Schools get set to help New Zealand beat FLU

Schools get set to help New Zealand beat FLU and keep children in class learning

The more children know about how flu spreads, the more they can help keep themselves and others well.

That view is supported by principals, teachers and nurses from all over the country teaching the Kleenex SneezeSafe lesson in class this term. The schools believe that if they can help limit the spread of colds and flu from child to child in class this winter, it will be good for their education as well as their health.

Top New Zealand virologist Dr Lance Jennings says: "Flu can be serious. It can cause serious respiratory complications, especially for children and the elderly."

"Schools which are taking steps to help protect their children from the ravages of flu with respiratory hygiene education, are also indirectly keeping children learning. So there's an education up-side and also a community up-side. Children who grasp good respiratory hygiene at a young age will begin a positive flow-on effect in their families and communities and throughout their lives," he says.

Dr Jennings explains that there's a collision of circumstances which make children among the most vulnerable: "We know that children have suffered from H1N1 09 in large numbers in the past two New Zealand winters¹. We also know that children are the most prolific spreaders of flu². Top that off with another key finding that more than a quarter of New Zealand sneezes are left uncovered³, potentially sending thousands of flu virus particles into the air for others to breathe," he says.

He adds that H1N1 09 along with the H3N2 and B viruses are expected to be the seasonal flu viruses circulating this winter.

So, armed with the SneezeSafe lesson plan, a 'sneeze machine' (spray bottle), the glitter-handshake, stickers, posters and Kleenex tissues, teachers are helping children learn good cold and flu hygiene around the country this winter. The SneezeSafe message is simple. Children learn to:

· TRAP a sneeze with a tissue. If caught short without a tissue, trap with the inside of the elbow or with cupped hands covering nose and mouth;

· BIN the tissue after using it once;

· WASH hands after sneezing into them.

In a fun and engaging lesson, children also learn why sneezes are the biggest culprit in the transfer of cold and flu viruses, how the brain sends messages to muscles in the body to choreograph a sneeze, and how far and fast un-trapped sneezes travel.

Jason Biggs from Kimberly-Clark New Zealand, the company who has developed the SneezeSafe programme, says: "Our experts tell us that schools are one of the main environments for the transfer of cold and flu viruses. We want to help, so have made this teaching resource available and free to download."

The SneezeSafe lesson plan, poster and video are available at www.sneezesafe.co.nz

The Kleenex SneezeSafe classroom programme responds to the 'Personal Health and Physical Development' and 'Healthy Communities and Environments' strands of the national health curriculum and SneezeSafe messaging is supported by the Ministry of Health.

It was first adopted in kiwi classrooms in 2005 and has become an annual feature of health education in New Zealand schools, (and more recently among schools in Australia, the UK and Europe as well), with the back-up of health professionals.

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