By 21^st October, a cumulative total of 1092 confirmed cases of H1N1 has been reported in Shaanxi Province. It is learnt that the first confirmed case has also been found in Chun Hua County. According to this situation, from 13^th to 21^st October, Chun Hua PU and Chun Hua Education Bureau cooperatively carried out training on children health education in 6 schools where the joint project by Plan and Metso is being operated.

l          Avoid contact with patients who have influenza-like symptoms, pneumonia or other respiratory diseases;

l          Frequently wash your hands with soap and water, especially after cough or sneeze;

l          Stay away from crowded places; cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze;

l          Keep the windows of your dwelling place well-ventilated;

l          Avoid direct contact with pigs or going to the pig farm;

l          Go to the doctor’s immediately if you have fever, coughing, running nose or any other symptoms...

Moreover, in order to better spread the knowledge about prevention of H1N1, students were also required to disseminate what they have learned to their parents and remind them to take their children to hospital as soon as possible if they have observed symptoms of influenza.

Meanwhile, during the training, Plan also distributed to the children some security training materials which were co-developed by Plan China and Medical University of Anhui. Such easy-to-understand and well-written and illustrated materials, together with the face-to-face consultation and group activities, greatly helped the teachers and students to enhance their health knowledge and awareness. In addition, related local professionals were also invited to deliver training to teachers and parents on the knowledge and measures to prevent common pediatric diseases as well as to provide effective guidance for parents on how to ensure children to grow safely and healthily.

Mr. Bai from Guan Zhuang Township said: “This kind of training is very important for us. Every year, there occur some accidents in our school due to various reasons. For example, some children might catch bees for honey while some play with the wires blown down and made them sparkle, ignoring the potential danger. Parents and teachers are very concerned about this.”

The headmaster of Shi Qiao Center School said: “There is a national highway which is less than 3 meters from our school gate. When a truck thunders by, the wind can nearly blow people down. Therefore, teachers have to accompany children to a long distance after school everyday. However, if the teachers are not alert enough, the students may play on the street regardless of teachers’ daily warning. Now, it seems that they like the training you conducted, we hope that you can organize more training like this in the future.”

This training has been carried out in 6 school, benefitting more than 1300 people.  

(By Zhao Erpeng, Chun Hua PU)