University Health Promotion Plan: Trachoma in Aboriginal Community

This health promotion plan focuses on addressing trachoma, a significant health priority in Aboriginal communities, particularly among children aged 5-9 years in Australia. The plan highlights the prevalence of trachoma, its causes, and the socio-economic factors contributing to its spread, such as shared living conditions and limited access to medical care. The planned health promotion activity involves an expo with stations promoting hygiene practices, including handwashing and face washing, using soap and educational materials like posters and pamphlets. The expo aims to raise awareness about trachoma, its communicability, and the importance of environmental improvements. The plan incorporates health promotion principles to prevent the spread of the bacteria causing trachoma. The student has provided references to support the plan.

Running Head: HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN 1
Public Health Promotion Plan for Trachoma
Student Name:
University Name:
Author Note:

Promotion Plan 2
Health promotion Expo title- trachoma in aboriginal community from 5 to 9Years old
children (Australian)
1. What key health priority is being addressed by this expo? (a brief
overview)150-180 words
 Focus on promoting health.
 Trachoma definition
 Statistical data in indigenous community children.
 Why this is the priority in community? In remote and rural region.
a) Shared living
b) Socio-economic.
Answer – Health Promotion is an integral part helping in enhancing the quality of life of the
citizens by promoting the importance of hygiene and safety. Chlamydia trachomatis is a
bacteria which is responsible for causing roughness in the eyes leading to blindness. This
condition is called trachoma and is a communicable disease (Gupta et al. 2017). It was
reported that children aged between 5-9 years have around 4% of active trachoma infection.
However, in the Northern Territory, this rate was observed to be 5% which could be termed
endemic in nature. In addition, in 2010, there was a survey conducted which resulted in
reporting of 11% of active trachoma in children in indigenous community (Foreman et al.
2017). The children of indigenous community belong to poor economic background which
make them unable to avail the medical benefits and treatment to cure the illness. They have
shared living with other community members. The children are considered to be the carriers
of the bacteria and cause infection among the population. Shared bedding, overcrowded
housing with sub-standard housing of the people enhance the process of transmitting the
bacteria and cause infection.

Promotion Plan 3
2. What is the planned health promotion activity? (Brief description) 220-
230 words
 In expo, we have a station with soap (to prevent from disease), Paper towel (with print of
aboriginal children suffering from trachoma), poster on face and hand hygiene, lucky
rewards, card to take home.
Answer – The health promotion that is devised in the expo will be dealing with the
prevention awareness among the indigenous community of the medical condition, trachoma.
The community prevention area will be housed with a station containing soap which will help
prevent the spreading of the bacteria and cause deliberate infection (Tidwell et al. 2019).
There will also be a paper towel with a print of aboriginal children suffering from trachoma
to make the community aware of the detrimental effects of the medical illness. These are
basic prevention measures that should be taken by the community in addition to the
information regarding face and hand hygiene. It should be made a habit of the community to
practice regular face and hand washing to reduce the risk of distributing the bacteria and a
possible infection to other individual (Ejere, Alhassan & Rabiu, 2015). The community
people need to be made aware of the disease being communicable, that is, it can disperse
from one individual to another via nasal and eye secretions. Moreover, the best way to
prevent the prevalence of trachoma will be to improve the environmental condition of the
region where the individual is residing. Furthermore, lucky rewards will be bestowed to
individuals who will be adhering to the hygiene guidelines. A pamphlet will be provided to
the populace of the region with all the necessary information about the importance of hygiene
to ensure maximum outcome.

Promotion Plan 4
References
Ejere, H.O., Alhassan, M.B. and Rabiu, M., 2015. Face washing promotion for preventing
active trachoma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (2).
Foreman, J., Xie, J., Keel, S., van Wijngaarden, P., Sandhu, S.S., Ang, G.S., Gaskin, J.F.,
Crowston, J., Bourne, R., Taylor, H.R. and Dirani, M., 2017. The prevalence and causes of
vision loss in indigenous and non-indigenous Australians: the National eye Health
Survey. Ophthalmology, 124(12), pp.1743-1752.
Gupta, V., Gupta, N., Senjam, S. and Vashist, P., 2017. Trachoma. In Neglected Tropical
Diseases-South Asia (pp. 219-244). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from:
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-68493-2_7
Tidwell, J.B., Fergus, C., Gopalakrishnan, A., Sheth, E., Sidibe, M., Wohlgemuth, L., Jain, A.
and Woods, G., 2019. Integrating Face Washing into a School-Based, Handwashing Behavior
Change Program to Prevent Trachoma in Turkana, Kenya. The American Journal of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene, p.tpmd190205.