Girl Guides: Prevention of Anemia in East

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Girl Guides Prevention of Anemia in East
Southern Africa

• Kristen Cashin
• MCHN Specialist
• The FANTA Project
• September 12, 2006

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Girl Guides Africa RegionAnemia Prevention Badge
Program

• Girl Guides ages 7-18
• Rwanda, Swaziland, and Uganda
• Requested by USAID/EA

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Anemia Prevention Badge

• Knowledge of anemia, its causes, consequences and
  methods of prevention
  
• Practical activities for anemia prevention
• Community outreach for anemia prevention

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Anemia PrevalenceWomen Ages 15-49

• Rwanda 43 (UNICEF)
• Swaziland 32 (UNICEF)
• Uganda 37 (DHS)

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Why Adolescents? (1)

• 1.2 billion adolescents (10-19 years) in
  developing countries
  
• Second most critical period of growth in the life
  cycle
  
• 45 of adolescent girls and 57 of adolescent
  boys in Africa are anemic
  
• Anemia and iron deficiency are considered the
  most prevalent nutritional problems among
  adolescents in developing countries
  

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Why Adolescents? (2)

• Anemia in adolescents is associated with
• Impaired cognitive ability
• Lower school achievement
• Lowered ability to do physical work

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Why Adolescents? (3)

• Worldwide, 25 of women have their first child
  before age 20

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Why Adolescents? (4)

• Unique opportunity to intervene to establish
  healthy practices for adulthood
  
• Open to behavior change/trying new things
• Want to begin making their own decisions
• Healthy behaviors formed at this age likely to be
  carried into adulthood
  

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Challenges of Working with Adolescents

• Adolescent girls are hard to reach with health
  and nutrition messages
  
• Few health contacts in adolescence
• Few nutrition projects have worked with
  adolescents - limited experience working with
  adolescent girls in nutrition
  

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Partners

• World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts,
  Africa Region (WAGGGS)
  
• Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA)
• Regional Center for Quality of Health Care
  (RCQHC)
  

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The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl
Scouts (WAGGGS)

• Mission to enable girls and young women to
  develop their fullest potential as responsible
  citizens of the world.
  
• Developing life skills, leadership and
  decision-making skills
  
• 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 144
  countries
  
• 500,000 Guides in 30 countries in Africa

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WAGGGS Africa Region

• Projects have included
• Literacy
• HIV/AIDS prevention
• Peace-building
• Prevention of violence against women
• Nutrition
• Peer education
• Have partnered with UNICEF and NGOs

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The Anemia Prevention Badge

• Girl Guides will earn the badge by
• Demonstrating basic knowledge of anemia, its
  causes, consequences and methods of prevention
  
• Completing practical exercises for anemia
  prevention
  
• Completing Community Outreach activities
• Age-appropriate activities for Brownies, Junior
  Guides, and Rangers
  

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How Does it Work?

• Program covers prevention and control through
  diet, control of malaria, control of hookworm,
  and iron folic acid supplementation
  
• Girl Guides learn about anemia in patrols of 6-8
  girls
  
• Girl Guides complete activities as individuals
  and with their patrols
  
• Supporting materials Leaders Manual, Badge
  Award Handbook, Anemia Prevention Workbook

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Girl Guide Leaders Manual

• General Nutrition
• Anemia What is it? Who Gets it? Why?
• How to Prevent Anemia
• Eating Well to Prevent Anemia
• Preventing Treating Hookworm
• Preventing Treating Malaria
• Iron Folic Acid Supplementation

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Badge Award Handbook

• Contains requirements for Girl Guides to earn
  badge
  
• Broken down by age group
• Brownies (7-10)
• Junior Guides (11-14)
• Rangers (15-18)

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Workbook

• To be developed based on pre-test
• Contains worksheets for all knowledge activities
• Contains worksheets and forms for all practical
  and community activities

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Knowledge Requirements

• Identify
• Signs of anemia
• Causes of anemia
• Ways to prevent and/or control anemia
• Locally available iron-rich foods
• Locally available vitamin-C rich foods
• Consequences of anemia for adolescents, women and
  babies
  

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Practical Activities

• Keeping a dietary record
• Visits to the Market
• Planning meals for a picnic or camping trip
• Planning activities to prevent malaria and
  hookworm
  
• Visits to health facility and baby center
• Creating an iron-rich cookbook

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Community Outreach Activities

• Performances poems, songs, plays, skits
• Posters placed in the community
• Science classes at school
• Outreach to other girls
• Volunteer at ANC clinic
• Design IFA reminder cards for pregnant women

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Monitoring

• Activities that the girls complete will be
  monitored using the WAGGGS reporting structure
  
• Patrol leader Guide leader District
  Commissioner National Commissioner Regional
  Executive WAGGGS HQ (London)
  
• Number of badges awarded per district will be
  tracked

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Project Status

• Guide Leader Training Manual, Badge Award Book,
  and Handouts/Workbook pre-tested in Kampala,
  Uganda, 8/2006
  
• Revisions underway
• First Training Uganda, November 2006

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Next Steps

• Expand to additional districts in each country
• Expand to other Girl Guide countries in Africa
• WAGGGS HQ interested in dissemination
• WAGGGS worldwide membership 10 million Girl
  Guides in 145 countries

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• This presentation is made possible by the
  generous support of the American people though
  the support of the Office of Health, Infectious
  Disease, and Nutrition, Bureau for Global Health,
  United States Agency for International
  Development (USAID), under terms of Cooperative
  Agreement No. HRN-A-00-98-00046-00, through the
  FANTA Project, operated by the Academy for
  Educational Development (AED). The contents are
  the responsibility of the FANTA Project and do
  not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the
  United States Government.