Abstract
BackgroundBangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. People are getting educated at different levels on how to deal with potential impacts. One such educational mode was the preparation of a school manual, for high school students on climate change and health protection endorsed by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, which is based on a 2008 World Health Organization manual. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of the manual in increasing the knowledge level of the school children about climate change and health adaptation.MethodsThis cluster randomized intervention trial involved 60 schools throughout Bangladesh, with 3293 secondary school students participating. School upazilas (sub-districts) were randomised into intervention and control groups, and two schools from each upazila were randomly selected. All year seven students from both groups of schools sat for a pre-test of 30 short questions of binary response. A total of 1515 students from 30 intervention schools received the intervention through classroom training based on the school manual and 1778 students of the 30 control schools did not get the manual but a leaflet on climate change and health issues. Six months later, a post-intervention test of the same questionnaire used in the pre-test was performed at both intervention and control schools. The pre and post test scores were analysed along with the demographic data by using random effects model.ResultsNone of the various school level and student level variables were significantly different between the control and intervention group. However, the intervention group had a 17.42% (95% CI: 14.45 to 20.38, P = <0.001) higher score in the post-test after adjusting for pre-test score and other covariates in a multi-level linear regression model.ConclusionsThese results suggest that school-based intervention for climate change and health adaptation is effective for increasing the knowledge level of school children on this topic.
Highlights
In the development of climate science and policy making the adverse effect of climate change on human health has been recognized relatively late [1,2]
The intervention group had a 17.42% higher score in the post-test after adjusting for pre-test score and other covariates in a multi-level linear regression model. These results suggest that school-based intervention for climate change and health adaptation is effective for increasing the knowledge level of school children on this topic
It is obvious that children are most vulnerable subpopulation because of their greater exposure and sensitivity to health outcomes, there has been a lack of investigation into the health impacts on children associated with climate change [10, 11]
Summary
In the development of climate science and policy making the adverse effect of climate change on human health has been recognized relatively late [1,2]. The recent Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reinforces the need for societies to take adaptive actions to protect human health from the adverse consequences of climate change [3]. Climate sensitive health determinants and outcomes increase threat to children’s health and family livelihoods in Least Developed Countries [4, 5]. People are getting educated at different levels on how to deal with potential impacts. One such educational mode was the preparation of a school manual, for high school students on climate change and health protection endorsed by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, which is based on a 2008 World Health Organization manual. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of the manual in increasing the knowledge level of the school children about climate change and health adaptation
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