BY NEEVAARTHANA SUBRAMANIAM
KUBANG KERIAN: Fifty children aged between five to six years old from KEMAS kindergartens around Kubang Kerian participated in a dengue awareness programme themed: ‘New Health Values for Society’.
The event was organised by undergraduates and postgraduates from the School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]
It was conducted in conjunction with the 20th anniversary celebration of the School of Health Sciences, USM.
The programme aimed to create dengue awareness among kindergarten children with hope that by educating the children, parents will also learn about available preventive measures from their children and eventually create a more conducive environment for their family and surroundings.
The children who were from Tabika Kemas Kg Demit Permai, Tabika Kemas Balai Polis Kubang Kerian, Tabika Kemas Pulau Hilir, Tabika Kemas Pulau Hilir NKRA, and Tabika Kemas Sri Harmoni enjoyed an informative yet entertaining theatre performance on dengue and its preventive measures at the awareness programme.
They also raised a few questions out of curiosity to learn more on how to prevent dengue. The children were amazed by the key characters of the theatre – the Aedes mosquitoes, especially when the characters came down from the stage to interact with the children. They were able to get a closer look on the anatomy of Aedes mosquitoes.
This event is extremely engaging and I respect the effort taken by USM to include young children as part of their programme. The kids certainly enjoyed!” said Maziah Mamat, a kindergarten teacher from Tabika Kemas Kg Demit Permai.
The children also learnt about the correct vector and the life cycle of Aedes mosquitoes through the games conducted during the programme. “What a way to end the schooling session. This event was really well executed,” said Siti Nadiah Nazli another teacher from Tabika Kemas Balai Polis Kubang Kerian.
‘This is an effort to continuously educate the community on dengue, and this time, we targeted on introducing new values and inclusivity. Children are the future, we have to try and make them more informed to provide a safer place for them’, said Dr Fazila Che Mat, the main supervisor of this event.
Fazila congratulated the students of the School of Health Sciences for the dedication and hard work put in to make it super engaging and interesting for children. She thanked the parents, kindergarten teachers and the School of Health Sciences for the support given to make the event a success.[/ihc-hide-content]
