Addressing Malaria in Children: Why School is the Best Setting - Research Paper

Introduction

The school setting provides one of the most useful environments for implementing a solution aimed at addressing the problem of a high prevalence of malaria in children under the age of five years. A school community is comprised of principals, teachers, parents, students, and the Ministry of Education representatives. There are various reasons why the school setting will be the most appropriate for addressing the health problem identified in Scenario 1. First, the school has the resources needed to teach the parents all aspects related to the disease (signs and symptoms, prevention, and treatment). For example, the school has classrooms capable of accommodating the parents of children aged under five years. Therefore, the proposed program will not incur costs related to the hiring of space for training of the parents on malaria. Second, schools have teachers who can act as educators or trainers who will ensure that the parents understand the solution. Third, the Principals will provide the necessary material support for implementing the solution. These include projectors, smart boards, and pens.

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As a health educator, the first step needed for implementation of the solution is establishing a working relationship with all the stakeholders who are vital to the success of the proposed program. It has been emphasized that health promotion in the communities require collaboration among different stakeholders (Estacio et al., 2017; Nystrom et al., 2018; Prybil et al., 2015). Therefore, it is necessary to hold a meeting with each of the stakeholders and make them understand the gravity of the health problem and the need to address it. Creating awareness of the existence of the problem is needed to attain support from all the major stakeholders and catalyzing change (O'Connor et al., 2019; Seymour, 2017). Therefore, I intend to explain to the stakeholders that children under the age of five years are the most vulnerable to malaria (Mfueni et al., 2018; WHO, 2018). It is also crucial for the stakeholders to understand that the malaria mortality rate is higher in children below the age of five years (Amek et al., 2018).

When the stakeholders are aware of the susceptibility of children to malaria and higher mortality rates, there is an increased likelihood that they will support the program. When the parents and teachers are made aware of the existence of the health problem, I will train the teachers on all aspects of malaria- especially prevention, signs and symptoms, and treatment. The training will be done in schools, especially during the weekends when the regular school programs are not running. When the teachers have been well-trained on the health problem, they will be requested to train the parents on the same. Therefore, following the training of the teachers, invitations will be sent to the parents via the children after obtaining consent from the Principals. Letters will be sent to parents through their children, inviting them for a malaria workshop. The invitation will specify that parents with children under the age of five years are encouraged to attend the seminar on a specific date. The teachers will train these parents on malaria prevention, signs and symptoms, and treatment.

Implementation of the Program in a Workplace Setting

Implementing the solution in the workplace setting will follow the MAP-IT model. The first step of this model involves mobilization of the individuals and organizations into a coalition (Community Tool Box, 2020). This is accomplished by looking for partners who are interested in supporting the creation of healthy communities and thus contribute to the success of the solution. In the workplace setting, I will seek a coalition between the workers and health departments tasked with providing them with health services. The second step involves the assessment of community needs and resources (ODPHP, 2020). Need assessment will include identification of the parents with children under the age of five years in the workplace. The offices can act as an excellent resource for holding the training after working hours.

The third step of the MAP-IT model is planning, which involves the development of concrete actions and deadlines. In this step, what is set to be accomplished, and the deadlines for doing so are clarified. The goal of the intervention is to improve the knowledge and skills of malaria prevention and treatment. This will be achieved through the provision of malaria pamphlets to the target individuals and seeking the help of workers' healthcare providers who will provide the necessary training on the same. The deadline for the training and behavior change will be four weeks.

The Difference in Implementation Based on the Setting

There are differences in the implementation of the intervention based on the setting. For the school setting, those tasked with training the parents on malaria prevention, signs and symptoms, and treatment will be the teachers who have obtained malaria training from health educators. On the other hand, in the workplace setting, the training will be provided by representatives of health departments tasked with providing them with health services.

Potential Strategies in the School and Workplace Setting

In the school setting, the strategy that will be used to accomplished the desired reduction in malaria cases is the training of the parents and teachers. This is aimed at equipping them with the necessary knowledge in skills needed to prevent and identify the illness in children. In the community setting, CHWs will be provided with in-service training to make them knowledgeable and skilled in malaria prevention and treatment. The CHWs will then utilizing teaching strategy in imparting the same knowledge and skills to parents.

References

Amek, N. O., Van Eijk, A., Lindblade, K. A., Hamel, M., Bayoh, N., Gimnig, J., Laserson, K. F., Slutsker, L., Smith, T., & Vounatsou, P. (2018). Infant and child mortality in relation to malaria transmission in KEMRI/CDC HDSS, Western Kenya: Validation of verbal autopsy. Malaria Journal, 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2184-x

Community Tool Box. (2020). Chapter 2. Other models for promoting community health and development | section 14. Map-it: A model for implementing healthy people 2020 | main section | community tool box. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development/map-it/main#mobilize

Estacio, E. V., Oliver, M., Downing, B., Kurth, J., & Protheroe, J. (2017). Effective partnership in community-based health promotion: Lessons from the health literacy partnership. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121550

Mfueni, E., Devleesschauwer, B., Rosas-Aguirre, A., Van Malderen, C., Brandt, P. T., Ogutu, B., Snow, R. W., Tshilolo, L., Zurovac, D., Vanderelst, D., & Speybroeck, N. (2018). True malaria prevalence in children under five: Bayesian estimation using data of malaria household surveys from three sub-Saharan countries. Malaria Journal, 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2211-y

Nystrom, M. E., Karltun, J., Keller, C., & Andersson Gare, B. (2018). Collaborative and partnership research for improvement of health and social services: Researcher's experiences from 20 projects. Health Research Policy and Systems, 16(1), 46. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-018-0322-0

O'Connor, M., McGowan, K., & Jolivet, R. R. (2019). An awareness-raising framework for global health networks: Lessons learned from a qualitative case study in respectful maternity care. Reproductive Health, 16(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-018-0662-9

ODPHP. (2020). Program planning | healthy people 2020. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/tools-and-resources/Program-Planning

Prybil, L., Jarris, P., Umbdenstock, R., & Pestronk, R. (2015, February 26). The secret to successful health partnerships. http://www.rwjf.org/en/blogs/culture-of-health/2015/02/the_secret_to_succes.html

Seymour, J. (2017). The impact of public health awareness campaigns on the awareness and quality of palliative care. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 20(Suppl 1), S-30-S-36. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2017.0391

WHO. (2018). WHO | Malaria in children under five. http://www.who.int/malaria/areas/high_risk_groups/children/en/