[ad_1]
ANALYSIS
“All schools are able to move forward”
Daniel Tobon
Doctor, magister in health and public policy and co-founder of Escalando
“After having analyzed almost 1,000 schools, out of 263 municipalities in 28 departments (adding Bogotá), it can be assured that in all the country’s institutions, according to their contexts, it is possible to advance to some degree to have safe environments. But to know that you need information, systematized and friendly, which currently does not exist. In this exercise that we carried out between July 9 and August 30 to collect data on public health and school welfare, we found cases as disparate as those of Antioquia and Medellín, whose secretariats have very mapped the territory; and others who do not even know which schools in their territory have water. That is why Antioquia has been a leader in this alternation planning.
And we emphasize information because it is one of the four fundamental points in the international guidelines of the WHO and UN, that is, how do we make these protocols and strategies sustainable to prevent, plan and what remains to be used to face other health problems? like outbreaks of hepatitis A and others that are common?
But there are three other elements or categories in those international guidelines. The second is biosecurity: cleaning, disinfection, soap and water available, all this is possible adapted to environments. The third is education. In this they place a lot of emphasis, because in addition to having trained personnel to educate the community on prevention in the framework of this pandemic, they must have tools to deal with risk situations, which will now be much more frequent. They must have trained personnel to know what to do if a child shows a situation of domestic violence, or presents mental health risks. Again, in this aspect there are schools and secretariats doing a great job and creating spaces that they did not have.
And, finally, in the fourth point, there are alliances. This category is also available to every institution; It can be achieved by linking the People’s Hospital, IPS, parents’ associations, and community action boards. In this regard, we do show potholes, precisely because the role of many ministries in creating collective intervention and articulation plans has been very poor. But, I insist, all institutions are capable of moving forward. And the most important thing is that this situation leaves us with a solid information process that allows us to make decisions and make the search for safe environments in schools a priority ”.
[ad_2]
