Why Schools Need to Offer Health Training
WiRED’s Modules Strengthen Health Education

BY OLIVIA SPIRITO; EDITED BY BERNICE BORN

WiRED International’s goal is to help educate communities on health issues relevant to their daily lives. WiRED’s 400+ health learning modules can be essential assets to a student’s education in middle and high school.

How can WiRED’s modules help?

• WiRED’s interactive health learning courses focus on the prevention and treatment of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and general practices designed to foster healthy lives and well-being.
• A misconception may be that these modules are useful only in underserved communities, when in reality they are applicable everywhere. For students to be better educated adults, a health curriculum in schools should provide more information on diseases and health issues that affect their own community and other communities around the world.
• An essential takeaway from the modules for students is the value of prevention. Prevention of various diseases in communities can help reduce the percentage of people affected by disease.
• Students can also learn about treatment in order to understand the consequences and solutions of having a particular disease.
• Students educated on disease prevention and treatment elevate the baseline of knowledge within their community. Moreover, by understanding health information earlier in life, students can play a role in preventing diseases that challenge their community.
• Through WiRED’s Health Learning Center, all modules are offered free of charge and are easily accessible to schools. Module topics are wide ranging, covering specific illnesses and general healthy practices. Also, modules can be accessed through these six sections: Body Location/Systems; Disorders and Conditions; Diagnosis and Therapy; Demographic Groups; Health and Wellness; and Special Series.
• By downloading the Health MAP application, all the modules can be stored in a folder on students’ laptops (directions are on the website).
• Health classes in low-resource communities without Internet access can still use WiRED’s entire e-library can be downloaded onto a thumb drive. This downloading feature has enabled WiRED’s teams to carry portable computer hardware to remote areas of the Peruvian Amazon.
• Health information can foster progress in reaching global health initiatives and in fighting the Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019 listed by the World Health Organization.

Students can be the driving force of change, and schools implementing WiRED’s health learning modules can underscore the validity of WiRED’s statement that community health — no matter what kind of community — begins with knowledge.