“THROWING GARBAGE” IN SCHOOLS: DYNAMIC APPROACH IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ON THE MANAGEMENT AND IMPACT OF TOXIC HOUSEHOLD TRASH

Introduction and purpose: The wellbeing of the humanity is directly related to the environmental‘s health. So it’s essential to have an integrated health system that recognizes the environmental degradation as a public health problem, which must be worked by the health teams and by educational institutions of health professionals. That justifies the intervention made by the medical students of Positivo University to the students of a Municipal School, at Curitiba, about the environmental health education, the managment and the risks of toxic household garbage. Method: The environmental issues were elucidated through conversation circles, schematic display of content and practical experiences to simulate the impacts of improper disposal of toxic waste. Those experiences were performed dinamically, aiming to position the student as responsible for the consequences of pollution to the environment and to the community health. Furthermore, happened the construction of a board game, “Throwing garbage”, which had as standards the pros and cons highlighted during the contents discussion with the students. Results and conclusions: According to the pretest and posttest, respectively applied on the first and on the last day of intervantion, initially 87% of the students were able to say that it is inappropriate to dispose toxic waste with the general waste, to 100% posteriorly, and 44% of the students were able to identify what items represented toxic garbage, to 68% posteriorly. This study reaffirms the medicine student performance as an educator in social facilities which support the community health.