Friday, May 20th ~ Zagreb, Croatia

Andie

The agenda for today included a walk to the Pilar Institute (see attached photo) where each class met for an hour, a lecture by Luka Šikić about the SES process of Croatia, and a three hour walking tour led by Dr. Vedran Prelogović of the historical sights of Zagreb.

During class, we discussed the history and definition of health promotion. Until the early 1900’s, people had a short life span, dying from disease and injury. With the advent of vaccinations and antibiotics, death due to infections decreased, resulting in a longer life span. People are now living long enough to develop chronic diseases such as heart disease, which is the number one cause of death worldwide. In Croatia, 75% of deaths are related to circulatory illnesses and cancer.  As a result, a shift from treatment to prevention was needed to combat this new health threat and the field of health promotion was born. Through a series of international health promotion conferences, the discipline was framed, partnerships were created, and guidelines were developed to promote health worldwide.

We also discussed the Millennium Development Goals, which include eight goals that come from the Millennium Declaration, signed by 189 countries in September 2000. The purpose of these goals includes; 1) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, 2) achieving universal primary education, 3) promoting gender equality and empower women, 4) reducing child mortality, 5) improving maternal health, 6) combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, 7) ensuring environmental sustainability, and 8) developing a global partnership for development. These goals are related to the top ten “best buys” in health, which aim to combat specific health issues worldwide, including maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, injury prevention, tuberculosis, cardiovascular disease and smoking. Smoking is especially problematic as 33% of deaths worldwide are linked to tobacco use, resulting in cancer, cardiovascular disease, COPD and asthma. In Croatia, men smoke more frequently than women, resulting in high rates of trachea, bronchial, and lung cancers. As Morgan and I stated in yesterdays post, the prevalence of smoking in Croatia is much greater than in the U.S. Smoking is allowed in most public places, with the exception of schools and hospitals. Even so, during class we had to deal with smoke as there was a café below our third story window and the smoke wafted in throughout the hour.  

After classes ended, the group met for lunch and then had a quick rest break. We reconvened at the Pilar Institute for Luka Šikić’s lecture on the economic changes in Croatia. He briefly defined communism and capitalism and discussed the historical implications for Croatia. Since 1990, Croatia has been undergoing the transfer of state ownership to the establishment of private property rights with the overall goal of becoming a market economy. He stated that Croatia should become a part of the European Union within the next two years.

When the lecture concluded, the class met Dr. Vedran Prelogović, who led us on a walking tour of the historical sights of Zagreb. We learned that Zagreb is the hub for all of Croatia; for education, economics, entertainment and cultural activities. We toured past the opera house (pictured above), the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art, the Mimara Museum, and the Arts and Crafts Museum. Along the walk we were treated to the many public parks in the city center. There are eight beautiful green spaces throughout Zagreb and they were full of people enjoying the wonderful weather. It was great to actually see planned green space, and to witness people enjoying the space available to them. During the tour we trekked through the historical section of Zagreb and visited the Zagreb Cathedral, one of the tallest in Eastern Europe. We learned that the Pope would be visiting at the beginning of June for two days. We moved on to Dolac which has an open air produce market where locally grown foods can be purchased each morning. We took a group photo with the spires of the cathedral in the background, which is attached. The tour ended near the main square just in time for dinner. Overall this was a delightful introduction to the history and many offerings of Zagreb.