Mohanty Parimala, Durr Salome, Heydtmann Samira, Sarkar Amrita, Tiwari Harish Kumar
Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), Guwahati, Assam, India.
JH CreIndia Foundation, Ghoramara, Chhaygaonpantan, Guwahati, Assam, India.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Feb 20;25(1):701. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21892-4.
Rabies poses a significant threat to public health in India, with schoolchildren comprising approximately 40% of mortality due to this zoonotic disease. Despite ongoing interventions in schools to increase awareness about rabies and free-roaming dogs (FRD), the incidence of dog bites and rabies cases among schoolchildren continues to rise. This study addresses the limitations of existing awareness programs by exploring educators' perspectives and proposing innovative, feasible, and cost-effective interventions in schools.
A three-day workshop involving 19 teachers from seven schools representing diverse socio-economic backgrounds by adopting a modified Delphi method to achieve consensus on interventions identified during the process.
The workshop recommends (a) promoting awareness in morning assemblies, (b) starting a wall magazine on One Health, (c) distributing and displaying information, education, and communication (IEC) materials, (d) encouraging infographics, paintings, sketches, and reels, (e) integrating rabies-related topics in co-curricular activities, (f) initiating interdisciplinary projects focusing on rabies awareness (g) displaying in rabies awareness stalls during exhibitions/school functions, and (h) discussing in parent-teachers meets.
This study identifies sustainable and pedagogically sound interventions to raise awareness about rabies and FRD in schools, contributing to the broader goal of reducing rabies-related mortality among school children.
狂犬病对印度的公共卫生构成重大威胁，在因这种人畜共患病死亡的病例中，学童约占40%。尽管学校一直在开展干预措施，以提高对狂犬病和流浪狗的认识，但学童被狗咬伤的发生率和狂犬病病例仍在持续上升。本研究通过探索教育工作者的观点，并提出在学校开展创新、可行且具有成本效益的干预措施，解决了现有宣传项目的局限性。
举办了为期三天的研讨会，来自七所学校的19名教师参加，这些学校代表了不同的社会经济背景，采用改良的德尔菲法就过程中确定的干预措施达成共识。
研讨会建议：（a）在晨会上提高认识；（b）创办一份关于“同一健康”的墙报；（c）分发和展示信息、教育和宣传（IEC）材料；（d）鼓励制作信息图表、绘画、素描和卷轴；（e）将与狂犬病相关的主题纳入课外活动；（f）启动以提高狂犬病认识为重点的跨学科项目；（g）在展览/学校活动期间设置狂犬病宣传摊位进行展示；（h）在家长教师会议上进行讨论。
本研究确定了可持续且教学上合理的干预措施，以提高学校对狂犬病和流浪狗的认识，有助于实现降低学童狂犬病相关死亡率这一更广泛的目标。
