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Description
This project aims to provide integrated health services to support vulnerable people. These will address 4 important themes, centred on supporting adolescents through open discussion of the questions they have, both through offline interactions in schools and through a platform to be developed in the first months of the project. The platform will aim to become a source able to answer questions that teenagers avoid asking their parents or teachers for various reasons. The platform will provide relevant information to teenagers and the content available will be generated by professionals in the 4 fields.
The 4 topics covered are: mental health; nutrition and diabetes, sex education and drug prevention. The project will not only run an information campaign, but will seek to help teenagers make informed decisions about their bodies and minds in an interactive way. This is an innovative approach, as at the moment there are no such initiatives at school level in Romania.
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Summary of project results
After analyzing the national situation regarding the information needs of young people, PP found that according to the figures on the impact that various medical and social issues have on them shows a deficiency in the online and offline sources of information that they turn to. While the information they obtain may not be completely false (they cannot objectively analyze the validity of the information, differentiating between valid and false information), the information may be incomplete and overall, scarce, as follows:
1. Mental health- data on mental health among young people nationally is poor, particularly among vulnerable groups, this is a relatively recent topic to be addressed in various groups and is not considered a topic of major importance. The level of perception of mental health is generally not recognized as a viable topic, it is ignored out of ignorance. Mental health is, like intimate hygiene, considered a taboo subject, talked about not only in secret, but denied and rejected by vulnerable groups as a negative thing.
2. Nutrition and Diabetes- According to the 2017 Ponderas study, 1 million Romanians eat only once a day. Mistakes in Romanians'' diet lead to the accumulation of kilograms: Although most people declare that they eat quite healthy, a number of mistakes that favor the onset of obesity are identified in Romanians'' diet. For example, with regard to meals during a day, almost 1 million Romanians confess to eating only one meal per day, while another 400,000 adults have more than 6 meals in a single day. Breakfast, considered by nutritionists as the most important meal of the day, is skipped by 35% of Romanians. They say they usually skip breakfast, but when it comes to dinner, for 22% of the population it is the main meal of the day. What''s more, over 90% of people admit that they only manage to eat after 6 p.m. 8 out of 10 Romanians eat bread every day. Every day, 4 out of 10 also eat sweets or pastries.
3. Sex education - this is a taboo subject in many vulnerable communities across the country, precisely because of the nature in which it is perceived by communities and individuals. In Romania, given the predominance of religion, and the church being seen as a source of information regarding young people''s bodies, having a label that condemns any intimate topics, whether it is intimate hygiene or sex education. Moreover, in many vulnerable communities, the trend of the backyard toilet still persists. As the aim of this project is not to equip households with indoor toilets and all the considerations related to this issue, the role of those involved in this project will be to educate young people on maintaining intimate hygiene in order to avoid contracting various diseases related to maintaining bodily cleanliness.
Moreover, along with the hygiene of teenage bodies, it must be borne in mind that young people are curious and tend to respond in a sometimes unhealthy and dangerous way to hormonal pressure. This means that young people start their sexual life for various reasons: social, hormonal, or even out of curiosity, but they do not have enough information about the risks they are exposing themselves to - contracting sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, forcing their partners (rape), etc., and they are unaware of the consequences of their actions.
4. Drug prevention - Data on drug use at the national level shows that in 2019, the illicit drug market in Romania continues to grow, with statistical data highlighting the second highest total amount of drugs seized after the peak reached in 2016, with an increase of more than 5 times the total amount of drugs seized compared to 2018 and the highest total number of seizures made. There were the highest values for the amounts seized for cannabis and opium, and the 8th highest value for the amounts seized for cocaine and heroin, after the highs reached in 2016 and 2015 respectively. There was also the highest number of seizures for cannabis herb, cocaine and synthetic drugs (MDMA, LSD) made to date.
There was a significant decrease (more than 5 times) in the number of tablets seized compared to 2018. Cannabis still remains the most seized drug at national level, with an alarming increase in its availability on the Romanian drug market, reflected both in the consecutive, significant increase since 2016 in the number of seizures made and in the increase in the number of illicit crops identified, with the highest values recorded in 2018 (137 crops), respectively in 2019 and 2016 (with 83 crops each), which highlights an increased concern and interest on the part of organized crime groups for the development of organized illicit activities related to the cultivation and trafficking of this drug.
Therefore, the project emphasized awareness raising, capacity building and educational campaigns. By implementing the activities, their aim was to contribute to educating and counseling adolescents beyond the school curriculum and to impact the decisions they will make about themselves and become more responsible. Among the effects expected from the implementation of this project were: reduction of obesity, decrease in bullying, informed decisions on personal hygiene. At the same time, the secondary target group of the project is made up of headmasters and teachers who want to address the above-mentioned topics in discussions with teenagers and direct them to the online platform.
In order to achive the main objectives of the project, the following activities were performed:
Activity 1: Target group identification and selection
In order to identify and select the target group, first of all isolated areas in terms of access to health services will be identified (rural areas in Cluj county and neighboring counties). Then, discussions will be held with school inspectorates, town halls and social assistance services, in order to obtain agreement and collaboration. They will be consulted on the need for the services offered by the project and identification of potential beneficiaries. Subsequently, a calendar of school visits will be established and promoted in order to maximize the number of potential beneficiaries. The target group is secondary and high school pupils from vulnerable groups.
Results:
481 persons selected in the target group, benefiting from health education services, which represents 107% of the assumed indicator.
4 Collaboration protocols concluded with Cluj County School Inspectorate and schools in Cluj County.
Activity 2: Communication, promotion and dissemination of results
The project had a communication, promotion and dissemination plan. The project provided educational information on the following 4 topics: mental health; nutrition and diabetes, sex education and drug prevention
At the same time, the participants of the health services PP offered had been guided to concrete future actions (using the platform andthe project is completed, whenever they need, asking for specialized help through the platform on any of the 4 themes).
Results:
1 communication plan, 1 press release, 1 project website, 1 poster, information materials created, online information campaigns
1 Press release at the end of the project, information materials created, offline information campaigns, online information campaigns on social networks, promotional materials created and distributed 9739 people made aware, which 195% of the target indicator.
Activity 3: Creation and management of an educational platform
In the framework of the project we aim to create an interactive educational platform containing specialized information on the 4 themes described in the project. This platform centralizes all relevant data on each of the 4 themes. The information will be provided by specialists in each domain.
The platform will have the following functions:
- materials and information in video format on each domain to be accessible to the target group
- the possibility for them to log in and request a consultation with the experts in video or audio format only
- intelligent diet generation system for the target group according to their needs
- free mobile application through which the target group can be remotely monitored by the experts
and will respond to all 4 themes of interest to the young people in the target group.
Results:
1 web platform created
Activity 4: Provision of health services for vulnerable groups
Within the project we aim to provide health services to 450 young people from vulnerable groups, or with difficult access to health services, including Roma. These services will be provided both offline through school visits and online through the platform created within the project.
This activity is an alternative that supports vulnerable people or people with difficult access to health services.
In the framework of the project, the Wello Association team, together with medical specialists, will visit schools and support educational activities on the 4 themes: mental health; nutrition and diabetes, sexual education and drug prevention.
Results:
During the project implementation period, 49 school visits were made and 481 target group students benefited from educational activities, which represents 107% of the assumed indicator.
Activity 5: Teacher training
In the framework of the project we want to train the teaching staff in order to counsel adolescents on the 4 themes addressed in the project, beyond the school curriculum, through the guidance classes. Thus, we plan to train 10 educational professionals: teachers.
In the framework of activity 5, teachers will be trained to counsel adolescents on the 4 themes addressed in the project, in the framework of the guidance classes.
At the same time, the Project Promoter will provide interested teachers with educational materials that they will be able to use in the classroom, beyond the school curriculum. Interested teachers will have access to the platform that will be created within the project and that will continue to be populated with content by the Project Promoter during the sustainability period. The Wello Association will continue to provide support to teachers after the end of the project, to the extent that they would like to address one of the 4 themes in their teaching.
Results:
2 online training sessions delivered by the Norwegian Partner; 14 education professionals trained, which represents 140% of the benchmark.
The project emphasized awareness raising, capacity building and educational campaigns. By implementing the activities, the project has contributed to educating and counseling adolescents beyond the school curriculum and will have the potential to impact the decisions they will make about themselves and become more responsible. Among the expected long-term effects of the implementation of this project are: reduction of obesity, decrease in bullying, informed decisions on personal hygiene.
The project results are:
481 persons selected in the target group, benefiting from health education services;
9739 people informed;
1 web platform created: http://wello-school.ro/
49 school visits were made and 481 target group students benefited from educational activities;
2 online training sessions delivered by the Norwegian Partner;
14 education professionals trained.