Under The Weather

Name of the activity: Under The Weather

Country/NMO: India (MSAI)

Program: Communicable Diseases

Contact information: [email protected], 9920716287

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 activity had a dual aim;Primarily, to facilitate knowledge of seasonal communicable diseases among medical students and then, to aid them in creating awareness among the target population with emphasis on prevention.

A detailed toolkit was designed comprising of various monsoon related communicable diseases. It included information on the causative organisms, the vectors, associated signs and symptoms, differential diagnosis and treatment.

Special emphasis on preventive measures was provided for each disease.

This toolkit was shared with all event organisers.

For proper dissemination of information, a webinar was conducted to explain the toolkit and the process of the event. This enabled uniformity in the events on a national level.

The next step included on- ground events where the target population was general population from the low socio-economic strata. Volunteers created awareness which was assessed by means of a post event survey.

Focus area:

Preventable Diseases

Problem statement:

The Indian summer monsoon typically lasts from June-September, with large areas of western and central India receiving more than 90% of their total annual precipitation during the period.

Every monsoon, municipal hospitals see a 25% rise in the number of patients and People with diabetes, hypertension and low immunity should be especially careful

Unhygienic eating habits, drinking unsafe water and vector borne diseases (malaria, dengue, leptospirosis ) show a marked increase.

Target groups:

General population, Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students

Objectives and indicators of success:

-To make at least 500 people of the target population aware about the types of diseases that spread during the various seasons.

-To train 40-45 Local officers under SCOPH and SCOME to approach and interact with people of lower socioeconomic strata by the means of a webinar.

-Edify the target population about the complications, treatment and prevention of 3 summer related diseases and 9 monsoon related diseases with the help of a session ranging from 45 – 90 minutes.

-Warn them about quacks and persuade them to seek appropriate treatment

-Improve their awareness to detect the basic signs and symptoms of the 12 diseases so they could at least help their family members without panicking

Inform them about the local trustworthy and economic health care facilities.

– focus on preventive measures to avoid occurrence of these diseases

Methodology:

The event will be conducted in a two step process including –

-Training session for Local Officers and interested NMO members ( webinar )

-On ground awareness sessions conducted by general members and LOs

Provide a basic outline regarding :

-The different monsoon related diseases

-A brief about what causes them

-How it spreads- communicability

-Early and late signs and symptoms

-Discuss prevention in detail

Interact with audience and discuss how they can take steps to protect themselves

Assess the impact through a post event survey

Plans for evaluation:

Our Indicators of success:-

-More than 50% of the target population have understood what the monsoon related illnesses are

-More than 50% of the target population can identify at least 2 signs and symptoms for the disease

-More than 50% can tell 2 or more than two ways of preventing diseases.

The events are monitored by the means of pre and post event forms filled by the activity coordinator with the details of the events.

Uniformity in content is maintained by circulating a toolkit with verified data regarding communicable diseases.

A webinar is aired explaining the toolkit and answering any doubts members may have.

Evaluation:

The impact of the event is assessed by means of an objective -type post event survey conducted by the volunteers.

It aims to assess how much information has been retained by the target population and helps evaluate the success of the event.