Salud Integral (SI) Colombia

In response to the need for health education, Sesame Workshop, Mount Sinai Heart Institute, and Fundación Cardioinfantil have partnered with local government, civil society, and private sector groups to promote cardiovascular health and well-being in Colombia. SI Colombia uses a variety of communication strategies to support positive behaviour by empowering children, their caregivers, and teachers with knowledge, attitudes, and habits towards healthy nutrition, improved physical activity, and social and emotional awareness. The project fosters a playful learning environment through evidence-based educational interventions that feature the Muppets from Plaza Sésamo (the Latin American co-production of Sesame Street) touting the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables - amongst other health-related messages. The project includes four main components:

1. Research aimed at creating evidence-based models of health promotion during early childhood for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
2. Use of television and other media as vehicles for disseminating and bolstering the project's messages. Locally produced animations, documentary-style shorts, and Muppet segments are specifically created for the SI Colombia project and broadcasted nationally and throughout Latin America on Plaza Sésamo.
3. Community outreach: identification of collaboration partners to expand the distribution and develop different models of implementation including training for teachers and caregivers and the provision of a kit of classroom- and home-based educational materials.
4. Advocacy and awareness raising on the risks of CVD and strategies for early prevention in order to contribute to social and policy change.

Children, Health.

According to organisers, 51.2% of the Colombian population is overweight. In Colombia, CVD claims more lives than violence, hunger, and communicable diseases combined. CVD was once thought to be a disease of old age, but increasing evidence suggests that it has its origins in childhood and that lifestyle choices and practices play a key role.

Valentin Fuster, M.D., Ph.D., who spearheaded this initiative, explains: "Children between the ages of three and eight are especially receptive to learning lifelong heart-healthy habits. In Bogota, Colombia, we have teamed up with Sesame Workshop to create culturally specific Muppet segments that focus on nutrition, fitness, and health education. After only one year, children involved demonstrated increased awareness of health-promoting behaviors."

In January 2013, an impact study was published in the American Journal of Medicine. Researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial in 14 schools (N=630). The 5-month intervention was measured at 6 and 18 months. Children in the intervention group showed a 10.9% increase in tests of knowledge, behaviours, and attitudes around healthy eating and living (compared to a 5.3% increase in the control group). With regard to parents, the results paralleled those of children - with gains in the intervention group of 8.9% versus only 3.1% in the control group. Source: American Journal of Medicine, January 2013. Authors: Jaime Céspedes, German Briceño, Michael E. Farkouh, Rajesh Vedanthan, Jorge Baxter, Martha Leal, Paolo Boffetta, Mark Woodward, Marilyn Hunn, Rodolfo Dennis, Valentin Fuster. For more on this study, please see the "Related Summaries" section below.

Click here to read more about Sesame Workshop's health education initiatives.