A majority of the NTD disease burden in Latin America and the Caribbean occurs in Brazil. This week, the Brazilian Ministry of Health is launching a public health campaign to diagnose and treat soil-transmitted helminths (or intestinal parasites) and leprosy in school-aged children. Over the next few days, we will be featuring stories related to the fight against NTDs in Brazil.

By Agustin Caceres

Songs and other innovative social mobilization tools help children learn about leprosy and other NTDs in Recife, Brazil.

João just turned twelve. He lives in a one bedroom house with six family members in the outskirts of the city of Recife, in Northeastern Brazil. His mother stays at home most of the day, while his father works in a car shop around the corner. Poor hygiene and water and sanitation make João’s neighborhood prone to the transmission of several NTDs like leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis and intestinal parasites, but nobody in the family is aware of the risks of contracting these diseases.

João attends Porto da Cidadania primary school. A few months ago, the school’s principal launched the Semana das doencas negligenciadas (“Neglected Diseases Week” in Portuguese) where students learned about four NTDs that affect their communities. They also got to design and color posters and other educational materials about healthy habits to prevent these diseases both at home and at school. But Joao’s favorite activity was the music workshop, where he composed a rap against leprosy together with four of his classmates.

“Leprosy is still a public health problem in Brazil. The project Integrated Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Recife, Olinda and Jaboatao dos Guararapes aims at testing an integrated intervention model for four NTDs that affect some areas of the Recife metropolitan area, where almost three million live” said Ignez Tristao, Social Protection and Health Senior Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank. “The focus of this demonstration project is to test and validate an intervention model that works across diseases and across sectors, particularly between the Education and the Health sectors. We are testing how we can educate and change behaviors about these diseases by working closely with 40 public schools, and music has proved to be a very effective tool. That is why we are now launching the song contest Cantando pela Saude (“Singing for health”) in 40 schools, where children are composing songs with NTD-related lyrics using their own language. We encourage these students to be creative, to express themselves and to learn about NTDs, spreading the message in their communities. And nothing better than the universal language of music to do so!”

See some images of the social mobilization activities in Joao Batista Primary School here:

Agustin Caceres is Communications and Outreach Officer at the Social Protection and Health Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington DC.