A collaborative, mixed methods study exploring the nuances of vaccine acceptance and evaluating the use of localized educational content to improve vaccine uptake among Indigenous Guatemalans. Indigenous Maya peoples make up over 40% of Guatemala’s overall population. They have faced substantial barriers to COVID-19 vaccine access and acceptance. Consequently, vaccination rates among Indigenous Guatemalans remained concerningly low in the months following the introduction of the vaccine. We worked with Wuqu’ Kawoq | Maya Health Alliance and the University of California San Francisco to understand the factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy in these populations and to explore a community-centric approach to vaccine outreach. As part of our multi-phase study, we created and disseminated culturally and linguistically appropriate educational video content to target populations via social media, and evaluated its impact on vaccine perceptions. THE GAPBarriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Indigenous Guatemalans included lack of guidance in local languages, confusion around availability and eligibility, and myths and misinformation about side effects. Our teams recognized that in order to overcome these challenges, it was necessary to better understand vaccine perceptions in these communities and to identify ways to reach them with localized and understandable vaccine information.OUR APPROACHWuqu’ Kawoq is an established and [...]

An evidence-based health education toolkit to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable communities, where barriers to accessing health care and health information are high. Our team is committed to applying our expertise in education and health to create resources that are universally relevant. Our free COVID-19 Toolkit provides key information related to the prevention and understanding of COVID-19. The content is mainly visual to address language & literacy barriers, mobile-friendly for use in low-bandwidth settings, and includes recommendations that consider varying environmental contexts. The toolkit contains videos, infographics, and short animations about: Mental Health Mask Use Journey of the Virus Strategies to Prevent Spread at Home Management of Respiratory Secretions Physical Distancing Hand Washing All materials in our COVID-19 toolkit are open access and all work is available for use, distribution and adaptation under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA license. {{ vc_btn: title=View+all+videos&i_icon_fontawesome=fab+fa-youtube&add_icon=true&link=url%3Ahttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fplaylist%253Flist%253DPLuhZ6_ONjgIntONJ0JDmPXAkdPJmwD5P7%7Ctarget%3A_blank }}{{ vc_btn: title=View+all+infographics+%26amp%3B+animations&i_icon_fontawesome=fas+fa-photo-video&add_icon=true&link=url%3Ahttps%253A%252F%252Fshow.pics.io%252Fcovid-19-toolkit%252Fsearch%253FtagId%253D626fe41ace5c9c00129f62cb%7Ctarget%3A_blank }} Available in 12+ languages Afrikaans Arabic English French Hindi isiXhosa isiZulu Kiswahili Mandarin Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) Portuguese Setswana Spanish Videos « Prev1 / 5Next »How do vaccines fight COVID-19? | Stanford Center for Health EducationHelping children and teens cope with stress during COVID-19Coping With Stress & Caring for [...]

Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Now, in the shadow of COVID-19 and its pandemic, communities, researchers, advocates, and survivors are seeing and experiencing a worsening of intimate partner violence (IPV).  We worked with Stanford University’s Department of Emergency Medicine and the community based organization Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence to create a video series that aims to better inform health workers, community members, and survivors about the complexities of IPV, while navigating the challenges the pandemic has created in seeking help. THE GAPThe COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated existing difficulties for IPV survivors to access resources, new and existing. Risk factors known to be correlated with IPV have increased, such as financial, medical, and emotional stressors, disproportionately impacting communities of color. Resources and help systems that were once reliable and consistent closed down, migrated to online services, or were confusing for survivors and their friends and families. Many IPV hotlines and shelters experienced a decrease in call volumes, and judicial proceedings paused entirely or moved to online platforms. Many IPV victims now lack safe and reliable access to resources. Amid these entangled issues, community health workers (CHWs) and educators can serve a [...]

An animated video models snakebite prevention & treatment tips According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 5.4 million people are bitten by snakes every year with 2.7 million envenomings (poisoning from snakebites). Snakebite envenomings are a global issue, and a particularly prevalent concern in Eswatini where the majority of the population is at high risk of exposure to a venomous snakebite.  The best known cure for a snakebite? Preventing it in the first place. THE GAPIn Eswatini, most people live in rural areas or work in agriculture, making them more likely to come into contact with the region’s poisonous snakes. Once bitten, the same population is at higher risk of disability or death from poisoning due to the prohibitive cost and shortage of antivenom. Its steep cost, short shelf life, and need for refrigeration make antivenom inaccessible for many patients, prompting the need for alternative care tactics. It is important to remember that this particular health issue is not the snake’s fault; most will bite only if provoked. Taking certain measures to prevent envenomings can save the lives of both humans and snakes.OUR APPROACHWe teamed up with the Eswatini Antivenom Foundation (EAF) to create an animated video on snakebite [...]

A mobile advocacy training to elevate the voices of frontline community health workers. For too long, community health workers (CHWs) have been excluded from discussions that influence their work and their communities. That’s why Advocacy Training for Community Health Workers is a critical course to share with CHWs around the world. This free mobile training equips CHWs with the skills to effectively share their personal stories and promote the health issues most important to their communities. THE GAPCommunity health workers are the most proximal and trusted care providers for millions of people around the world. Despite their demonstrated impact, CHWs have historically been excluded from conversations and decision-making that influence their work and communities.OUR APPROACHWe worked with the Community Health Impact Coalition and an advisory group of CHWs from around the world (Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Malawi, and Guatemala) to ensure that all content is action-oriented and reflective of the realities of CHWs’ work and the challenges they face. Learners will have the ability to access and download videos, reading materials, and reflection exercises on the following topics: 1. The history and background of CHW programs 2. How to advocate for improved health care and working conditions [...]

Latest Projects COVID-19 Training for Healthcare Workers This course is designed for training physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers. It covers topics including symptoms and signs in patients with COVID-19, early stabilization of patients, preventing the need for intubation, and ventilator management of patients. The course is available in English, Spanish, Hindi, French, and Portuguese and can be accessed through Coursera or edX below. Download our Digital Medic app on iOS and Google Play for use in offline mode. Enroll on Coursera or edX Viral Facts series Viral Facts is a regular series dedicated to quickly and credibly answering common COVID-19 questions. Our goal is to create evidence-based videos on timely topics that appeal to a general audience.   View the playlist How do Vaccines Fight COVID-19? Did you know that vaccines work by triggering your body’s natural immune response to protect you from specific germs, like the virus that causes COVID-19? Take a closer look at how this happens, and why some people experience symptoms in the first few days after receiving the vaccine. Watch the video Ver el vídeo वह वीडियो देखें IMAGES IN 12 LANGUAGES OR CREATE YOUR OWN! Many of our COVID-19 infographics are available for download in [...]

Family caregivers play an integral role in the well being of individuals in need of medical care. However, they are often ill-equipped to recognize and meet the needs of their family members, particularly after hospitalization. THE GAPA growing body of work suggests that educating family caregivers is a cost-effective way to improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital readmission rates, particularly in low resource areas where follow-up care options are limited.OUR APPROACHStarting in May 2018, Stanford Digital MEdIC and the not-for-profit, Noora Health, entered a collaboration to better understand how the different components of caregiver training contribute to improved patient practices and outcomes. Noora Health was founded at Stanford University and based in Bangalore, India that has recognized the importance of integrating family caregivers into the health delivery process.DISSEMINATIONNoora Health has developed an in-hospital caregiver training model that they currently deliver in dozens of urban and rural hospitals across India. Noora trainers leverage visual tools including videos and flip charts to teach patients and their family members about best practices for follow-up care.IMPACT EVALUATIONCurrently, we are piloting a variety of model modifications aimed at increasing the effectiveness of Noora Health’s patient and caregiver engagement. We are also exploring the potential for [...]

Around the world today, more than 80 million learners worldwide engage with massive open online courses (MOOCs). The tremendous reach of open online learning platforms presents a huge opportunity for massive open online public health education too! THE GAPTo day, the vast majority of MOOCs have been created in an attempt to solve for global higher education. Only a handful of MOOCs have focused primarily on disseminating public health education and improving basic health behaviors in their audiences.OUR APPROACHWe created four massive open online courses, on child nutrition, food and health for adults, breastfeeding and gender health. These courses currently reach more than 400,000 learners around the world and two have been repurposed for continuing medical education (CME) to support physicians in spreading basic health messages.DISSEMINATIONOur massive open online courses are hosted on Coursera, where learners around the world can access them for free, with the option of purchasing a completion certificate if they feel this will help them in the future. Our fastest growing MOOC, Introduction to Food and Health, grows by approximately 14,000 learners each week. Additionally, we reach thousands of physician learners, who access our courses through the free Stanford Online CME platform.IMPACT EVALUATIONBoth Coursera and the [...]

At present, one in four children in South Africa is stunted. Stunting prevents children all over the world from achieving their full potential. The impact of stunting reaches far beyond height – it impairs a child’s brain development, performance in school, and learning ability for the rest of their life – and it can begin even before a baby is born. Although stunting is largely irreversible, it is preventable. THE GAPStunting results from a number of factors, including inadequate nutrition for the expectant mother and her child. But it can also be the result of substandard living environments that lead to frequent illness or even lack of psychosocial stimulation. Believe it or not, love, play and early stimulation of a child’s mind, may be as important as healthy food in helping that child thrive.OUR APPROACHIn collaboration with DG Murray Trust’s Grow Great Campaign and other local stakeholders, we have developed an engaging, story-based video series to raise awareness around the importance of stunting prevention and help frontline health workers communicate these critical health messages to the families they serve. By empowering families with knowledge, we can work towards a brighter future for all South Africans.DISSEMINATIONOur content is disseminated through collaborations [...]

More children are surviving, but not enough are thriving. Mortality rates for children under 5 have decreased in South Africa, but many children are not reaching their full development potential as evidenced by the high rates of stunting and poor educational outcomes. The national Side-by-Side campaign in South Africa is working to encourage stronger collaboration between healthcare workers and caregivers to improve children's health and development, in part through their Road to Health Book that is issued to all new births across the country. THE GAPThe Road to Health Book is a health education tool given to caregivers in South Africa, free for all babies born since late 2018 in public or private health care facilities. The book places the supportive relationship between the caregiver and the child at the center of the child's development, and emphasizes the relationship between caregivers and healthcare professionals, working side by side to support each child.OUR APPROACHIn collaboration with the National Department of Health and multiple South African maternal child health stakeholders, we have created a series of videos that highlight the paradigm shift towards the caregiver as central to their child's nurturing care and protection, and their lifelong health outcomes, with the health [...]

There is a critical deficit in the number of health professionals being trained worldwide. As a result, billions of people do not have access to adequate healthcare and there are tremendous disparities in rates of avoidable disability and death. THE GAPThe traditional approach to medical education is insufficient to address the current, pressing, and growing knowledge gaps and educational inequities. The problem is exacerbated in under-resourced areas, where healthcare professionals available to teach, and educational resources necessary to facilitate high-quality training, are in short supply.OUR APPROACHWe seek to address the gaps in global medical education by leveraging the expertise of Stanford faculty by creating digital modular medical education curricula that can be localized to meet the needs of the learning contexts.DISSEMINATIONWe work directly with medical education institutions to identify curricular gaps and provide access to digital content created at Stanford, such as our Anatomy of the Upper Limb, Emergency Medicine, and Microbiology courses. We also work with institutions to identify viable digital platforms for disseminating content.IMPACT EVALUATIONWe have piloted sharing supplementary medical education content across a number of institutions and are working with faculty at collaborating institutions and at Stanford to better identify the ways in which content can be [...]

Around the world, more than 800 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Both new mothers and their infants face an even greater risk of experiencing poor health outcomes if they live in an under-resourced part of the world. THE GAPThe great majority of maternal and infant deaths occurring in low-resource setting can be prevented. Improvements in maternal knowledge, leading to health-promoting behaviors, are often an important part of the solution.OUR APPROACHIn collaboration with the Philani Maternal Child Health and Nutrition Trust, we created a collection of foundational health education videos addressing key topics in maternal child health. The series was first narrated in isiXhosa, then translated into Hindi and Dioula. It is currently being used in South Africa, India and Burkina Faso.DISSEMINATIONBy partnering with community health workers, who are trained in delivering health education messaging, we work to disseminate our content via mobile technology to families who would otherwise lack access to this information. Armed with tablets and smartphones, and using our offline app, we empower these frontline healthcare providers with accessible teaching tools which empower them in the field. The maternal child health content is also freely available on our DM YouTube Channel.IMPACT [...]