Week 2: Bites, Cameras, and Action! by Amanda Berrian

Figure 1. Environmental Monitors harvest "vegetables" that have been contaminated with glitter to demonstrate indirect transmission of pathogens

March 7, 2016: Week 2 introduced the “Healthy Community, Healthy Household, Healthy You” curriculum to the Environmental Monitors. They learned Proficiency 1: Health, Disease, and Pathogen Transmission and Proficiency 2: Understanding Disease Risk. After going through the curriculum themselves with me as the teacher, they will be expected to teach it to a group of community members from three different villages. The schedule is such that the four-proficiency curriculum will be broken into two workshops. Workshop 1 will occur at the end of the Environmental Monitors’ second week and will contain the first two proficiencies; Workshop 2 will take place at the end of the third week and will include Proficiency 3 (Understanding Risk Mitigation and Health Promotion) and Proficiency 4 (One Health in Action). With this design, the Environmental Monitors will have the time and opportunity to reflect on their performance from the first workshop and share strategies with each other. This technique is a pedagogical strategy known as “reflective practice” and is important for personal and professional growth in any discipline.

The first proficiency uses a hands-on activity to teach the principles of infectious disease transmission. Learners “act out” an assigned scenario to explore where, when, and how we can become exposed to pathogens during our daily activities. For example, one scenario would require a learner to milk a cow and harvest vegetables from a garden. The “teats” of the cow (i.e. inflated latex glove) and the “vegetables” (i.e. construction paper carrots) are “contaminated” with glitter to show how infectious organisms could be transferred. Through the activity, the concepts of direct, indirect, and vector-borne disease transmission are explored. Learners are encouraged to act as “disease detectives” to uncover how they came into contact with the different colors of glitter. 

Figure 2. Environmental Monitors try to identify how they could have come into contact with "pathogens"

Proficiency 2 introduces the concept of risk and the importance of evaluating or assessing risk in order to reduce it. Learners are provided with a description (accompanied by pictures) of a household and practices of that household, such as where they get their water and how often they receive medical care for their domestic animals. They then use the One Health Risk Assessment Tool to categorize the household’s risk of an infectious disease event. Learners work in groups to complete the risk assessment and then explain why the practices are high risk.

Figure 3. Environmental Monitors complete the One Health Risk Assessment Tool

Workshop 1 culminates in an application exercise where learners are expected to complete the One Health Risk Assessment Tool for their own households before the second workshop. In addition, learners are provided with a camera so that they may capture images of the high risk practices they identify. These images will be used to tell their stories and work on a plan to mitigate the risks during Workshop 2. In this community, cameras are not commonly available, so the ability to use a camera and document their lifestyles in this way was a rare opportunity for the people. The Environmental Monitors received training on the cameras and instructions for how to facilitate their use. They were each allowed the opportunity to take a camera home and practice. As they were digital instant print cameras (Polaroid Z2300), the ability to print pictures immediately was extremely useful for our in-workshop activities and was a point of intrigue among the users!

Figure 4. Environmental Monitors receive training on the Polaroid cameras

Once the Environmental Monitors had completed Proficiencies 1 and 2 and had received training on the cameras, they were ready to facilitate their first workshop! There was a tremendous amount of excitement and anticipation as they realized they would soon be in the role of teacher.