{"id":40648,"date":"2024-09-24T15:05:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T08:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oucru.org\/?p=40648"},"modified":"2024-09-24T15:05:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T08:05:34","slug":"ysa-tetanus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oucru.org\/vi\/ysa-tetanus\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth Ambassadors Aim to Raise Tetanus Awareness Through Public and Community Engagement Activities\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Youth Science Ambassadors<\/a> (YSA) project, launched in 2021, has become a key youth engagement activities of OUCRU\u2019s Public and Community Engagement<\/a> Group. Becoming part of the project, young participants are empowered to lead, propose, plan, and execute their own initiatives addressing specific issues they identify themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, YSAs produced a series of mental health podcasts<\/a> to address challenges young people faced during that difficult time. In 2022\u20132023, recognising barriers to accessing global health publications\u2014either due to academic complexity or lack of awareness\u2014YSAs developed the Collab Lab<\/a> project. This initiative animated published research from OUCRU and partner institutes, making academic publications more accessible and understandable. Collab Lab achieved impressive success, gathering hundreds of thousands of views, and has been continued with a new young team.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the YSAs have launched an ambitious project called “Protect Us From Tetanus” (PUFT). PUFT aims to bridge the gap between public knowledge and the severity of tetanus\u2014a dangerous yet preventable disease that often goes overlooked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Tetanus?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project was born out of alarming statistics and a clear need for community education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study by Dr Nguyen Thanh Phong, Spealist II, Head of the Infectious Department D, Hospital for Tropical Diseases, revealed that out of 152 adult tetanus cases admitted from January – June 2016, only one patient had been vaccinated against the disease(*). Moreover, a survey by the YSAs found that tetanus ranked second to last among infectious diseases of concern for young people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Protect Us From Tetanus Activities<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PUFT project includes a number of activities designed to engage relevant segments of the community: <\/p>\n\n\n\n