Dear Ornella and All,
Thanks on your responses. Ornella. Your response came while I was discussing this issue with the Palestinian Minster of Education!
We were discussing how feasible it is to implement these measures, wearing a mask, social distances, in a poor context like Palestine. Here some students are learning in tents rather than normal class rooms! For the latter even, it is overcrowded, for their safety we can not have two shifts. Where internet is not reliable, neither electricity, and many do not have IPADs or smartphones. It is likely to find one smart phone between 4-5 children studying at school.So who to prioritise over for online teaching?
To add to the picture, vaccination programs are not working in most Palestinian areas. I assume this is the picture in many low income countries. WHO and other groups that is having interest in child health, you need to be prepared to an autumn with huge disaster among children, particularly in LMIC.
Have saying this, Ornella, is it possible please to share an approximate time to when the recommendation update will be circulated?
Would this update take into account the special circumstances of LMIC? As well as the situation of children with special needs in these countries who do not have an adequate health care as do their counterpart in other regions of the world?
Please pay attention, that schooling year in the Middle East starts early-mid September.
One of the questions that I was asked, in this hot whether, with no air condition, how the teachers, how the students, will be capable to stay 5 hours with mask on face? Class rooms crowdedness even make the situation worse. Refugees camps are scattered throughout Palestine, known to be very crowded. Hence, social distance is not feasible.
Best Regards,Amira
CHIFA profile: Amira Ali Shaheen is an Assistant Prof. in Epidemiology and Population Health at the An Najah National University, Nablus, OPT. She has an interest in Child Health and has worked on several research projects related to child health such as neonatal mortality, psychological morbidity, learning disabilities, and injuries. In 2009, she was awarded a PhD degree in Epidemiology and Population Health from the LSHTM. Her PhD research was to investigate the epidemiology of injury in Palestinian children. shaheenamiraATyahoo.co.uk She is a CHIFA Country Representative http://www.hifa.org/support/members/amira
