Cáritas Coimbra promoted an event on health literacy at the Group of Schools of Lousã
On 17 January, Cáritas Coimbra’s Innovation Department, represented by Ana Goreti Oliveira and Vera Pinto, held a multiplier event for the European project PHILIP in the Group of Schools of Lousã.
With the theme “Protecting the health of young people through health literacy”, the first part of the event aimed to present the results achieved by PHILIP project, including the handbook “Educating for Health: Innovative Approaches to Enhancing Youth Health Literacy”, aimed at education professionals, and the PHILIP training package, which can be used in formal and non-formal education contexts to promote health literacy in children and young people. It was also presented the results of the Portuguese pilot, implemented by Cáritas Coimbra in the Group of Schools of Lousã, which aimed to test the training package and involved three 9th grade classes. Most of the students who took part in the pilot consider the modules to be a useful learning tool, with relevant and easy-to-understand content, and believe that they will be able to apply the information learnt to their daily activities.
The second part of the event included a panel discussion on the importance of health literacy in schools, with the participation of Ângela Figueiredo, a Nurse Specialist in Child and Pediatric Health Nursing, and Cristina Silva and José Marques, both Teachers from the Group of Schools of Lousã. Challenges and reflections were shared on promoting health literacy among children and young people, and the importance of prevention and the need for innovative resources in this area were emphasised. The session ended with the sharing of some testimonies from pupils, who showed great interest in the sessions organised during the pilot and highlighted the importance of health education.
The PHILIP project aims to increase the health literacy levels of young people aged between 11 and 15 years and to empower educators through health literacy education and awareness-raising activities. All the PHIULIP’s materials will be available for free. Through PHILIP’s website and Facebook, you can follow all the activities carried out and resources developed.
This project is funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme, in a partnership between six European entities: Cáritas Diocesana de Coimbra (Portugal), Tiber Umbria Comett Education Programme – TUCEP (Italy), E-School Educational Group (Greece), Academia Postal 3 Vigo S.L. (Spain), Inovaciju tinklas (Lithuania) and Ústav pro zdravotní gramotnost, z.ú. (Czech Republic), project coordinator.
