Like good soup without seasoning, the conference on Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health at Clare College, Cambridge on 20/1/2012 exactly a week ago, was good but not great. There were two groups who were under-represented both in the audience and in the presentations: PRACTITIONERS and EDUCATORS.
It’s the PRACTITIONERS who are at the interface between policy and what actually makes people feel better or change how to live their lives. It is the EDUCATORS who, with the support, recognition and praise from colleagues in the health sector, who are best able to operate at the font lines of behavioural change – a focus which the consensus of the conference agreed upon twice during the day – the first time voting that the focus to solve the NCD crisis should be on 'human development' and the second on 'changing high risk behaviour'. Thus it's firmly in the lap of education in all its guises that will be needed to wage war on the life-threatening habits that are killing more humans than ever before: by smoking, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, eating our way to a diseased heart and making our bodies wretchedly inefficient and by loafing about forgetting about that our bodies are highly designed moving machines.
The highlights of the conference, organised brilliantly by the Humanitarian Centre, (and summarised on their blog here) for me included a video presentation on the work of CBM who use community based approaches to support people with mental health problems in Aceh and a presentation by someone from the private sector on a programme focused on adolescent health where the principle of participation is core.
For over 20 years now, I have been involved in engaging children and young people in ways to identify and understand the health problems that beset their friends and families – not just on the surface (wash your hands) but deeper (why it is SO tough for us to wash their hands regularly and in a way that matters and can be sustained?) These same youngsters are then mobilised to take action in their communities to understand 1. How to take action 2. To practice (and be recognised and praised for) taking action and 3. How even they can have an impact on solving difficult health problems or root causes of health problems.
This requires one hugely problematic shift. It’s a shift in thinking that children should just be the recipients of what adults can provide for them to one of galvanising children as activists in health promotion as part of their health education learning. Before you exclaim that we don’t want children running around telling people what to do then hold on as this is not what I want either. The method is more to enlist the support and energy of children and draw them towards the adults who are also trying to solve huge lifestyle related problems at school or community level (sometimes single handed!).
It is not my view that children be tasked with changing the world or step in where adults have failed but if we forget that children can be a resourceful group of people who can help us meet our objectives in health programming then we are missing a great opportunity.
One of the ways I will contribute to fighting NCD's this year is to co-create 5 story books focusing on what children can do to address NCD's. First and foremost these will be good stories but hopefully carry good messages too. Another way I hope to support programmes is to take a look at the design of programmes and identify where child and youth participation can be strengthened or better monitored and evaluated. Let me know if you would like my help!
Please let me know about your ideas about and experiences of enlisting the energy of children to help themselves and each other and their families in arresting the growth of NCD’s in their communities and countries and lets start a conversation. Please also - you health folks out there and policy makers and academics -remember the educators and practitioners - we can help you find the right questions to be asking. Dont organise meetings without us. Come and find us, include us, train us, recognise us, praise us, support us - together we can do something.
January 27, 2012
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