Royal Health Awareness Society: An Overview
PART 1: About RHAS
1. History
2. Vision
3. Mission
4. Objectives
PART 2: Projects
1. Healthy Schools Project
2. King Abdullah II Award for Physical Fitness
3. National Traffic Awareness Program (TAP)
4. National Micro-Clinics Project
5. ThinkFirst Project
6. E-Nurse Project
7. National Health Campaign
PART 1: About RHAS
1. Introduction
Jordan has witnessed rapid developments in the last decade that have led to major changes in the lifestyle of many Jordanians. It has become obvious that Jordanians are acquiring unfavorable health habits without taking into consideration the consequences of these habits.
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah dedication to collectively work for a healthier Jordan is through the unlimited Royal Support towards health initiatives throughout the kingdom.
With this Royal vision, RHAS was established as a royal NGO focusing on preventive health issues leading to awareness raising and behavior change.
2. Vision:
To raise health awareness and empower Jordanians to lead healthy lifestyles.
3. Mission:
RHAS is a Jordanian nonprofit organization that aims to enhance the overall wellbeing of all Jordanians, by encouraging them to lead healthy lifestyles within a safe environment. RHAS initiates and supports health awareness interventions and community-based development programs in partnership with public, private and civil society institutions.
4. Objectives
1. Inform and educate for healthier and safer lifestyle
2. Empower Jordanians to make healthy decisions
3. Facilitating access to health information and knowledge
4. Encourage active living – integrating physical activity into daily life
5. Promote appropriate diets and proper nutrition
6. Promote and maintain a safer environment
PART 2: Projects
1. National Health Campaign
It is simple modifications in lifestyle and precautions that may modify a person’s health status and wellbeing. On this premise, awareness to relevant health issues and consequences is a crucial element for modifying behavior towards positive practices.
RHAS’s National Health Campaign aims at spreading and raising awareness to various health related issues that are of priority and relevance to Jordan’s national agenda.
Raising public awareness on various health issues, RHAS adopts diversified communication tools to generate understanding of key health related messages.
To know more about our latest campaign please click here
RHAS, National Health Campaign Characters:
The Abu Salim Family
This campaign aims at raising public awareness on health issues through messages that are placed in local papers in a comic fashion. Carriers of these messages are characters that represent two Jordanian families and a doctor. These characters are to be animated and presented in a multimedia format on T.V., through radio stations and on RHAS’s website.
The messages are tailored in accordance to national health priorities, relevant to health indicators, and are inline with national and international health observances.
2. King Abdullah II Award for Physical Fitness
Increasing physical activity is a societal as much as it is an individual issue. It is well documented that appropriate regular physical activity is a major component in preventing chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease.
Moreover, physical activity enriches positive thinking, helps people enhance their productivity and effectively handle daily demands and emergencies.
Community- based initiatives are very important in implanting such social behaviors within different societies. The “King Abdullah II Award” project is a school-based national initiative that is inspired from “The President’s Challenge” physical activity and fitness awards program in the U.S. It targets youth, which make up one third of the Jordanian population; fostering behavioral change and encouraging them to become more physically active and accordingly lead healthier lifestyles.
The award has started in the academic year 2005 – 2006 piloting 5% of the schools across the Kingdom. The future expansion plans entail spreading out across the kingdom and covering exclusively all schools in Jordan by the year 2010.
Award Structure
The Award is a three step program that involves the following five fitness exercises:
1. Push ups
2. Sit ups
3. Flexibility test
4. Shuttle Run
5. Endurance run
Pre-test: aims at evaluating program effectiveness. Through the pre-test exercise students perform the five fitness exercises without prior training.
Training: is an intense six-week exercise in which students are given the opportunity to train and practice the workout.
Final Test: students perform their final test and are awarded according to ranking, and the final scores are then compared to pre-test scores to indicate any changes in the fitness level of participating students.
Ranking of students follows three levels:
1. School level: where the participant scores less than 50%, and by that receives a certificate.
2. Directorate level: where the participant scores from 50% - less than 85%, and by that receives a certificate of excellence.
3. Ministry level: where the participant scores from 85% - 100%. Participants in this category are awarded as follows:
a. Those who scored between 85% - 90% receive a certificate of excellence, a T-shirt, and the bronze medal.
b. Those who scored between 90% and 95% receive a certificate of excellence, a T-shirt, and the silver medal.
c. Those who scored 95% and above receive a certificate of excellence, a T-shirt, training suit and the gold medal.
Moreover, schools are also ranked with respect to its participation and the attained results of their students and the first 10 schools are given a shield for its accomplishment.
By this, the King Abdullah II Award program provides students the opportunity to:
1. Build their self confidence
2. Increase their fitness level
3. Invest in their free time in a positive manner
4. Embed an interest in competition with others and self
5. Regularly practice physical exercises
6. Discover their abilities and how to develop them
7. Develop their social skills
For more information please visit the Award website: www.fitness.org.jo
3. National Traffic Awareness Project (TAP)
Ranked as the third cause of death within the Kingdom (according to the WHO mortality fact sheet), road safety is a national challenge that needs to be addressed: there is a traffic accident every 5 minutes, and a citizen is killed every 9 hours due to road accidents. Moreover, traffic accidents happen to be the leading cause of death for youth of 25 years and below in Jordan .
The beginnings:
TAP is Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah’s initiative that started off as ‘The National Traffic Awareness Campaign’ in 2005. It has now become part of the RHAS mandate to promote health and empower Jordanians to adopt healthy lifestyles. TAP aims to cooperate with all relevant institutions, private, public and civil society to accomplish the program’s goal; ‘To promote and foster a culture of traffic safety by raising public awareness and influencing behavioral change’. By that, it is to be one of the leading community based projects addressing traffic from a youth and development perspective.
TAP’s Components & Programs:
There are three main pillars that affect traffic in Jordan: Education and Awareness, Infrastructure, and law and legislation. TAP works directly on the Education and awareness pillar, with indirect impact on infrastructure and law and legislation through building capacities of community members to advocate and lobby for a safer environment on the road. This shall be accomplished through TAP’s three main programs: Traffic Ambassadors (TA), Junior Road Safety Club (JRSC), and National Media Campaign for Traffic Awareness.
Traffic Ambassadors (TA)
The Traffic Ambassadors consists of national youth volunteer networks which are the projects focal points for national outreach. The project aims at building capacities of young people in pursuit of serving their communities and by that, assessing road safety needs within their area and cater for these needs by implementing youth led projects which will enhance traffic related behavior change.
The project is to be piloted for its first year of implementation by recruiting 20 traffic ambassadors in 10 governorates, upon the start of their Ambassadors role, each two ambassadors are to form three groups of 5 young people as the core team for their governorate.
Traffic Ambassadors are provided with a full orientation and training on how to start and implement youth led initiatives that reflect on traffic related needs in their local communities. TAP team shall monitor and evaluate their community outreach, and the projects implemented within their areas. The Traffic Ambassadors and group members of the three most effective projects for traffic related behavior change are given the opportunity to take part in a youth exchange with a leading European country for road safety in order to transfer the knowledge of best practices upon their return to Jordan for next years Traffic Ambassadors.
Junior Road Safety Club (JRSC)
Junior Road Safety Club is embedded in the school community to spread traffic awareness amongst school students. The project has been successfully running in the UK for the past 20years. RHAS aims at implementing it in Jordan with a pilot starting with 15 schools (including private, public, and UNRWA) for the 1st year.
2 officers (14 – 16 years) from each school are going to be recruited and trained for promoting road safety in their schools and local communities. Activities include setting up and maintaining a notice board, talking at assemblies or to individual classes, running drawing competitions within the school as well as interactive games through which students tend to build an insight on the importance of road safety.
National Media Campaign for Traffic Awareness
“Enough” is TAPs belief. Enough people have died, suffered, and killed on the road.
The National Media Campaign is to target the whole of Jordan in making people realize that ‘enough’ damage has been done, and it is each and every one of our roles to be responsible on the road.
The national media campaign is a comprehensive campaign using all media vehicles (TV, Radio, Outdoor, Press, BTL .. etc.) The first message shall be focused on speed, a marketing research shall be undertaken during the campaign, to ensure maximum effect on audience. Based on the research, the messages or approach could be modified.
4. Healthy Schools Project
Inline with global initiatives that advocate “healthy school environments for a healthy generation”, RHAS’s healthy school initiative is one that assimilates health promotion into the school’s setting, by that developing a healthy setting for living, learning and working. RHAS’s Healthy Schools project addresses the whole school community bringing in students, teachers, staff, parents and the surrounding community all under one consensus for health promotion.
The Healthy Schools project well be implemented in Jordanian schools in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. Standards were developed by a specialized committee from UNICEF, World Health Organization, and Communication Partnership for family Health, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. These Standards will cover the following areas:
1. Management and leadership
2. Environment and safety
3. Health education
4. Staff competence
5. Community participation
6. Health services
7. Social and psychological support
8. Physical activity
9. Diet
Compliance to standards and accreditation system
RHAS was accredited by Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to evaluate schools and provide them with accreditation. RHAS has developed an evaluation system that is to aid in ranking and recognizing the school as a Healthy School. The evaluation system includes guidelines for implementation, evaluation criteria per standard area, scores for accreditation, timing and scheduling of the accreditation process, and accreditation reviewing and monitoring.
By the end of the academic year, schools will be accredited as follows:
• Gold accreditation: For schools that have achieved 85% and above in at least six of the standardized focus areas, provided that other scores are not less than 75% for the rest of the areas outlined.
• Silver accreditation: For schools that have achieved 85% and above in at least three-five of the standardized focus areas, provided that other scores are not less than 75% for the rest of the areas outlined.
• Bronze accreditation: For schools that have achieved 75% and above in all standardized focus areas
• Schools that failed to achieve accreditation : These schools will be granted a second chance for improving and correcting their defects within a period of six months. These schools are re-inspected and reevaluated at the end of the first trimester of the next academic year.
Accredited schools will be provided with a certificate and a Healthy School sign as a recognition of its efforts. RHAS will be developing a national media campaign to raise community’s awareness on the projects and its brand. Through this campaign RHAS aims to introduce the schools’ adoption and schools’ twining concepts.
5. National Micro-Clinics Project
The Global Micro-Clinic Project (GMCP) is a community-based health program that seeks to empower people to prevent and manage diseases in economically depressed areas of the world. The project centers around a community-driven philosophy, forming partnerships between health care professionals, academia, government, and citizens.
RHAS’s Micro-Clinic project in Jordan focuses on diabetics. The project works through the creation of micro-clinics; with a goal of establishing 300 micro clinics. The project is a collaborative effort between the Global Micro-Clinics Project (GMCP), the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) and the Jordanian Ministry of Health (MoH).
According to the World Health Organization, the diabetes epidemic in 2005 has contributed to global mortality rates with the highest per capita death toll in the Middle East. In Jordan, diabetes prevalence is in increase. The national survey on risk factor prevalence for chronic diseases found 13% of the population diabetic in 2005, and 16% in 2007 . This brings the urge for developing creative solutions for effective treatment and prevention of the disease.
Project Objective
RHAS’s Micro-Clinic project in Jordan aims at achieving the following objectives:
• To address the diabetes epidemic in Jordan at grassroots level.
• To provide shared access to appropriate technology, such as a glucose monitor and hemoglobin A1C monitors which are currently prohibitively expensive for economically disadvantaged Jordanians.
• To utilize existing social and familial networks in spreading awareness about the diabetes epidemic and to dispel commonly held myths about the disease.
• To provide improved access to education through the use of social activities, large lectures, small group visits, and distribution of educational materials.
• To empower individuals through the use of support groups (i.e. micro-clinics) in caring for their health and well being.
• To build the capacity of the Ministry of Health in expanding access to health services in underserved communities, strengthening the social infrastructure,
• To support civic involvement and the spirit of volunteerism.
Mechanism
The Project functions through supporting groups of 3-8 diabetic patients that come together to support one another and receive counseling from medical professionals on managing their diabetes. This includes:
• Self-monitoring of blood-glucose levels using glucose meters
• Comprehensive idea about diabetics, types, symptoms and complications
• How to prevent complications
• Self-planning of physical activities
• Self-planning of healthy diets
6. Think First Program
“Prevent brain and spinal cord injury through education aimed at healthy behaviors in children and youth…prevention is the only cure,” ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada.
Recognizing the fact that children and teens are at high risk of many preventable injuries from motor vehicle accidents, falls, sports and exercise in Jordan, RHAS adopted the ThinkFirst injury prevention program developed in Canada and the USA to educate children between the ages of 4 to 16 on injury safety issues.
The program adopts educational material and techniques that educate youth about personal vulnerability and risk taking, encouraging safer behavior and practices. It also develops students’ knowledge and skills in problem solving, critical thinking and analysis to help them make safe decisions.
ThinkFirst is a very interactive program that combines community resources, technology, arts and direct experience covering the following topics:
1. Brain and spinal cord injury prevention
2. Vehicular and pedestrian safety
3. Choking & suffocation hazards
4. Safety around weapons
5. Environment safety.
The curriculum is to be translated and localized to meet the social and cultural needs of kids and teens in Jordan. The program will be implemented in cooperation with Palestine Hospital to tailor the ThinkFirst International into a ThinkFirst Jordan initiative to be included in school curriculums for grades KG-8.
The long term impact is expected to be the practice of safer behavior that will help prevent injuries in society.
7. E-Doctor Project
RHAS is working with the Ministries of Education and Health in developing an E-Nurse system; this internet system will connect all schools with a nurse center where they can immediately address any medical incident with the appropriate advice. The aim of the project is to provide access to health care providers when emergencies occur where time is of paramount importance particularly in remote and underserved areas. The system is expected to benefit students, teachers and doctors and / or nurses at health centers.
Objectives
Objectives of the E-Nurse project are:
• Providing medical advice in the right time, especially in emergency cases occurring in underprivileged areas.
• Developing an electronic system (e-card) that documents all the health information related to students, which can be accessible even when the student changes his/her school.
• Providing information and disseminating health messages and tips through an information window, which could be useful for both students and teachers.
• Reducing health care expenditures and providing equitable access to health care services in Jordan.
• RHAS has piloted off the project in Al-Baqa’ community by linking Ein AlBash Health centre with Al Baqa High school for girls.
• RHAS is currently working with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health to expand this initiative to replicate it in other less privileged areas.
|
