USU through the activities of its working units is actively involved in improving public health and well being in North Sumatera. In collaboration with local governements, public health offices and centers, USU supports the implemtation of health care programs such as TB eradication, Covid 19, Stunting, Malaria, mental health, non communicable diseases, etc through providing human resources and also collaborative research and community service fundng. Capacity building programs in health management and disease prevention for health care workers, school teachers/students and health care volunteers are routinely arranged by USU's lectures in their community service programs. In academic and medical training, USU prioritizes government staffs in healthcare sectors to continue their education in academic professional degree that are available at USU, especially as medical specialist, in order to fulfill the need for health care services in that area.
In order to achieve the highest standard of competence for students in health care sector, including medical specialist residents, USU establishes close nationwide collaborations with other universities and hospitals and also actively involved in consortiums in medical education and medical professionals. This collaborations will keep improving the quality of graduates that fulfil and even beyond the national standards. As the outcome, most of study programs in health at USU has been accredited with excellence remark by Indonesian Accreditation Agency for Higher Education in Health. The graduates of USU are working in health care providers in all over Indonesia. From 2018-2021, USU received the grants for collaborative project from Indonesian Ministry of Health. This project was aimed to supervise and improve health care services on maternal and child health in order to reduce the rate of maternal and neonatal death in Indonesia. The project was not only in North Sumatra but also in East Nusa Tenggara
USU has established International collaboration with other universities and health care institutions to increase academic and medical competencies of staffs and residents. Experts from partners institutions are invited to USU as guest lecturers and visiting professores to actvely involved in teaching, reasearch and community service activities. USU actively involves in Global Health Initiative in collaboration with Singhealth Global Health Institutes in Singapore that will bring USU as one of important hub for global health activities in Asia. In this project there are many trainings and capacity building programs for man power in health care sector including staffs in faculty of health sciences or USU teaching hospital. To increase the medical skill and competence, inbound and outbound academic exchange and joint research activities have been done in collaboration with overseas institutions. For academic and research actvities in tropical and infectious diseases such as Tuberculosis and Malaria, USU has intensive collaboration with Eijkman Oxford Clinical Research Unit, Menzies School of Health Research (Australia) and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Collaboration with Radboud University Medical Center and Foundation Overseas Orthopaedics in The Netherlands has specifically improve the skills of staffs and residents in orthopaedics service and directly perform health care to the society.
USU has allocated financial support for community service program which is managed by a Community Service Office. The community service programs are performed by lecturers and students to tackle health problems in the community such as personal hygiene, sanitation, malnutrition, stunting, maternal and child care, knowledge sharing about communicable and non communicable diseases and also senior care. In this program the subjects are pre- school and school students, school teachers, housewives, elderly community, teenagers groups and others. The program are aimed for capacity building and empowerment that can be achieve through seminars, gathering, trainings, cooking class and infrastructure supports such as sanitation fascilities and equipments. Some programs are designed for multiyears to obtain the success and sustainability of the program. Collaboration with local govenrment and health service authorities are also established to support this program.
USU has allocated financial support for community service program which is managed by a Community Service Office. The community service programs are performed by lecturers and students to tackle health problems in the community such as personal hygiene, sanitation, malnutrition, stunting, maternal and child care, knowledge sharing about communicable and non communicable diseases and also senior care. In this program the subjects are pre- school and school students, school teachers, housewives, elderly community, teenagers groups and others. The program are aimed for capacity building and empowerment that can be achieve through seminars, gathering, trainings, cooking class and infrastructure supports such as sanitation fascilities and equipments. Some programs are designed for multiyears to obtain the success and sustainability of the program. Collaboration with local govenrment and health service authorities are also established to support this program.
USU is located in a close proximity with the housing of refugees in Medan Selayang district. USU hospital provides health care service for the refugees. The public area in USU are also open for the refugees to do sports activities and gatherings. Capacity building and empowerment program by lecturers of USU are funded by community service funding program.
USU has total area of 116 ha. Most of the area are public space with trees and fresh air. USU is a nice place and open for public to do jogging and cycling. In addition to the public area, USU also has some sport facilities such as football field, footsal field, tennis courts, basketball field, volleyball field and badminton hall. These facilities are free for use by USU students in particular schedules. For the use by public or other institutions/communities, booking has to be done in advance and there is decent maintenance fee that has to be paid to the university. The price rate and procedure for the use of these facilities are regulated by the university.
To provide free counseling and to facilitate the activites of students and academic staffs in sexual and reproductive health, USU has established a uit called SAHIVA. This unit provides free counseling and peer support in reproductive health especially in HIV/AIDS information and support. Volunteers are from students thar are supervised by lecturers such as from faculty of medicine, faculty of public health, faculty of psychology and faculty of political and social sciences. The unit also collaborates with other NGOs related to reproductive health and HIV/AIDs and also to goverment bodies such as BKKBN (The National Population and Family Planning Board) and Provincial/Municipal public health office
To support psychological and mental health of students and staffs, USU provides Mental health consultation unit at Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine at USU hospital. This unit provides free screening , counseling, diagnosis and therapeutic recommendation for students and staffs who seek for mental health consultation or students/ staffs who has interpersonal problems. In synergy with unit, faculty of psychology also provides counseling unit for students or staffs who are facing difficulties in study or work or having interpersonal conflicts. In some specific occassion such as World Suicide Prevention Day, World mental Health Day and other similar occasion, there are seminars/webinars that can be attended by everyone regarding those particular topics. USU is very concerned to diminish bullying in the campus. Regulations have been made to warn and prevent practices of bullying and sexual harrasment in academic and working environment. The introductory week for new students and residents activities in medical spezialization program are tightly monitored to prevent the bullying practices among students/residents.
The Rector of USU has issued the regulation of "Zero Tolerance". This regulation applies to prohibition of smoking, drug abuse, narcotics, alcohol, gambling and other harrasment in campus area. There are signs of "No Smoking Area" that are placed in public area and buldings. This policy is mandatory to accreditate USU as Healthy Campus. In 2022, USU has been appreciated by Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia for its activities and policies to support Healthy Campus Program.
(2019) Eventhough the No Smoking campaign and action has been started previously, the official policy was issued in 2019 by the Rector of USU Decree number 3, 2019 regarding the Action of Green Campus in Universitas Sumatera Utara. This policy regulated generally about energy saving, waste management, campus greening program and environment education for students and staffs. The ' No Smoking" policy remained implicit as the effort to minimize air pollution.
The Rector of USU has issued the regulation of "Zero Tolerance". This regulation applies to prohibition of smoking, drug abuse, narcotics, alcohol, gambling and other harrasment in campus area. There are signs of "No Smoking Area" that are placed in public area and buldings. This policy is mandatory to accreditate USU as Healthy Campus. In 2022, USU has been appreciated by Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia for its activities and policies to support Healthy Campus Program.
(2022) Just recently, the policy of Zero Tolerance, including Smoking Prohibition is issued in the form of Circular Letter by the Rector of Universitas Sumatera Utara 14904.1/UN5.1.R/KPM/2022. In this letter, the prohibition of smoking, drug abuse, alcohol, gambling, and any kind of harrasments is explicitly stated.
