MANILA, Philippines - At 11 years old, Gerald Noah Faustino and Hannah Anzano know a lot about how to stay healthy and protect themselves from dreaded diseases. They know the value of regular hand-washing and oral hygiene, the benefits of waste segregation, the basic food groups and proper nutrition, and why smoking and early sex can be deadly. Faustino, who is in Grade VI, and Anzano, a Grade V pupil, are taught about wellness and health, including reproductive health, in their science classes under teacher Nilda Dizon. As students of the Pateros Elementary School (PES), the municipality’s premier public grade school, they have also made the “rainbow connection” that complemented, supplemented, and reinforced Dizon’s lessons. The Rainbow Tent of the Pateros Health Department is a project to bring information and education services on health issues to the municipality’s different schools and get young people started early in developing good habits that will promote wellness and healthy living.
Like a traveling circus, teams of health experts go from school to school on a rotating basis to spread the message of how people can properly care for their bodies, ensure that organs are functioning properly and prevent disease. The teams set up 14 booths under portable, multicolored tents, each booth focusing on specific body organs and health issues related to those parts. Locations are chosen to make them accessible to as many schools as possible. PES, for instance, is near a high school and one or two other smaller institutions.
According to midwife Eden Reyes of the Barangay Sta. Ana Health Center, the program was launched in 2004 by the local government. It covered the more than 10 elementary, four high, and two post-secondary schools in the municipality and involved students from Grade IV to college. This being a total program to promote health and disease prevention, reproductive health is a necessary and important part of the package. Noah and Hannah cite the process of reproduction — or as they put it, “Saan ka nagmula” — from conception to birth, including the development of the child in the womb. They learned about the perils of smoking and why they should say no to early sex. “Maraming sakit na makukuha sa early sex (you get a lot of diseases from early sex),” they agree and mention human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and sexually transmitted diseases. Hannah says they learned about the appropriate age when people should start having sex. And they point out that the lessons will stay with them as they make choices about the right things to do. Noah notes that after what he learned, he does not plan to have a girlfriend until he’s in college.