CHAPTER 14. Working together for Good Health

UNIT 19 PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
P3 TERM 2

Objectives: By the end of this topic, pupils should be able to: 1. List activities that the individual, the family and the community can do to promote primary health care. 2. List some of the individuals' and families' responsibilities to solving health problems in the community. 3. Name some of the activities the individuals, family and community can do to prevent or reduce these health problems. 4. The family responsibilities in the PHC Programme. 5. Working as a community in preventing or reducing health problems in our community. 6. How to improve our lifestyles for good health.

Behavioural Changes:

Pupils should:

1. Conduct themselves in a way that reduces the chances of catching diseases.

2. They should be willing to work with each other in improving health or in activities that promote health.

Sub-Topics:

a) What is understood by Primary Health Care?
b) The advantages of Primary Health Care programme in promoting good community health.
c) Our (children's) responsibilities towards the improvement of the community health.

Main Ideas:

1. Individuals can promote good health.
2. Family members can help each other to promote good health.
3. People in a community can work together to promote proper health of the community.

Notes for the Teacher:

Pupils can become involved in primary health care either as individuals, or as a family or a community. They can become part of a health care team in any of those capacities. This helps them to be responsible for their health.

Each pupil can be involved in primary health care if she/he knows how to promote good health. Pupils should know simple ways of preventing diseases. Personal hygiene, proper washing of the body, hands and face, cleaning of the eyes, cutting nails, cleaning clothes are some of the many activities that promote personal health.

INDIVIDUAL HEALTHY LIFE STYLE

Pupils should:

· Live in a way that will keep them healthy.
· Eat good food, properly prepared, nutritionally balanced.
· Get adequate rest and exercise.
· Avoid smoking and drinking.

HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT:

Individuals should make sure places they live in are good and will not cause health problems. A healthy environment should have:

· Clean home, and school.
· Clean latrines/toilets.
· Water and food are protected.
· Food should be covered.

A pupil can teach others health education e.g. care for others who are sick.

Figure

COMMUNITY:

The community can be involved in primary health care. People who live in the same community know better their health needs (problems). They can suggest better ways of ending (solving) these problems. Community leaders can also be trained as health workers. They understand the local culture better than someone from outside. They can easily organise the people to do proper work as a team, and achieve good results in solving their health problems. People who work well as a team usually achieve better results than people who work on their own.

· Health Centres, protected water sources, latrines for the community, and rubbish pits can all be set up by the community where they need them most.

· Activities like immunisation, control of diseases can be planned by the community.

Community health workers have to work with other health workers in the area. When more complicated care is needed, they should be able to turn for help to highly trained staff.

Figure

SOME ACTIVITIES FOR PUPILS:

1. Child-to-Child activities in primary health care.

2 Cleaning the compound, latrine and classroom.

3. Visiting wells and cleaning the area around them.

4. Drawing pictures showing some of the primary health care activities e.g. immunisation etc.

5. Boiling drinking water and keeping it in clean containers.

6. Ask pupils to find out what primary health care activities take place in their villages. They should report back to the class, and discuss.

7. Role play of a village health team.

SKILLS TO DEVELOP:

1. Learning to clean bodies, compound, classroom and latrines.
2. Learning to protect sources of water.
3. Drawing pictures.
4. Observing.
5. Reporting.
6. Working together.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

Pictures, various foods.
Brooms.
Saucepans.
Hoes.
Clean water.
Water pots.
Slashers.
Posters on PHC, safe water, cleaning the compound.

EVALUATION:

1. Test knowledge of the subject.
2. Evaluate personal hygiene of pupils during school parade.
3. Observe pupils participation in cleaning the classroom, and school compound.

FOLLOW-UP

1. General cleanliness competition. These could be interclass or the class could be divided in groups and each is given a portion to clean. At the end of each week, marks are awarded after inspection.

2. Ask pupils to identify health problems in their school and to suggest solutions.

TEST YOURSELF:

(What have you learnt from this chapter?)

1. List 6 different ways of promoting good personal health.
2. Give reasons why the training of local leaders as health workers is important.
3. State four things which the individuals can do as a team to promote