On Tuesday, March 21st, 2017, and under the patronage of the Palestinian Minister of Education and Higher Education, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at An-Najah National University and Al-Rahim Down Syndrome Association organized the World Down Syndrome Day titled: “I Belong with You” in the New Campus.
The event aimed at raising people’s awareness on Down syndrome and gathering people with Down syndrome to involve them in the community activities.
In the opening speech, Dr. Imad Dweikat, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences welcomed the attendees and pointed out that the event focuses on integrating people with Down syndrome in the community’s mainstream.
Professor Maher Natsheh, Acting President of An-Najah said that the faculty of medicine offers important academic programmes and has excellent academic staff. He referred to the role of the faculty as it homes Palestinian and international students and offers different services to the Palestinian community.
Prof. Natsheh also announced that the university will be launching the second MOOC course titled: Genetics and Society as the first step towards raising awareness on Down syndrome.
The day included exhibiting a short video on Al-Rahim Association and the Genetics and Society course in addition to a comic performance by a student with Down syndrome.
The World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), observed on 21 March every year, is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. People with Down syndrome gather annually to participate in the activities and events of WDSD to help raise awareness of what Down syndrome is, what it means to have Down syndrome and how people with Down syndrome play a vital role in our lives and communities. For this purpose Down Syndrome International DSi created the WDSD website as a single global meeting place where everyone can share their experiences and advertise their activities
Notes:
The event was also attended by Dr. Sabri Saydam, Minister of Education and Higher Education; Major General Akram Rujoub, Governor of Nablus; Dr. Mohammad El-Amleh, An-Najah’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Mr. Haidar Abu Mokhu, Head of Al-Rahim Down Syndrome Association as well as a large number of people with Down syndrome and the university students.
The day also included speeches by Dr. Saydam, Governor Rujoub and Mr. Abu Mokhu.
