DUSHANBE, October 27, 2010, Asia-Plus — The U.S. Embassy recently launched the Child to Child health outreach program in the Hisor and Taboshar districts.
According to the U.S. Embassy, the Tajikistan Maternal and Child Health Program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development in cooperation with Mercy Corps, uses a peer-education approach to improve children’s health by encouraging them to play an active role in the process of health promotion and development in their communities.
In total, the peer-education approach will be introduced in 26 schools in Hisor and six schools in Taboshar. Student-trainers were recently selected, and the first training session in Hisor started on October 21, 2010.
The Child to Child program recently worked in the northern district of Spitamen, and trained 465 students as peer health educators and 42 teachers as their mentors. During the span of one year, over 9,000 school children in Spitamen benefited from the program. This program has made a lasting impact on the knowledge and behavior of children and their families.
“People in the community are paying more attention to hygiene, and it’s not just the students participating in Child to Child. For example, families are setting up washstands all over our villages,” says Saodat Ahmadova, a Child to Child mentor-teacher in School #26 of Hushtiyak village of Spitamen.
The Tajikistan Maternal and Child Health Program is one of the many development projects supported in Tajikistan by USAID. Since 1992, the American people through the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe have provided approximately $900 million in programs that support Tajikistan’s democratic institutions, health care, education, and economic growth.
