PROJECT FULL HAND: HEALTH EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS ABOUT HAND WASHING

Introduction and Objectives: The hand washing workshops, when applied to children, initiate the creation of essential health habits in the prevention of numerous diseases. However such activity when done in a playful and creative way multiplies the child’s ability to join and learn from the story tellers, dance and educational songs about the proper way to wash their hands. This paper aims to share with the scientific community to experience the project “Full Hand” with school children in the prevention of infectious and parasitic diseases. Methods: Qualitative work, experience report. Results and Conclusions: The project operates twice a year in schools of the cities of Maceió and Rio de Janeiro with the participation of medical students and teachers. It consists of making an interactive theater where the characters simulate daily situations of the child and include moments of need for hand washing. During the interaction is conducted a children’s choir with songs about the correct steps of hand washing, the importance and the consequences of not performing that. Drawings are distributed to color containing the characters from the theater, “Little Hand, Little Friend Teacher and Microbe”, where kids are encouraged to paint and comment about the profile, the right and wrong attitudes of the characters. Afterwards soaps are distributed and children receive practical guidelines about hand washing. The theater and music obtained wide acceptance of the schoolchildren, facilitating the interaction of teachers in the promotion and prevention of child health.