare modules from the WiRED collection, many of which have been translated into Armenian.
The lecture began with blessings from Rev. Father Vahan Azaryan, spiritual pastor of St. Grigor Narekatsi Church of the Gugarats Diocese. In the opening speech, the Armenian director of WiRED International–Armenia, Sebouh Baghdoyan, conveyed appreciation to the “Miasin” NGO, the “Orran” Benevolent NGO, the “Kanaka” construction company, as well as to all the donors and involved partners, supporters and participants for their fruitful collaboration and effective teamwork.
Gevorg Chichyan, the president of “Miasin” NGO, and the program manager of the lecture series, emphasized the importance of such initiatives and thanked Mr. Baghdoyan for entrusting the implementation of the five community health lectures to “Miasin” NGO. Valery Jaghinyan, chief specialist of the Department of Health and Social Affairs of the RA Lori Province Governor’s Office, also welcomed the attendees.
The 48 participants in the event included:
Citizens of various professions aged 18–70- The staff of the RA Lori Governor’s Office
- Community health and social sector workers
- The parish priest of the Gugarats Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
- Representatives of NGOs
- Artsakh residents settled in Vanadzor
During the one-day meeting, health professional specialists (see The Team of Experts sidebar) presented seven modules from WiRED’s Health Module Access Program, which apply to the most common disease topics in Armenia:
- Introduction to cancer
- Familial Mediterranean fever
- Regulation of the female reproductive system
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Diabetes
- Infectious and non-infectious diseases
- Thyroid diseases
Conclusion
Mr. Baghdoyan and Dr. Chichyan described the lecture series project’s conclusion in their final address in Vanadzor with words of gratitude:
“Summarizing the five lectures on health care in Etchmiatsin, Gyumri, Chkalovka village of Sevan municipality, Sisian and Vanadzor, it must be stated without a doubt that we have fully fulfilled the mission set before us, because the invited specialists and program participants expressed positive opinions about the program and the hope that it will continue in the future. Thanking you once again for your support, we wish you good health, well-being and full success in your work, as well as peace for our Armenian homeland, the Armenian Diaspora and the whole world.”
WiRED will continue to work alongside our Armenian partners and report on our programs in that country as well as supporting a WiRED community health worker program in the year ahead.
The Team of Experts
Learn about the WiRED–Armenia alliance in past years here:
- Update from WiRED International–Armenia, June 28, 2023
- Pilot Lecture Series on Health Conducted in Armenia, October 7, 2023
- Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine Fleeing to Armenia, February 3, 2024
- Second Lecture Session in Series on Health Takes Place in Armenia, March 11, 2024
- Lecture Series on Health Continues in Armenia, May 27, 2024
- WiRED International Celebrates 12 Years of Fruitful Partnerships in Armenia, August 21, 2024
Comments from the Team
We express our deep gratitude to the kind benefactors of the “Kanaka” construction organization, the hospitable directorate of the “Orran” NGO, the skilled specialists, the hard-working staff of the organization and, in particular, the enthusiastic participants of the lecture series. In Vanadzor, too, this program was really able to promote human awareness about various diseases, enriching their primary health-medical knowledge. We are impressed by the active involvement of many participants. The lectures took place in a constructive, warm working atmosphere, within the framework of mutual interests.
—Sebouh Baghdoyan, WiRED International–Armenia and Gevorg Chichyan, “Miasin” NGO
WiRED International’s health organization performs an unprecedented mission for society, providing a unique opportunity for the [Armenian] population to become more aware of health. I hope our programs will expand further in the future. I am glad to be a part of WiRED.
—Dr. Narine Baghdoyan
In recent years, the field has become quite lively, when medical and psychological topics come together in the same event, which, of course, is very binding and promises to make this type of cooperation very frequent in the future. I would like such meetings to be more interactive in the future, so that specialists from a narrow area could get to know each other better.
—Nune Voskanyan, Psychologist
With great enthusiasm and a little sadness, we finished the lecture series organized by WiRED. First of all, these lectures gave new thoughts, ideas and motivation for planning what to do next. The lecture series had more than 200 participants, who were armed with new knowledge, and I am sure that if not themselves, then their families and relatives will need that knowledge. The enthusiasm of the participants, the interactive participation and the many questions allow us to conclude that our meetings were targeted, effective and useful. I want to express my deep gratitude to Sebouh Baghdoyan of WiRED–Armenia and Gevorg Chichyan of “Miasin” NGO and all the people involved in the difficult task of organizing and implementing the lecture series.
—Dr. Vahe Harutyunyan
