It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, good hand hygiene is important.
Two unlikely Victorian cartoon characters are now spreading this message to school children in Bangalore, India.
The department’s Soapy Heroes program was the star attraction when Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos and Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton visited recently.
“The creation of healthy habits during childhood is important to ensure lifelong healthy decisions and actions,” Dr Sutton said.
“The Bangalore children had a lot of fun, participating in Soapy Heroes’ Glitterbug handwashing activity and training program developed by the department and our colleagues at the Department of Education and Training.
“By getting the children involved with Soapy Heroes we can help keep classmates, family and friends healthy and stop the spread of dangerous infectious diseases.”
The children received certificates for their participation in the training sessions, and schools received educational posters, an adapted and translated curriculum as well as Glitterbug handwashing kits.
In India, Ms Mikakos witnessed the signing of a landmark Memorandum of Understanding between the department and the Public Health foundation of India. The MoU will see the two jurisdictions work together to drive down chronic disease, boost health awareness and reduce smoking.
Ms Mikakos and Dr Sutton also took the time to progress existing partnerships developed over the past two years under Victoria’s India Strategy, signing a second MoU with Innovation Knowledge Park.
This signing marked the announcement of a joint Victoria-India call for innovative solutions on infection prevention and management. This project challenges start-up companies to produce low-cost, technology-enabled initiatives such as mobile phone applications that educate and empower our communities on practices to help reduce the spread of infections.
