IOF Novartis Osteoporosis Education Grants

The IOF-Novartis Osteoporosis Education Grants, five grants of US$10,000 each, were awarded for the first time in September 2005 at the IOF World Wide Conference of Osteoporosis Patient Societies in Bangkok, Thailand. The winning societies were the Indonesian Osteoporosis Society (Indonesia) for their project “PEROSI campaign”; the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center (Iran) for the project “Constructing stronger bones”; the Jordanian Osteoporosis Prevention Society (Jordan) for their project “Be good to your bones”; the Fundacion de Osteoporosis y Enfermedades Metabolicas Oseas (Panama) for their project “My bank of bones”; and the Taiwanese Osteoporosis Association (Taiwan) for their project “Public education materials”.

Click here for a description of the winning projects

The objective of the grants is to enable IOF member societies to develop education projects so that young people are aware of bone health and what they need to do in order to ensure peak bone mass development. Opportunities exist for imaginative education programs within the formal school curriculum and through community activities or youth groups such as scouts.

Some examples of the type of campaigns which might be developed:

Teacher training program at teacher training colleges to encourage them to include bone education
Lobbying education department officials to include bone health in curriculum
Providing in-school materials and courses for teachers
Development of special school curriculum on bone health
Imaginative activities outside formal school curriculum, such as scout merit badge on bone health, or working with summer camps, or sports clubs.
Campaign involving young people in faith groups

IOF members: for detailed information and application forms go to IOF members only