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Uzhgorod/Corvallis Partners Train Peer Educators and Encourage a Cross-partnership Anti-smoking CampaignOriginally published in AIHA's Connections, November 2003."Killing me Slowly with his Smoke"-a rewording of the Fugees’ rap-style remake of the famous Roberta Flack song "Killing me Softly"-became a popular tune among youngsters who attended the Uzhgorod/Corvallis anti-smoking workshop, October 13-15. The song was introduced by the American partners as part of an educational program designed to discourage adolescents from developing bad habits. During the event, partners trained 15 students from the Transcarpathian region to serve as peer mentors who will promote healthy lifestyle choices among the youth in their communities.
The workshop gave students an opportunity to discuss teen health and habits, brainstorm about the qualities of a good peer educator, and learn how to discourage smoking and prevent HIV/AIDS. The youngsters also conducted a "sting operation" by posing as buyers of cigarettes in several stores in Uzhgorod. The purpose was to see whether or not the retailers would sell tobacco products to underage customers. The students prepared certificates of recognition that were given to those who denied selling cigarettes to them. The unscrupulous retailers were handed in the certificates of disapproval, which reminded them about their obligation to follow the law. In addition, attendees conducted a random street poll, asking young people about their smoking habits. Out of 55 respondents, 29 admitted to smoking. The anti-smoking theme of the student workshop was picked up in "Healthy Lifestyles-Healthy Communities," a conference conducted on October 15-17 and attended by healthcare providers from AIHA's Ukrainian and Moldovan Primary Healthcare partnerships. The event was also hosted by Uzhgorod/Corvallis partners-a recognized leader among Ukrainian partnerships in the areas of smoking cessation and healthy lifestyle promotion. As an example of their work in this area, to raise the awareness of Transcarpathian youth about smoking hazards, this partnership formed the Youth Smoking Prevention Coalition and developed a healthy lifestyles curriculum that was distributed to local schools and involved over 50 teachers and 400 schoolchildren in a smoking cessation program. Drawing on the experiences of the Uzhgorod/Corvallis partners, workshop attendees learned how to establish community health coalitions, conduct anti-smoking and HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns among youth using peer education, and further develop patient education skills. During the event, the partners also organized the AIHA Cross-partnership Smoking Prevention Coalition (CPSPC).
In addition, the conference provided a forum for Uzhgorod and Velykyi Bereznyi partners to share their original ideas about further ways to minimize smoking in the community, namely by introducing a ban on smoking in local restaurants and taxi cabs. "This event prioritized the importance of youth problems and provided an opportunity to enhance professional skills," says Olga Birskaya, patient-education instructor at the Primary Health Care Center of the Kharkiv Aerospace University, "While the establishment of the Smoking Prevention Coalition-which is a cross-partnerships effort-has the potential to create the healthy future." |
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