Child centred approach to climate change and health adaptation through schools : A randomised intervention trial in Bangladesh — YRD
  1. Schedule
  2. Parallel Session 14 - Building resilience of communities and community services
  3. Child centred approach to climate change and health adaptation through schools : A randomised intervention trial in Bangladesh

Child centred approach to climate change and health adaptation through schools : A randomised intervention trial in Bangladesh (989)

Md Iqbal Kabir 1 2 , Mirza Afreen Fatima Lusha 3 , Md Bayzidur Rahman 4 , Wayne Smith 1 , Abul Hasnat Milton 1
  1. The University of Newcastle, Gateshead, NSW, Australia
  2. National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine, NIPSOM, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  3. Climate Change and Health Promotion Unit,Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  4. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

The climate is changing and human health is being affected directly and indirectly by this change. Bangladesh topped on the risk index of climate victims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Children are one of the largest and most vulnerable groups at risk. Therefore child-centred approach to adaptation would help to reduce the vulnerability. Two school manuals were developed for students and teachers on climate change and health protection by the Ministry of Health, Bangladesh in collaboration with National Curriculum and Textbook Board. This randomized intervention trial focused on mainstreaming risk awareness to Education System. Around 3000 secondary school student participated from 60 schools throughout Bangladesh. Then 1550 students of 30 intervention schools got the intervention through training based on the school manual. At the same time a leaflet was distributed among 1550 students of the 30 control school.Then after 6 months gap a post-intervention test of same questionnaire was taken for both intervention and control schools and scored for each of the student participants in both groups.

The variables occupation of family head, population density at home (person per room), usable toilet per student were found significantly different between the control and intervention groups. In the final multivariable random effect models. After adjusting for all other variables the students in the intervention school obtained 16% (95%CI: 13% to 19%, P<0.001)higher marks compared to the control school.

In this paper we have explained at what extent the intervention school children performed better in comparison to the control schools.

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