Health-education to prevent COVID-19 in schoolchildren: a call to action

Abstract

Background: There is currently considerable international debate around school closures/openings and the role of children in the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Whilst evidence suggests that children are not impacted by COVID-19 as severely as adults, little is still known about their transmission potential, and with a lot of asymptomatic cases they may be silent transmitters (i.e. infectious without showing clinical signs of disease), albeit at a lower level than adults. In relation to this, it is somewhat concerning that in many countries children are cared for, or are often in close contact with, older individuals such as grandparents ─ the age group most at risk of acquiring serious respiratory complications resulting in death. Main text: We emphasise that in the absence of a vaccine or an effective therapeutic drug, preventive measures such as good hygiene practices ─ hand washing, cough etiquette, disinfection of surfaces and social distancing represent the major (in fact only) weapons that we have against COVID-19. Accordingly, we stress that there is a pressing need to develop specific COVID-19 prevention messages for schoolchildren. Conclusion: An entertainment education intervention for schoolchildren systematically implemented in schools would be highly effective and fill this need. With such measures in place there would be greater confidence around the opening of schools.

Entertainment-Education Campaigns and COVID-19: How Three Global Organizations Adapted the Health Communication Strategy for Pandemic Response and Takeaways for the Future

“…For example, children who watch Sésamo have a strong emotional connection to the characters (leveraging parasocial relationships), and these beloved characters spoke directly to them during COVID-19 (cueing parasocial interactions). Such efforts are supported by recent research by Gray et al (2020) who specifically call for the creation of EE interventions as health promotion tools for children during the current pandemic.…”

The Role of Health Promotion during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…For example, the WHO, one of the key actors during this COVID-19 pandemic, is providing information to the public, health sector and governments on prevention and control practices. Similarly, in local context, United States Centers for Disease Control (US CDC) and Health Education England have been disseminating health education materials including educational videos, e-learning resources and webinars on their websites (Gray et al, 2020;NHS Health Education England 2020). Studies have proposed that personalised health education intervention to the public provides a greater degree of lifestyle change thus decreasing serious course of infection (ClinicalTrials.gov 2020).…”

“…Studies have proposed that personalised health education intervention to the public provides a greater degree of lifestyle change thus decreasing serious course of infection (ClinicalTrials.gov 2020). Similarly, video-based entertainment educational approach has been proposed to educate schoolchildren, with an engaging and informative story line, emphasising correct hand washing procedures and the social distancing measures (Gray et al, 2020).…”

COVID‐19, children and schools: overlooked and at risk

“…An entertainment education approach can provide a highly effective forum for health education interventions targeting schoolchildren, and we consider this tactic should be applied to COVID‐19 4 . An example is the cartoon video The Magic Glasses, which has proved successful in preventing intestinal worm infections in children 5 .…”

“…An example is the cartoon video The Magic Glasses, which has proved successful in preventing intestinal worm infections in children 5 . The cartoon enables children to identify with characters and visualise the intestinal parasitic worms and their eggs in people and the environment to reinforce the importance of good hygiene and associated health behaviour 4,5 . This is directly applicable to the transmission dynamics of SARS‐CoV‐2 — whereby the virus would be visualised in people and the environment (Box) — and the associated messages for prevention.…”