Schools as centers for health educational initiatives, health behavior research and risk behavior for dengue infection in school children and community members: a systematic review.

Dengue virus is the main arboviral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and affects mainly school-aged children and teens. Many methods have been developed for dengue control, including health education strategies for elementary and high school students. The objective of this study is to provide an update on the status of health education on dengue in schools and provide new perspectives on health behavior research in order to reduce the proliferation of mosquitoes and spread of arboviral diseases among school-aged children and other community members. A systematic review about health educational initiatives was carried out. This research discusses the effectiveness of these strategies in educating students about dengue disease and mosquito control and how the school is relevant for community-based participation in research on dengue education. The study found that employing ludic strategies and directly involving children in mosquito control in their households have been the most attractive and effective strategies for dengue education in children and teens. However, the sustainability of protective behaviors has been poorly evaluated, and new approaches for health behavior research are needed. Inasmuch as, schools are important places for gathering community members, and students can serve as an essential link between educative interventions and the community.

Understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution in high school students in Mexico.

The Theory of Evolution (TE) is the backbone of biology and is the best way to explain the diversity of species that exist on the planet. However, despite all the supporting evidence, TE remains poorly understood and accepted. In this study, the levels of acceptance and understanding of TE were measured, respectively, using the Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance (I-SEA) and Knowledge of Evolution Exam (KEE) questionnaires, in high school students in Monterrey, Mexico (N = 370). The results show that the acceptance of TE ranges from moderate (90.3 out of 120) to high (3.7 out of 5), depending on the scale with which it is measured, while the level of comprehension is low (4.5 out of 10). Statistical analysis of the data collected reveals that there is a positive relationship between acceptance and understanding of TE (r = 0.34). In addition, the proportions of I-SEA and KEE were evaluated based on several factors, such as religion and educational level of the parents, among others. It was found that the level of education of the parents positively affects the understanding of the basic concepts of TE, while religion is the main factor of negative influence on both acceptance and understanding. Finally, the low comprehension shown in this study suggests a revision and readjustment of the contents that are taught in the upper secondary education curriculum.

A critical perspective on pandemics and epidemics: building a bridge between public health and science education.

This academic position paper focuses on building a bridge between public health and science education in order to recognize the relationships between science and society-politics, economics, and ideology-in a pandemic context. To do this, we first present the contemporary dispute between the ways of understanding and explaining public health problems in light of a historical-territorial critical perspective; then, we show the configuration process of the formal and hegemonic concept of pandemic that has taken place over the period of the pandemics of the 1918 flu and the 2019 coronavirus disease; later, we give way to a historical-territorial understanding of the genesis of the 2002 and 2012 epidemics in relation to the coronavirus in the twenty-first century; and lastly, we indicate the key points from the historical-territorial critical perspective of public health that science education can use in order to contribute to a critical and reflective understanding of epidemics and pandemics. In this framework, "configuration process" is a category we propose and use in order to explain that specific events such as epidemics and pandemics are interwoven in a social, historical-territorial, trajectory of world power relations.

Este documento de posición académica, titulado «Una perspectiva crítica de las pandemias y las epidemias: construyendo un puente entre la salud pública y la educación científica¼, se enfoca en la construcción de un puente entre la salud pública y la educación científica que tiene por objeto reconocer las relaciones que existen entre la ciencia y la sociedad ­esto es, entre la ciencia y la política, la ciencia y la economía, y la ciencia y la ideología­ en un contexto de pandemia. Para ello, después de ofrecer una necesaria introducción, se presenta en la primera parte, y a la luz de una perspectiva crítica histórico-territorial, la disputa contemporánea entre las formas de entender y explicar los problemas de salud pública. Esta disputa se presenta en dos subtítulos, uno denominado «De la teoría del germen a la biomedicina¼, y otro denominado «De la perspectiva sociohistórica a la perspectiva histórico-territorial¼. En la segunda parte se expone el proceso de configuración del concepto de «pandemia¼ que, formal y hegemónico, ha tenido lugar entre la pandemia de gripe de 1918, declarada por el Ministerio de Salud de Inglaterra y Gales en 1920, y la pandemia de la enfermedad por coronavirus de 2019, declarada por la Organización Mundial de la Salud en 2020 el mismo año. En la tercera parte, la denominada «Crónica de una pandemia anunciada en tiempos del capitalismo neoliberal¼, se presenta una comprensión, de perspectiva histórico-territorial, sobre la génesis de las epidemias que estuvieron relacionadas con coronavirus en los años 2002 y 2012. Con el ánimo de mostrar la similitud encontrada entre las génesis de las epidemias de 2002 y 2012, el apartado dedicado a la epidemia de 2002 se subtitula «Un mercado de animales salvajes en la génesis de la epidemia del Síndrome Respiratorio Agudo Severo (SARS)¼, y el dedicado a la epidemia de 2012, «Un mercado de animales domesticados en la génesis de la epidemia del Síndrome Respiratorio de Oriente Medio (MERS)¼. Finalmente, en la última parte, se señalan asuntos clave de la perspectiva crítica histórico-territorial de la salud pública que la educación científica puede utilizar para contribuir a una comprensión crítica y reflexiva de las epidemias y pandemias. En este marco, «proceso de configuración¼ es una categoría que se propone y utiliza para explicar que acontecimientos concretos, como las epidemias y las pandemias, están entretejidos en una trayectoria social de relaciones mundiales de poder, que es histórico-territorial.