Learning for life : health education for and by children : report of a workshop, New Delhi, 24-26 April, 1990

A three-day workshop in New Delhi, India, was sponsored by the Aga Khan Foundation to discuss child-to-child health education. Several projects are already in existance, and showing good results, using plays, dances, songs, crafts, puppet shows and other methods as a medium for teaching health education principles. The primary principles illustrated in one project are anemia, diarrhoea, and immunization, while in other projects the children have also been actively involved in village clean-up campaigns, tree planting and nutrition education. One of the most difficult problems encountered was the attitudes of the teachers and/or supervisors when dealing with low-income families. Another problem that has not yet been adequately documented is the interrelation between the child and the parents when the child is the communicator. Among the suggestions made during the workshop was to address the specific constraints of female children and out of school children, to organize non-formal education centers and to enhance the education of the parents, stressing community participation.