Ebola messages for Children-Children for Health

 In response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Children for Health has drafted a list of messages school age children can learn and share with other children.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a public health emergency and because of the scale of the outbreak:

• Children will hear adults speaking about it, they may hear about it on the radio, TV in newspapers or other media.
• Children are naturally curious
• Children may become afraid about what they hear
• Children can be given a positive role as health ambassadors

Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty

Children look to older children, parents and teachers for knowledge – adults can support children with accurate information.
Here is a fact sheet from the Centre of Disease Control. BUT Much of the official information and fact sheets are not prepared with children in mind. We want and need children to understand what is going on and help to protect themselves and others where they can. This is important:

1. Because children are vulnerable and need to protect themselves; and
2. Because children can (and often do) play an important part in sharing accurate information with other children in their families and communities.

Perhaps the most important message for children to learn and share is to take extra care to practice good hygiene. Children can also help other children and especially younger children to do the same.
It is also important that children know not to touch people with symptoms that might be Ebola: even their close family. Also they need to know they must not touch any bedding, blankets or anything that could have been in contact with someone who has Ebola. This is difficult for children to do, especially younger children if one of their parents or siblings is infected. If older children know about Ebola and know what to do and why, they can help to keep young children away from danger and they can sing to them, play and comfort them.
Children need to know that people with Ebola need comforting words, but not to be touched or hugged. They also need to know that when a person has recovered from Ebola and the health workers have allowed them back to their families it is safe to treat them normally. Health workers will not allow people back to the family unless they have fully recovered and their tests show no signs of Ebola.
Our messages
We have prepared these messages on Ebola for programmes working with children to adapt and translate into the local langauge that is spoken by most children. It’s very important to adapt them and to use the local terms for words like ‘pee’ and ‘poo’. We would like to understand which are your 10 ‘top’ messages. Which do you or the children think are the most important messages to learn and share? Are there others that we have missed? Are there some messages below which you would not use with children? Please let us know.
20 Messages on Ebola for Children to Learn and Share

1. Ebola is a disease that makes people very ill and sometimes die.
2. Ebola is caused by a virus you can’t see which stops a person’s body working properly.
3. The Ebola virus lives inside fluids of an infected person (like blood, spit, sweat, pee, poo and vomit)
4. There are many signs of Ebola: headache, fever, pains in the stomach and muscles, diarrhoea &  vomiting.
5. Ebola spreads when someone who is well touches fluids from a person who has Ebola.
6. Someone can have the Ebola virus in their body for three weeks before they start to feel ill.
7. It is only when a person starts to feel ill theat they can spread Ebola to someone else.
8. Do not touch people who are is showing signs of illness and anything they have touched or used.
9. Help to keep young children away from people showing signs of Ebola.
10. Wash your hands with soap often and always after having a pee or poo
11. When someone has the signs of Ebola they need to go to a clinic for testing as soon as possible.
12. At the clinic, health workers take a small amount of blood from the sick person to look for signs of Ebola in the blood.
13. Health workers looking after people with Ebola wear special suits, masks and gloves so that they do not catch Ebola.
14. Health workers are brave, kind people trying to stop Ebola spreading to others and making them sick.
15. At the moment (October 2014), there is no medicine to cure people with Ebola but scientists are working hard to create medicine and a vaccine.
16. When someone dies from Ebola the body has a lot of the Ebola virus in it so its put carefully into a bag and taken for burial.
17. When someone gets well from Ebola and comes home they cannot spread Ebola.
18. Someone who has got better from Ebola is safe to touch and needs love and friendship.
19. If relatives are sick they need comforting words but do not touch them until you know they do not have Ebola.
20. Young children do not understand Ebola.  Help protect and comfort them.

When teaching children to learn and share messages, use active methods that are fun like role plays and ‘vote with your feet’.
If you are working with a group of children, making and using the ‘Opportunities Chart‘ is a great way to get the children discussing ideas about thow they see the problem and what THEY think children can do. Of course their safety and protection is the most important consideration.
Click here for the Vote With Your Feet method to teach children facts about Ebola.
Click here for some ideas of Role Plays.
Children can tie a peice of fabric or string to a stick each time they learn and share an Ebola message. Look at our Rainbow Stick idea here.
We hope you find these messages and activities useful and we welcome your feedback, stories and experiences. When we hear of a good game or story that will help children in affected areas we will put this on our blog – so please keep in touch
This message was sent to  nurses Round by: 
Clare Hanbury-Leu
Children for Health