First aid educational materials for children in sub-Saharan Africa

22/11/17

Last Monday, it was United Nations’ Universal Children’s Day, which is celebrated to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare. This is a good occasion to highlight our recent work on the development of first aid educational materials for children in sub-Saharan Africa.

CEBaP recently developed a range of evidence summaries concerning the appropriate age to train children in certain first aid interventions, such as seeking help from an adult, providing first aid in case of a burn or a bleeding, knowing what to do in case someone is choking, etc. Based on these evidence summaries, we developed an “educational pathway” that indicates at what age children can reach certain objectives on the level of knowledge, skills and attitudes concerning first aid (e.g. “Children can administer first aid correctly (skills) in the event of a choking incident from the age of 11-12 years”).

In addition, we developed an evidence summary on effective educational interventions in low- and middle-income countries, based on existing systematic reviews.

Last week, we hosted an expert panel meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, gathering a panel of 12 African experts from different African countries. The panel was a mix of academic experts in the field of education and the clinical field (paediatrics), and first aid experts from different African Red Cross National Societies. During the meeting, we adapted the evidence to the African context, which resulted in an improved version of the “educational pathway” and a list of recommended educational methods and materials. The next steps will be to develop first aid materials based on this information, and to pilot the materials in several African countries.