Children share experiences at international health symposium
Photo courtesy of Plan staff.
Children and communities in Sri Lanka were chosen to present their experiences at an international pre-conference symposium on health promotion held on May 23, 2010. The presenters were children and communities who are actively voluntarily involved in promoting health within their own communities as well as others. A case study presentation from the district of Wilachchiya in Sri Lanka where Plan works was also selected for the symposium.
The symposium was held amidst of a well attended audience of community members, children, academics, policy makers, health officials, university staff and students from Sri Lanka and overseas.
Improving the health of their community
Three members of a group of children made a presentation based on the variety of health promotion activities they have initiated in their community. This included upgrading health facilities, promoting hygiene, good eating habits, physical exercise, community work and improving family well-being, which they have identified as key to promoting good health in their community.
During their presentation the children demonstrated how they identified the need for child care center for the village midwife.
“We saw the need for a proper place for the midwife to carry out the monthly weighing of babies. She used a jack tree to hang the weighing scale. We collected timber and other material to put up a shelter. When we asked our parents for help, first they did not have confidence in us. But as we progressed, they willingly supported us and now our village midwife has a permanent child care center,” said one of the presenters.
The children also described how they have been helping to improve the health of the adults in their community: “We learnt how to calculate the BMI and calculated the BMI of our mothers and told them what they should do to keep fit. We told them what they should eat and when to do physical exercise. After three months, we are happy that our mothers who needed to gain weight did so and others who needed to, lost weight,” shared another youth presenter.
Symposium background
The pre-conference symposium on “Health Promotion” was jointly organized by Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, the Health Education Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Plan Sri Lanka as a prelude to the 10th South East Asia Regional Scientific Meeting of the International Epidemiological Association (IEA) held from May 24-26, 2010.
The event aimed to provide insights as to how community participation could be enhanced and the extent to which empowered communities can contribute to the overall improvement of health status of populations. This was based on a concept put forward by Plan Sri Lanka.
