How to wean adolescents off risky behaviour and encourage them to do positive things is the main thrust of a five-day workshop that began here yesterday.

The five-day workshop targets adolescent issues in Oman, including road safety, drug abuse, non-communicable diseases and sexually transmitted diseases. 

Organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Health (MoH), the workshop will discuss topics related to adolescent habits and lifestyles with the help of a series of seven manuals on Y-Peer Educators, Y-Peers, Road Safety, Tobacco abuse, Violence among youth, Nutrition, and Life Skills.

Health and Education officials from seven governorates in Oman, including South Al Batinah, North and South Sharqiyah, Ad Dhahirah, Al Wusta and Musandam, and Muscat region will be trained on educating youths in their respective governorates, so that young people can then share the same ideas with each other and be influenced to lead healthier and safer lives.

“At this age (adolescence), children become attracted to what others of their ages are doing, so if others are practicing risky behaviour, they will do the same. Also if others are doing positive things, they will do that.

“Here we are trying to influence that behaviour positively,” said Dr. Rana Haddan, the trainer of the workshop and author of the Y-Peer manuals.

Ahmed Al Balushi, an official from the Ministry of Education’s department of health awareness, highlighted the significance of the workshop, “This workshop is very relevant regarding some persistent issues related to adolescents that we are facing at the MoE, so we can now seek solutions to the roots of these problems.”

Dr. Said Al Shehhi, another trainee from the Ministry of Health’s family medicine department in Dibba said, “The MoH has operated the Department of School and University health for a long time and it plays a very important role. Though depending only on a doctor for educating school students is not enough, the students should share the knowledge among themselves through peer education.

“One of the peer programmes being run by the MoH is the education for HIV, but other issues are not tackled. I think the important priority is calling for lifestyle changes, as non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, and diabetes are all going up. Also,specific issues,such as smoking, drug use and violence, need to be addressed.”

Faiqa Al Sinawi, Director of Department of School and University Health at MoH said, “We have to start educating from a young age. We have allocated 900 nurses in schools across the country, and health education for younger ones has become a major priority. The MoH, and the MoE, conducts many programmes for children in schools, and these are ongoing.

“We have also seen the right results, such as the last study which was conducted on the awareness of tobacco use, because when children hit puberty, they want to try different things. But when health education was imparted in schools, a difference was observed,”

“The overall goal of the programme is to promote awareness among school students in regard to health topics and enhance their knowledge to change their minds so they avoid the dangers youth are facing nowadays and increase their physical activity,” said a spokesperson from the UNFPA.

Source: Timesofoman