Project was carried out in partnership with Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, SEHA ambulatory health services

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced the launch of Health Skills manual, following the conclusion of its pilot School Health Education project, aimed at increasing UAE school students’ awareness on ways to lead a healthy lifestyle. This was done in partnership with du under the umbrella of its national ‘Every Step Counts’ initiative which aims to encourage healthy lifestyle adoption across the UAE. The project was launched in December 2013, in joint collaboration with Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, SEHA ambulatory health services and du.

 The project covered 18 secondary government schools across the UAE, with two in each of the emirates, Al Ain, and the Western Province.  It is worth noting that students’ knowledge on various health topics increased by 15percentage for girls and 12percentage for boys at the end of the project. This has been measured through a pre and post assessment session conducted among students prior to and at the end of the health education session.

UNICEF’s School Health Education project addresses the challenges of delivering health education to students, and promotes the use of active, participatory learning activities for developing knowledge, attitudes and skills for students to make healthy choices.

Focus group discussions with school nurses and data collected from the health authorities were used to determine the health issues and behavior of students, as well as the availability of capacities and resources in schools.

The Health Skills manual was then developed to include a number of activities, methods, tools and resources to deliver health education using an interactive approach. The manual is divided into three parts; the first explains the concept of health education based on skills.  The second part provides a range of simplified interactive collaborative activities and tools, which will be used in health education sessions. The third and last part includes a set of applied process models designed by a team of health educators during the pilot phase, which helps the training manual user to develop work sessions and take advantage of the ideas contained therein.

Moreover, a project framework was shared with the partners to ensure the sustainability of the project in reaching out to a larger number of students.

Dr Ibrahim El Ziq, UNICEF Gulf Area Office Representative, said: “As knowledge is the stepping-stone for students to adopt a healthier lifestyle, analysis showed an average improvement in students’ knowledge by 14percentage at the end of the project, which is a great start for students. Besides these results, 2 main goals were also achieved. The first is the launch of the Healthy Education manual, which will be available for health educators such as nurses as an instrument to aid in health education through a more participatory approach. And the second goal is the development of the Healthy Life Skills framework, which was shared with our partners to help mainstream the project and reach more children across the UAE.”

Dr Hussain Mohammad Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary for Health Centres and Clinics, Ministry of Health, said: “The Health Skills manual was distinguished by the joint efforts between several vital sectors, especially the health and education sectors in collaboration with du and UNICEF, to promote the health of all members of the community and provide needed health care for all citizens and residents. To achieve this goal, the health skills manual was drafted to raise awareness of basic practices and behavior that promote a healthy lifestyle and offer protection from diseases.”

Hassan Lootah, Director of Physical Education, Ministry of Education, said: “The Ministry of Education has adopted targets within its strategy to promote healthy activities and the development of the students’ life skills and adopt interactive health education methods. We always seek and welcome effective partnerships aimed at implementing national plans to build a conscious students, who are aware of the ways to maintain their health, prevent disease and adopt healthy habits, in addition to provide suitable environment for them to learn and to live, while avoiding the risks and challenges that may threaten their health those around them.

Mariam Buti Al Mazrouei, Acting Chief Executive Officer, SEHA, said: “The project is expected to help with changing the process of health education at schools thus changing health behavior and encouraging kids to adopt a healthier life style.”

Hala Badri, Executive Vice President, Brand and Communications, du, said: “We are pleased to witness today the launch of Health Skills manual following the successful completion of the pilot phase of the School Health Education project, which represents a pivotal step in ensuring a healthier and happier future for younger generations in the UAE. We are proud to be a part of this project, and we thank UNICEF for giving us the opportunity to contribute in raising the level of health awareness in the UAE, which is an issue that sits at the top of our list of priorities. We are keen to motivate all members of the UAE society, young and old alike, to adopt a healthy balanced lifestyle, a goal that we have already introduced a number of initiatives to attain, most importantly our Every Step Count national campaign. This campaign has encompassed various activities and initiatives in the past 17 months, most notably our free du Wellness App, that is designed to help users track their activity level and make healthy choices anytime anywhere.”

The Health Skills manual is designed for the health educators working with students aged between 11 and 16 years in the UAE, to help them implement health education sessions, delivering the required health messages in an enjoyable and effective way that raises the awareness and knowledge of health issues and healthy lifestyle. The interactive activities listed in this manual can be used by personnel working with students, or even by the students themselves with their peers and their families. The use of these activities is not only limited to health topics but includes other learning or educational topics.

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