SOAPY HEROES

Name of the activity: SOAPY HEROES

Country/NMO: Ecuador (AEMPPI-Ecuador)

Program: Communicable Diseases

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Education. Education on health issues for specific societal groups, either in the form of projects (set of tasks for a certain group over a fixed period of time), events (something notable that happens) or conferences (form meeting about ideas related to a particular topic, usually over several days).

General description:

the champaign aims to increase the proper hand washing, it consists of 3 phases: THEORETICAL is training of 60 medical students in: Infectology: Most common respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, Intrahospital & community antimicrobial resistance, & importance of handwashing. Psychopedagogy: Keys in communicating with children, use of campaign support material & practical review. REPLICA: Medical students will be divided in groups of 3, it will be have a duration of 1 hour, trainers will attend disguised as super heroes teaching children that they can be Soapy Heroes to fight micro villains by washing their hands, delivery of evaluation on hand washing, exhibition of 20-25 minutes with a digital presentation & handwashing practice soap & sink simulator. Evaluation to observe how much children learned. ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN: After this publications will be made on social media. Local radios will conduct interviews to the project team with the spread the importance of hand washing.

Focus area:

Reduce incidence of Antimicrobial Resistance

Problem statement:

The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is a growing problems, it’s one of the biggest threats to health worldwide, causing infections that become more difficult to treat due to the unavailability of effective antibiotics. Its a disadvantage for public health as it enlarges the time of hospitalization and elevates medical costs. One of the measures reducing its spread is by washing our hands, preventing up to 40% of infections and it is estimated that 99% of microorganism are neutralize.

Target groups:

Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Children, Youth

Objectives and indicators of success:

-Increase proper hand washing in 50 medical students and 250 children from 7-9 years old in Quito within 2 weeks

I:We’ll visit a week later to half of the established educational centers where the campaign was held, children will be asked to do the proper hand washing, verifying if they do it right. Also we’ll do surveys before and during the visit, asking what time of the day they’ve washed their hands and compare the results. Medical students will be evaluated at the moment of enrollment and after the practical phase, where they will be asked at what time of the day and how many times they have washed their hands, comparing the results.

-Strengthen the skills of 60 medical students to interact and express themselves with children from 7-9 years of age within two weeks.

I:Evaluation performed by the docent in charge of the children to the expositor.

Inform 500 people from the city of Quito about the importance of handwashing through social media publications and 2 interviews in radios of Quito for a lapse of two weeks. In the publications on social media, the number of “people reached” will be counted and in interviews the radios will be asked for the average number of listeners.

Methodology:

-Sponsorship application

-Book physical space

-Poster creation and digital

-Petition to schools to carry out our project and news coverage

-Book physical space

-Poster creation and digital message

-Social network diffusion

-Send advertising to VPEs of AEMPPI Quito

-Enrollment of participants

-Collection of material for hand washing simulators

-Purchase of teaching materials snacks and gifts

-Realization of hand washing simulators

-Training

-Practical Phase(going to schools)

-Advertising campaign in social networks and radios

-Feedback and certificate delivery

Plans for evaluation:

To accomplish the objectives we’ll use surveys, addressed to the children, before & after the project with the purpose of measuring the impact generated in them by the capacitated trainers. These surveys consist of simple but relevant questions about hygiene & health topics. These will be helpful as a reference for the importance of promoting this habit from a young age. As a success indicator, an evaluation to the exhibitor student & the docent in charge of the group of children will be made, it will reflect the effect that the project had. During the training question will be resolved surrounding the topic. A week after the execution of the project, we’ll visit half the schools where the campaign was held, and the children will be asked to wash their hands, verifying if they do it right or not. Moreover, surveys before and during the visit will be performed, asking at what time of the day they have washed their hands, comparing the results.