Global Health Education – Young Leaders of Global Health

About us

Summary

The Health Education Project is a community-based health education programaiming to provide healthcareand disease prevention lessons to 10-12-year-old children at local primary schools and at the activity centers in three communities in Kunshan. This project aims to support and strengthen health education in primary schools in China by following the UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Schoolscurriculum guidelines. Through providing onsiteclasses with specifichealthcaretopics on a weekly basis tothe target audience, we hope tobuildstrong hygiene and sanitationknowledge among childrenthrough curriculum and classroom practices.

Goal

To establish a health educationalcoursefor local children under 10 that provides proper sanitation and hygiene instruction in an understandable way under the guidance of the UNICEF and the WHO and to deliver a class on a biweekly basis in three communities in Kunshan, China

To engage more YLGH members who are interested in health education or volunteer opportunities and to train them for teaching the course.

To provide guidelines for the building of facilities that encourage hygienic behaviors among children and adults in the school and the community setting

To create a long-term cooperation between local health organizations, UNICEF, DKU Home for Volunteers and Youth Leaders in Global Hea

Approach

1.The YLGHC reaches out to connect with representatives from local entities such as health service centers, primary schools, and the activities centers in Kunshan etc. to propose the cooperative project.

2.The YLGHC recruits core team members and connects with doctors from local hospitals to discuss the course content development and approach.

3.The representative from each entity informs the authority and approves to establish a cooperative connection with the YLGHC.

4.The organizing team prepares logistics at the teaching sites, the local primary schools for schoolchildren and the activity centers for the public audience. The course developer team works with professors and medical professionals on syllabus contents development.

5.The YLGHC submits the Health Education Course to the authority of each institutions for review and approval.

6.The organizing team starts recruitment of students and determines class schedule. The YLGHC starts recruitment of teacher volunteers(Chinese-speaking)and provides training sessions organized by the YLGHC and the LCC.

7.The project launches and the course may last for 7-8 weeks(subject to change).

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced awareness of health education in the public. Especially in the absence of a vaccine or an effective therapeutic drug, we should emphasize the importance of preventive measures such as good hygiene practices ─ hand washing, cough etiquette, disinfection of surfaces and social distancing in combating against COVID-19. Accordingly, we stress that there is a pressing need to develop diseasesprevention messages and healthcare courses for primary school children and the public.

UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) developed guidelines on WASH standardsfor schools in low-cost settings, outlining key steps for successful management and implementation of WASH in Schools programs at various levels. The guiding principle of WASH in Schools is that facilities should stimulate and promote appropriate hygiene practices among children. However, in some underdeveloped areas, financial resources, physical condition, socio-economic circumstances and other factors may impact decisions on program supports.

Therefore, the YLGHC believes this is a perfect time to launchthe Health Education Project in Kunshan community to spread aware of preventative measuresand reduce the incidence of water and sanitation-related diseases among schoolchildren. We hope to work in partnership with local health organizationsto help individuals and communities improve their health, by increasing their knowledge or influencing their attitudes. Furthermore, we mayinvestigate the impact of hygienic behaviors onincidence of sanitation-related diseasesto highlighttheneed for support in providing hygienicand washingfacilities in schoolsand community settings.

Audience

This project will primarily aim to nurture elementary school aged children (7-12) into better, more informed citizens of the future through the numerous school visits proposed.We both aim to work with local elementary and primary schools as well as local communities in Kunshan via connections of DKU Home forVolunteers.The project will also seek to raise awareness of various health issues in the Kunshan community through the many health exhibitions and company visits that are part of this project.