Teachers to Public Health Advocates

How do we protect our school communities from COVID-19?

From teacher to health awareness task force: how our team is pivoting to fight crisis

This is the third in a series of blogposts, outlining Justice Rising’s response to COVID-19.

Leaders, policymakers and scientists, among others, are working to find the best response to COVID-19 in the Global South. Alongside widespread acknowledgement that healthcare systems are not equipped to treat COVID-19, these systems will also struggle to protect healthcare workers, who are so essential for the fight against measles, cholera and other deadly diseases. All this is amplified for the most vulnerable, summarized here. 

Prevention is key. In eastern DRC, where conflict rages and government mistrust is high, our not-quite-finished battle with Ebola has shown us that misinformation presents a huge challenge in fighting viral outbreaks, as well as stoking mistrust of health workers. The World Health Organization is taking myth-busting seriously; here at Justice Rising, so are we.  

We believe in the power of education. Amidst COVID-19, with our school doors firmly closed, we are channeling the potency of education to spread life-saving knowledge in our communities. Our extra-curricular WASH program, which has been central to our Ebola prevention strategy, now takes center stage. And our teachers, accepted and respected in each school community as holders and sharers of knowledge, will pivot to become public health agents, spreading key messages on COVID-19 and dispelling myths to the 2000 households we serve and beyond.

Finally, fighting misinformation and the multi-pronged threat that COVID-19 poses, serves as a stark reminder to us of the importance of education and what we are trying to achieve in Justice Rising schools. Tomorrow’s health workers that will fight and protect from disease, strengthening health systems where it’s most needed; the policymakers that will grapple with and overcome increasingly complex problems; the business leaders that will put humanity before profit; the mothers and fathers that will refute misinformation and so protect their children; the leaders who will negotiate peace and break cycles of poverty: the education they so desperately need is at stake. In our next blog, we outline how we will protect it.