Community development-oriented health education : health education programme in Bhaktapur : an experience

This report evaluates the health education programme of the Bhaktapur Development Project (BDP) in Nepal. Although the BDP began in 1974, the health education component was only introduced towards the end of the final phase (1983-1986) of the project. The report starts with a description of the health situation, physical infrastructure, and behaviour of the people before the start of the health education programme. This is followed by an overview of the public health education improvement programme which consisted of: a town cleaning campaign; health education drama performances; a sanitation pilot project (the Alternative Sanitation Scheme); and a final phase awareness campaign. The largest part of the report is dedicated to the school education programme and covers the planning of the programme, the preparation of a teacher's guidebook for grades 1 to 7, the training of the teachers and the activities they undertook such as painting competitions and a health education quizz. The role of local institutions is briefly touched upon. The final section deals with changes affected by the improvement of the infrastructure and the health education programme by evaluating the use of private and public toilets, the use and conditions of private water taps and the decline in communicable diseases.