'Am' [Uncle] Hanna is a man in his late Eighties
And he's a simple Egyptian peasant
One day he sensed a minor blurriness in his sight, which we all get sometimes
Over time, his sight started to weaken a bit
But he didn't pay the matter much attention because he never thought it was anything major
Or that there was a serious problem behind what was happening to his sight
Until one day he reached a point where he could literally see no farther than 20cm away
i.e. he practically could not see at all
So he came to the hospital and we ran some scans and found out that he has a brain tumor
This tumor is exerting pressure on the optic nerve on both sides
Which is why there was an incremental effect on his sight over the years
And he wasn't really concerned because he could not imagine that was his case
We removed the tumor
I still remember Hanna to this day
He's a very cheerful and delightful man
I remember that every time I would visit him at the ICU after surgery
I used to ask him, "How are you doing, Hanna?"
He would reply, "I'm trying to save up."
[Laughter]
The man did not lose his sense of humor, but he did lose his sight
Abdallah is a nine-months old toddler
He is growing as all children do
But his head was growing at an above average rate
His parents did not notice this issue until his head reached a relatively large size
So at the time they brought him to the hospital
We did imaging studies and found that he needs to undergo brain surgery
We operated but damage had already happened to the brain
Abdallah doesn't need any more surgeries but Abdallah will never live, mentally or physically, like his colleagues of the same age
Fathi, in his late thirties, is an engineer
He's very busy and he eats out a lot
He is a little overweight
He had a few minor symptoms
He felt constant fatigue
He would wake up frequently to go to the bathroom
Things he did not pay attention to
So when he told a relative of his who is a pharmacist
His relative advised him to do some tests
He did the tests and found out that he is diabetic
When he went to a doctor, he was advised to use insulin and have something to eat after taking it
He doesn't understand what diabetes is
He doesn't understand how diabetes affects his body
How it affects his hear, eyes, kidneys or liver
At the same time he doesn't understand what insulin will do to his body
And what would happen if he doesn't take the insulin
Or what the side effects of insulin are
One day he took his insulin and he didn't have time to eat breakfast because of work
He went to work and he fainted while he was driving
He got into an accident and was brought to the hospital
Glucose solutions were inserted straight into his blood vessels and he ragained consciousness
But he could have died
The level of sugar in his blood was very low
Have you noticed the common factor in all three stories I just told?
Let me rephrase the question
How many people sitting here right now were taught a 'Health Education' course at Kindergarten, school or university?
Show of hands please
Practically no one
Very few people
We have a huge problem in Egypt and not just in Egypt, to be realistic
This is a problem in developing countries
We dont' have what is called health education
We don't care about it. It's been that way for so many years
To the point where we now have a wrong cultural perception about health education
That it is restricted to medical professionals
When I get sick, I will see a doctor. He will prescribe me medicine and I will take it.
And by doing this, I've taken a positive step
And if I'm not sick, I don't read about my health
I don't educate myself or my family about my health
And I don't know what the widespread diseases in the society are
We always react to diseases, we don't act proactively
Or try to take the initiative to overcome these diseases
This has led to another problem
We now have a very high morbidity rate and a high mortality rate
Caused by diseases whose prevention is extremely easy
Let me give you an example
Pneumonia is the number one disease that causes child mortality under the age of 5, not just in Egypt but worldwide
How many children die of Pneumonia worldwide? 1.5 million children
Which is a rate of one child death every 20 seconds
This means that since I started speaking up to now, almost 12 children have passed away
This is a great number. Every 20 seconds, boom, boom .. a child is dying
What is the percentage of these deaths that takes place in developing countries?
In order to come back to our original problem
What's the percentage of the 1.5 million that takes place in developing countries?
98%
Even though we do not represent 98% of the world's population
But we have a problem
We don't have health education. Not all sectors of society are included in the national immunization programme
And at the end the low rate of immunization goes back to the lack in health education
OK, what should we do? How can we overcome this problem?
We have to go back to the misconception and the culture that's been embedded in our minds
That health education is restricted to medical professionals
This created a major problem that we might not feel the magnitude of right now
That if anyone tried to combat this problem and took to the streets to try to assemble people
And give them a seminar about a certain disease
No one will listen to them
Why won't they listen?
Because if we are going to present any product or service to the people
This product or service will have to abide by the market and its rules
And the market rules mandate that there's always supply and demand
There can't be zero demand for something called health education
And in the midst of that atmosphere, I decide to speak to people about health education
People will never care about it
I'll be wasting my effort, money and time in vain
OK so what should I do?
I decided to start with children
And to start with children is an idea that has a number of avantages
The first one is that the future lies in the children
If I focus on children and they grew up to care about health education
In 10 to 20 years they will not need someone like Mohamed Zaazoue to think about how to convey health education to them
This is the first advantage
The second advantage to working with children is that they are always the gateway to communication with the family
If I speak to a mother or father about the negative effects of smoking for instance
They will never listen to me. They might listen or they might not
But if I talk to the child about the negative effects of second hand smoking on their health
Especially in closed spaces like the home
And then the child goes back home and asks their father "Why are you smoking at home, Dad, when this could hurt me?"
Then they [the parents] are bound to get my message
So I decided to focus on children
So how do you get through to children?
I want to create something for children that is truly innovative and novel
And that attracts them
So there is demand, such that the supply I am providing has value
I thought - Children like stories
I decided to create a story-line for them and I would call this story Montasser Overcomes
Montasser is a young Arab child. He and his friend are exposed to a disease
And throughout the story we witness what the disease did to him and how he could have overcome it
And I tried to include accurate medical information in this children's story
Which was a very difficult task
So for instance if we're addressing Pneumonia
The two bacteria which cause Pneumonia the most in the world are called Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae
I called these Hemo and Nemo in the children's story
Such that they could see this villainous characters
And begin to understand the concept of micro-organisms
Or the concept of invisible intricate organisms
In order to make a child understand this idea
Regardless of whether they're rich or poor, live in a suburb or in an informal settlement
In order to make them understand how a micro-organism can give them Pneumonia
And this disease could kill them
This was a difficult task
But through a very simple story we were able to convey this information
And we used to conduct pre-tests and post-tests
Asking the children about the traditions in their life before and after they read the story
And we found that children do respond to this story
And then I wanted to make it more innovative and exciting for children
I always had a specific idea in mind
That my message is boring - that children don't want to listen to me
As long as I had this idea in mind, I was always working on developing myself
Trying to create something more interesting for children
So I decided to turn the story into a coloring book
I began distributing it among children as you can see
This is a child who lived in an informal settlement
We gave him the coloring book in order to color it together
The coloring book contains hidden health education messages
That raise his awareness in an accurate manner, without him noticing
He doesn't notice that while he is coloring he is receiving really valuable information that can protect his life
But I still had a problem
Health education through coloring books is 1:1 education
It is between myself and the child. There needs to be one volunteer dedicated to each child to color with him
I wanted to expand the reach
So I decided to create a marionette show
There would be volunteers in front of the marionette show
And I managed to transform the 1:1 education to 1:50 or 1:100
Depending on the number of children sitting in front of us
But the more you succeed, the more greedy you get
Because you want to expand your reach even further
And you want to create a larger impact on the society
I thought: The marionette show still depends on volunteers' work
I want to reach a larger number of children
So I decided to make a cartoon film
These are the coloring books children colored
I made a cartoon film
These are Hemo and Nemo by the way
I was really keen on delivering quality on this cartoon film very close to that of the foreign cartoons children watch
Such that as they watch it they don't find it boring like other awareness cartoon films targeted at children we see this days
Which we feel aren't really speaking to the children of this day and age
I tried to create something more similar to what they are used to, what they watch and what attracts them
But this was very expensive
Thankfully I was able to produce a cartoon film
I started with Pneumonia, again, because this is the number one disease that causes mortality
But let me tell you what we reached later on
I showed this cartoon film to children
It was watched by hundreds of thousands of children
And people really did respond
And the advantage to this cartoon was that as soon as it was played on one satellite channel
It really did reach hundreds of thousands of children
But still I felt like this was boring, despite all of the achievements
I decided to implement an idea no one else has done before worldwide
I created a portable child cinema
I place this cinema on a car and I can move it to any place in the country
I can go to informal settlements, to sporting clubs, to malls, to schools
I set it up over there and it is already set up on the inside with small chairs
For them to sit on and there's a large screen and a sound system
And over there, when the child enters, they watch the Montasser Overcomes cartoon film
I am trying to always find innovative and novel ways in order to reach the children
So far we have reached 50,000 children through the coloring books
We've raised awareness with 50,000 mothers and fathers
[Applause]
We've raised awareness with 50,000 mothers and fathers through direct and indirect means through their children
Who go home and talk to their parents
14,000 children who were excluded by the national immunization programme have been educated and immunized
They receive life-long immunity against fatal diseases they are susceptible to
And we trained 1,600 volunteers nationwide
But this is still not enough
The more you succeed, as I told you, the more greedy you get
Because you want to leave a mark, create positive impact on the society
My dream is not to create a few books or a cartoon film
My dream is to create coloring books and cartoon films that cover all diseases and all the negative health traditions and attitudes
Those that affect children, not just in Egypt but also in all developing countries
And it doesn't stop here
We want to include this material in the education curricula at schools and preschools
Such that this [health education] becomes part and parcel of the basic education every child receives in developing countries
And there's more
We will translate this material as well to all languages spoken in all developing countries
Such that this becomes a basic right of all children
This is not a luxury for children
This is one of their basic rights
[Applause]
I believe that if these children are brought up to the culture of health education and understand its importance
These children will grow up to make a healthy population
A population that takes the right health-related decisions
A population that is definitely more productive
It will create more positive impact on the national produce
The governmental and private spending on medical treatment will decrease dramatically
It is much more expensive to treat an ill child than it is to educate hundreds of thousands of children
All of this will have a positive impact on their society
And I honestly believe that if in 20 years I find myself forced to close down the organization I founded for health education
Because there would no more be a need for the introduction of health education to schools
Because it's become available at all schools
And there would no longer be people who believe health education is a matter for medical professionals alone
And they believe that this kind of education is important for every person
The engineer, the doctor, the computer programmer,and every single person
I really believe that if I am forced to close in 20 years' time
This will be my success
And I believe that health education for children in developing countries can be as simple as a coloring book or a cartoon film
Thank you
[Applause]