Lebanon : health education

The DG/EIE will create District Health Units in each of Lebanon"s five regions to carry out the project as directed by the DG/EIE"s Central Health Unit; to this end, 30 district personnel will receive managerial and supervisory training. The Central Health Unit will be upgraded in financial management and administrative procedures by the YMCA, which will also supervise all project training and train an MOE accountant. The MOE will permanently assign teachers to the program after their candidacy has been accepted by their School Directors and the Central Health Unit staff and after they have been trained. DG/EIE will also train 200 health education teachers to teach in the public schools for at least one full year. The curriculum, which will take local traditional practices into account, will be based on priority health problems, especially those arising from the curtailment of public services due to civil strife. Twelve modules have already been prepared under project 2680316: man and his environment; hygeine; growth and development; food and nutrition; first aid and safety; disease control; mental and social health; physical fitness; pollution; drug abuse; family life; and local health services. Teaching materials, including textbooks, posters, and audiovisual aids, will also be developed. Project progress (and the effectiveness of teachers and teaching materials) will be continually evaluated, the evaluation process itself revised, and follow-up training sessions held. Finally, to institutionalize health education in public schools, a health education curriculum and prototype teaching materials will be developed, textbooks will be reprinted and distributed, and budgetary provisions ensured to continue the project after A.I.D. funding ceases. The project is expected to benefit one-fourth of the public school (including low-income) children aged 6-14 (80,000).