The month of spring did not only bring the sun. It brought along events and important dates that deserve our special attention.
In March, International Hearing Day was celebrated, on which we collected the testimonial of the ENT specialist and professor at the FMUL ENT Unit, Professor Óscar Dias, who had the opportunity to be present on the television programme “A Nossa Tarde”, from RTP1, with the aim of raising awareness of the population about ear care.
The beginning of the month was also marked by the celebration of International Women's Day. On this day, the urgency for the practice of gender balance and parity in organizations has become increasingly evident, according to our Professor Ana Sebastião.
Chronic kidney disease also had its World Kidney Day.
However, the commemorative and health-related days do not end here: On World Sleep Day, which shares the calendar with Father's Day, Miguel Meira e Cruz, Director of the Sleep Unit at the Cardiovascular Centre of the University of Lisbon, compelled us to reflect on sleep adapted to the new pandemic reality.
David Ângelo, Assistant Professor and Clinical Director of the Portuguese Face Institute, shows us how oral diseases and systemic diseases can be related, on World Oral Health Day.
Did you know that wearing “mismatched” socks is an initiative that marks World Down Syndrome Day? - Read what Dr Miguel Palha, Founder of the Portuguese Association of People with Trisomy 21 and neuro development paediatrician says about the parental perspective of the disease.
On the Covid-19 Pandemic - and because we still need to talk about it - on 11 March, it was a year since the first 2 cases in Portugal were identified.
On our Campus, the CHULN treated 450 patients with Covid-19 in Intensive Care. Worldwide, more than 17 thousand health professionals have died.
Between 1 and 13 March, the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) carried out a new serological study with the "objective of evaluating the percentage of the population with antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus."
Although in a month we dropped to a daily average of 500 new infections, Marc Veldhoen, Professor at FMUL and researcher at the iMM, wrote an opinion piece in newspaper Público, where he decodes the technical file of a virus that could lead us to a 4th wave, according to the “prophecy” of the DGS, commented by our Professor Miguel Castanho.
In turn, Professor António Vaz Carneiro, defender of the quality of scientific evidence, gave some insights on the scenario of reinfection of the virus to the magazine Prevenir é Saúde.
As far as vaccines are concerned, March was a strong month for quick changes. If, on the one hand, we started the month with good news about the fact that vaccines are subject to constant updates, according to Professor Luís Graça, on the other hand, and to the surprise of many, national policy makers decided to follow countries like Germany, Austria and Denmark, which suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine for about a week. On the event, check Professor Cristina Sampaio's comment on SIC Notícias and the CEMP statement that questions the suspension of the vaccine.
Since we started this article talking about the sun, it is on this central star of the Solar System that we are going to focus, because good and decisive things also happened: The AIMS Meeting, the biggest medical congress, organized by our students, was a success and we visited them behind the scenes. The pioneering initiative, in our country, of the RISE Consortium - Health Research Network was highlighted on RTP1. INFARMED finally approved renewable prescriptions, as defended by FMUL and the SPC and the most recent issue of the newspaper Public Hospital interviewed our Director, Professor Fausto J. Pinto, on palliative care for advanced heart failure, a unit that is pioneer in the country.
Isabel Varela
Editorial Team
