A 1998 study in Ibarra, Ecuador, found that school children, their teachers, and parents have erroneous knowledge about the cause and treatment of six common childhood illnesses. To address this, the Rational Pharmaceutical Management project designed a modular educational program for primary schools to be implemented by teachers and community volunteers. Each module covers the cause, symptoms, prevention, and treatment of common childhood illnesses (colds, diarrhea, scabies, malnutrition, parasitism and anemia). A module is presented each month. At each session, the teachers review their experience with the previous module, learn about the four key aspects of an illness and how to use teaching materials. The teachers then plan activities to apply the information within various subjects they teach in school.
After one year of programming, children's knowledge about the causes and treatments of the conditions improved significantly compared to control children. Furthermore, parents' knowledge in these same areas also improved significantly. Perhaps more importantly, program children reported improved health practices, including decreased use of antibiotics in case of fever, more consumption of liquids in case of common cold, and more use of oral rehydration in case of diarrhea. Parents with the least education and those engaged in low paying jobs had the greatest increase in knowledge and reported more behavior changes.
The program is currently operating in three provinces of Ecuador with 50,000 students and in eight schools with 2,000 students in Peru. National coverage is projected within two years. Sale of students' workbooks makes the program partially self-financing.
Learning Objectives: 1. Participants in the session will acquire information about the school health education model URMES and its application in Ecuador and Peru. 2. Participants will be able to describe the URMES model, articulate the methodology and list at least five of the modular themes
Keywords: Child Health Promotion, Health Education
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Management Sciences for Health, CEISAN, USAID
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employee of MSH, funded by USAID