Keeping Children Healthy
Imagine not knowing how to keep your children healthy. Imagine not knowing about viruses and bacteria, about parasites and how they all spread and make you sick. Imagine not knowing how important it is to wash your hands before you eat or prepare food.
Children get sick all the time because their parents don’t yet know these basic things. But we are changing that, one community at a time. You are bringing this vital information to these families.
It’s a whole lot easier to keep a child healthy than to care for a child who is sick. So we start with illness prevention.
We teach how germs are spread and what causes sickness, give information about basic hygiene, nutrition, and disease prevention, and also information that helps a parent determine whether to take their child to the doctor or not.
A handout from one of our classes. Illustration credit: hesperian.org
So many families don’t know how to tell if their child’s illness will respond to care and treatment at home with rest and hydration, or if it’s more serious and they should take them to the doctor. So much money is lost by families here going to unnecessary doctor trips because of the time lost working, and paying for getting the doctor and other related expenses. Without information, they live in fear of every fever, and every cough.
Even worse, almost every type of medication is available over the counter here, without a prescription. Many parents simply buy something that their friend said worked for them, or take another person’s pills to try and treat an illness, without any knowledge of what it is for and what the risks are. They are thinking to avoid the time and expense of a doctor’s visit. But they don’t understand at all how medicines work.
Once parents know what causes illness, they can help prevent their children from getting sick through proper hygiene, and vaccinations, and help their bodies to be strong enough to fight off the sicknesses they can’t avoid getting through good nutrition. They know the basics of caring for a sick person, and the dangers of taking medication without a doctor’s instructions. All these things help give their children a better chance against sickness.
Your support for family education helps parents raise their children to be strong and healthy and, in some cases, it literally saves their children’s lives.
Carrien is co-founder of The Charis Project, Family Education Curriculum Developer, and mom of 6.
You can get her free mini-course on Making Your Family More Resilient here.