Children for Health

Children for Health's activities and resources centre around children's active and positive engagement and connection with a global communication network in order to learn, collect, and share basic health ideas and skills to keep healthy themselves and help others. The Children for Health approach to health education involves a 3-part method to engage and excite children about health. The 3 parts are like the 3 wheels of a tricycle: an Understanding Wheel, an Action Wheel, and a Reflection Wheel. The goal is to get children actively involved in understanding things well; this includes finding out how the health topic relates to their daily lives. Then, the process involves getting the children involved in designing and taking action based on their own ideas. Finally, the children reflect on the success of their own actions and plan how to do it better next time.

For example, the Children for Health Collection - click here for access - is a hub containing health education messages and activities to inspire children. With the intent to evolve as people use it and contribute ideas and experiences, the collection, at the time of this writing, focuses 10 health topics (with more to be added):

1. Malaria - Sample insight: "Older children can do what they can that is relevant to the problem and the services in their locality. For example, children can help promote the use and the maintenance of insecticide-treated bed nets, they can work with their families to prevent mosquitoes from breeding and biting."
2. Diarrhoea - Sample insight: "Children can learn and share knowledge about the causes of diarrhoea, the cause of diarrhoea (especially by dirty water and poor sanitation), the dangers of dehydration and what they can do every day to make sure germs do not get into the body."
3. Coughs, Colds and More Serious Illness - Sample insight: "Older children can learn how to avoid cough or colds, how to stop them spreading and how to prevent them developing. Older children can learn how to recognize the danger signs of pneumonia and know that a young child or baby with rapid breathing must go to a health worker immediately for life-saving treatment."
4. Helping Babies and Young Children Grow Well - Sample insight: "Older children can be shown how to observe what babies and young children do. They can learn to play and respond to them in ways that stimulate their minds and help them develop. They can make toys and invent games. Older children can make everyday activities fun and interesting for younger ones by helping them to count, to learn numbers, colours and shapes. Older children can spend time listening to and telling stories to the younger ones - this will give them confidence."
5. Intestinal Worms - Sample insight: "Children can learn and share knowledge about the life-cycle of worms, the available treatment for worms and what they can do to reduce the chances of worm infestation."
6. Nutrition - Sample insight: "Children can learn about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and that breast-milk is the best food for babies. In some cases children will give extra support to their mothers while their baby sibling is being breastfed."
7. Water, Sanitation & Hygiene - Sample insight: "Whenever there are community and school based initiatives to improve water and sanitation, children can be involved in designing new ways to promote healthy practices linked to the realities of their locality to help reduce the spread of germs and so reduce illnesses and death."
8. Immunisation - Sample insight: "Health workers can involve older children to go to the community and publicise the availability of immunisation and its benefits. Older children can help persuade their family that younger children should be brought for immunisation."
9. HIV & AIDS - Sample insight: "Children approaching puberty need opportunities to discuss and develop skills around issues such as delaying sex, sexual faithfulness and using condoms. Older children need a chance to listen and contribute to discussions about sex and have their ideas and questions treated openly and seriously."
10. Accidents and Preventing Injuries - Sample insight: "Children can learn about the risks, what to do to prevent or reduce injuries and older children can learn some First Aid."

In addition to the Collection, Children for Health draws on these media:

• Mobile phone/website: The Children for Health 100 is 10 essential health messages in 10 health categories, delivered to children online and also via text messages on mobile phones. This is meant to be a hub delivering starter ideas for high quality messages around child participation in child health that are easy for health workers, teachers, and others to access.
• Video: Children for Health is working with partners, filmmakers, and broadcasters to showcase the work that children are doing in their families and communities to prevent disease and promote health. Children for Health is also developing video for children to show them what they can do even better. All of this video will be formatted to be shown on smart phones. Children for Health is collecting video footage taken by others, including video taken by children.
• Radio: Children for Health is working with The Children's Radio Foundation to explore how young radio journalists can test health education content and messages from The Collection and turn this into "fun, locally relevant radio broadcasts and podcasts that excite and engage young listeners."

Children, Health