By Ashqkein Kang – Health and Hygiene Project Manager
Ash discusses the importance of health and hygiene to prevent future pandemics and walks us through Strive’s Health and Hygiene Workshops that teach children about hygienic and healthy habits.
What COVID-19 Taught Us About Health and Hygiene
The COVID-19 pandemic infiltrated all realms of the world. It touched you and me, shaking us to the core. It reminded us about the power of human interaction – how one touch, cough, or sneeze can viciously spread from one human to another, manifesting itself into a global pandemic. One that shut down borders, towns, cities, and ultimately, the vitality and social interconnectedness of our world. While our vaccinations have allowed life to return to a somewhat new normal, COVID-19 continues to spread, among many other infections and viruses. Therefore, it is vital to practise health and hygiene habits, to reduce the viral spread in our community. This can reduce morbidity and mortality levels in society, and keep us safe, healthy, and well.
Strive’s Health and Hygiene Workshops
This is where our workshops come in. It is important to start early – the earlier we teach and educate, the greater the ripple effects will be. This is why we conduct our workshops on kindergarten children, as we hope that our impact will stream through later aspects of their lives. We aim to educate children on hygienic practices in a post-pandemic world, to prevent communicable disease outbreaks in schools and local communities. Through our workshops, we aim to build healthy habits into the future, by focusing on the importance of washing hands, showering regularly, proper tooth brushing and flossing, wearing a mask or a face shield, covering noses and mouths whilst sneezing, and more.
The kindergarten children rotate through four stations during the workshop, consisting of 12 minutes each. Station 1 is titled ‘Daily Hygiene’, whereby a roleplay is performed demonstrating morning and night-time habits that children can perform daily (like brushing their teeth, washing their hands, wearing clean/washed clothes, taking a shower, and sleeping). Station 2 is titled ‘Colouring Sheets about Good Hygiene’, whereby colouring sheets and pencils are provided to teach children about hand hygiene (like sneezing and coughing), which they can even take home to serve as reminders of healthy practices. Station 3 is titled ‘Rhymes on Healthy Habits’, whereby children are taught rhymes with pictorial cards as visual cues, to teach them about healthy habits like eating green and exercising regularly. Station 4 is titled ‘Hand Hygiene Demonstration’, whereby children are taught how to correctly wash their hands, using frosting (to represent germs), and soap and warm water (to represent the hand cleaning process).
Our Srive health and hygiene team and volunteers all enjoy running these workshops, and the positive impact they have in the community. I personally love interacting with the kindergarten children, hearing them reciting the rhymes we teach them, and listening to what they learn – for which, many are eagerly waiting to tell us, with bright-eyed smiles and immeasurable enthusiasm.
Future Steps
For the future, we must continue to promote health literacy in our society – spanning from children to young and older adults, to the elderly. Through conducting workshops and educating the community on health and hygiene practices, we can collectively mitigate the spread of disease. Every step taken, whether it is learning how to wash your hands correctly, protecting yourself with a mask in populated areas, or taking proactive measures when coughing or sneezing, can ripple into a positive domino effect in our community. In doing so, together we can protect and safeguard our future, as we blossom into a cleaner, healthier, and brighter world.
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