One Community, One School, One Health

By Cecile Lantican

June 4, 2012

Cecile Lantican, Ph.D., MID-BCC Country Coordinator Lao PDR, supported a teacher training on the Lao government's Guidelines on Prevention of Infectious Diseases in School in Luang Prabang May 21-23. The workshop was attended by 32 teachers, school administrators and health care workers.

(Editors's note: minor copy edits have been made to the author's original report)

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In our past community-based activities in Lao PDR, we learned that the village teacher as a community leader is at the center of community development activities among village people. The village teacher is able to motivate people and earns respect in the community.

What is the role of teachers in preventing the spread of infectious diseases and reducing possibilities of disease outbreak? This is an interesting question with an interesting answer that I would like to share with you this time.

During the first through the third week of May, MID-BCC assisted the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Coordination Office (NEIDCO) in Bokeo, Luang Namtha, and Luang Prabang in training school teachers in key messages and techniques for discussing communicable diseases among students in secondary and high schools. In Lao PDR, age of students in the secondary school ranges from 11 to 13 years old, while those in high school are 14 to 17 years old.

Our main purpose in providing technical assistance to NEIDCO was to expand the discussion of infectious diseases through the education sector. The education sector is a member of the multi-sectoral group which has supported the national plan and strategy for infectious diseases of 2011-2016. Through this intervention, we would like also to help improve the interpersonal communication skills of teachers --- help them step beyond the usual instructional methodology of primarily lecturing to students who sit in rows at desks, dutifully listening and recording what they hear. Improvement of their interpersonal communication skills would help them confidently and accurately deliver the key messages of infectious disease prevention.

From the gains of avian influenza and H1N1 experience, the government of Lao PDR came up with the Guidelines on Prevention of Infectious Diseases in School. The guidelines provide general principles and guidance to school administrators and teachers to open discussion of infectious diseases in class. It also provides suggested actions for how to prevent infectious diseases in the school, and how to manage and report cases of infectious illnesses to the health care center or hospital. The guidelines discuss 30 infectious diseases, among which include avian influenza (H5N1 virus), H1N1 virus, dengue fever, and malaria. The activity was strongly
supported by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES).

NEIDCO commissioned the national IEC Task Force to lead a three-day training for teachers and officials in three provinces --- Bokeo, Luang Namtha and Luang Prabang. I joined the national team in Luang Prabang on May 21-23.

It was raining when the plane touched down at the Luang Prabang airport. It was the same weather when our team visited Luang Prabang last year in July to conduct the community leaders training at the cross border district of Phonexay.

Our first stop was at the office of the Provincial Education Department. We had a briefing with Mrs. Vanna Phomsy, Deputy Director of Luang Prabang Education Department. She expressed her warm welcome to us and shared that her department was prepared to host the training.

On my left side was Mrs. Phomsy, the director of the high school division of Santhiphab School before she became the provincial deputy director.

Mrs. Phomsy’s office is in one of the rooms on the second floor of this building, the training center of the Provincial Education Department, located within the school grounds of the Santhiphab public school. The training was conducted on the ground floor.

Luang Prabang was one of the priority provinces of the AI-BCC Project in 2006. Its airport serves both domestic and international flights. The government marked it as a critical point of entry for infectious diseases.

Under MID-BCC (funded by USAID/RDMA), we have continuously provided assistance to the province on risk communication for avian influenza and other infectious diseases. MID-BCC has established a long-standing relationship with the provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry and provincial Department of Health, first engaging district staff from both sectors to train and mobilize community leaders to reduce the risk of avian influenza and the pandemic H1N1 in 2009. It also trained the Lao Women Union Luang Prabang chapter on the use of SMS technology in monitoring and reporting disease outbreaks.

This technical assistance to NEIDCO was our first direct engagement with the provincial education department.

The province is in the central north of Lao and shares a border with Vietnam. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is a home to Hmong, Khamu, Tai Lue, and Lao ethnic groups.

The city, so quite before sunrise while waiting for the gong tolls that signal the coming out of the monks from the temples.

The city is known for its numerous Buddhist temples, monasteries, and French colonial architecture. Early morning every day, hundreds of monks from the various monasteries walk through the streets collecting alms.

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