Universitas Sumatera Utara, together with the Erasmus Plus funded SPIRIT Project (Sport and Physical Education as a Vehicle for Inclusion and Recognition in India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka), developed a curriculum focusing on the development of physical activity and nutrition for the prevention of non-communicable diseases. Erasmus Plus SPIRIT Project involves European and Asian countries, including Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, jointly developing curriculum, e-learning, and lifelong learning courses focusing on increasing physical activity, exercise, and proper nutrition for young people. The Rector of Universitas Sumatera Utara Prof. Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos, M.Si, strongly supports this activity with facilities and support for the execution of USU Summer Course 2023. The Rector also stated that exchanging knowledge between developing countries can hopefully produce comprehension, analysis, and formulation of the right physical activity and the right diet to anticipate the problem of triple burden disease.
This is an activity of the Faculty of Medicine (FK) Universitas Sumatera Utara. The Dean of FK USU, Prof. Dr. dr. Aldy Safruddin Rambe, SpS (K), in his presentation, revealed that after the COVID-19 pandemic for more than three years, current developing countries, especially in Asia, are faced with the emergence of new health burden problems apart from the burden of the two previous health problems, namely infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on activities outside the home increased sedentary lifestyles and indirectly impacted socio-economic changes in families. Apart from that, there is a decrease in the number of people visiting hospitals or health centers to conduct routine checks for non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, and coronary heart disease. This is due to the tendency of the Covid-19 pandemic. The above conditions cause Asian countries to face a triple burden of diseases, namely unfinished infectious diseases, a growing number of non-communicable diseases, and emerging global health conditions such as pandemics.
USU International Summer Course 2023, organized in collaboration with SPIRIT Project, focuses on understanding and analyzing physical activity, balanced nutrition, nutrigenomics in sports, and other aspects of sports. Course participants are expected to be more familiar with sports, especially traditional sports, proper nutrition for sports, and nutrigenomics in sports.
Chairperson of the USU Summer Course 2023 in collaboration with SPIRIT Project, Prof. Dr. dr. Dina Keumala Sari, M. Gizi, SpGK (K) said that this activity was attended by 12 countries and 18 universities, with a total of 136 participants who took part in online and offline courses. This activity was held on July 24 to 31, 2023, inviting 19 speakers from Spain, Cyprus, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Mexico, besides USU involved other universities in Indonesia, such as Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Universitas Negri Medan (UNIMED), and Universitas Syah Kuala (USK).
This activity aims to introduce the field of excellence of the study program, attract students outside USU, especially international students so that they can support USU's internationalization program, increase the number of in-bound students in the medical faculty study program, carry out the cooperation that has been established between institutions/institutions, introduce the local area of North Sumatra which has a wealth of biological herbs, and introduce Indonesian culture, especially North Sumatra to the international world.
The course consisted of lectures and lab work, focusing on increasing physical activity and proper nutrition to support energy needs. During the course, material was presented on various aspects of reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases, especially in overcoming the triple burden diseases, especially in Asia. It is hoped that this course will open wider insights into the problems of this sport. It is hoped to move USU forward, especially in Asian countries. USU plans to hold USU Summer Course 2024 next year and give their best to solve problems in the world and Asia, especially in the field of sports and proper nutrition.