Despite improved sanitation and the availability of effective antibiotics and vaccines, infectious diseases are still a major cause of disability, death, and socio-economic decline for millions of people all over the world. The burden of these infectious diseases is highest in lower income areas with tropical climates, while knowledge related to prevention and treatment is often too limited. This is illustrated e.g. by the recent dreadful outbreaks of Ebola in West-Africa. In addition, recent data suggests an increase in emerging infectious diseases in Europe due to climate changes and increased travelling and transport. There is a specific and urgent need for the development and execution of stimulating educational methods in this field since these are non-existing or not of sufficient quality. With this in mind, the ANTI VIRUS 1.0 project (funded by Erasmus+) was implemented in 2014 / 2015. Local teachers and scientists taught students about infectious diseases and coached them through a 10 week project in which they received lectures and designed their own tailor made prevention tool. The ANTI VIRUS team provided on-site support and facilitated virtual and international cooperation through the project website. ANTI VIRUS 1.0 has been a huge success raising the capacities of almost 1,500 students (age 14 – 16) at schools in The Netherlands, Indonesia and Suriname. The project gained lots of (media) attention and resulted in so many new requests from all over the world, that the current method with on-site support of the ANTI VIRUS team is not feasible anymore (time and money consuming). The project partners decided to change the design of ANTI VIRUS 1.0 into an e-learning module, complemented by a toolkit (teacher’s manual, FAQs and tips and tricks) and remote support: ANTI VIRUS 2.0. Through the use of e-learning and the toolkit, local teams can implement the educational project by themselves. This will maximize the reach and impact of this project. The new tools will be demonstrated during the project duration at schools in The Netherlands, Suriname, Indonesia and South-Africa (adding a new continent). ANTI VIRUS 2.0 offers the possibility to realize capacity building in three Partner Countries with the aim to use knowledge and teaching as an anti-infectious disease strategy. The non-formal learning project will result in increased skills and competences for the youth (e.g. team work, information finding) and for the teachers (e.g. organisational skills, ICT skills). This project is perfectly in line with EU policies in the field of youth, training and education, as it fosters strategic cooperation between Programme and Partner Countries and creates synergies between different organisations all dealing with youth and education. The results will greatly benefit society, as one of the outcomes will be greater awareness and better use of preventive measures in the whole community.
Antivirus 2.0 funded the 2017 edition of an annual program initiative called Viruskenner undertaken in The Netherlands since 2011. Viruskenner’s aim is to educate students about infectious diseases and to involve students in developing prevention and communication tools for viral infections and show them that they are playing an important role in society as the future generation to create innovative solutions for prevention. Antivirus 2.0 facilitated the development of a “blue-print” for remote learning and an e-learning module, enabling participants in other countries on different continents to participate in the Viruskenner education and prevention module. In the 2017 edition Senegal as a new partner participated for the first time. South Africa was interested but not ready yet to participate in this edition but instead used the 2017 edition to learn more about the Viruskenner project.In The Netherlands the project was executed with the Technasium foundation, a foundation that developed a innovative way of teaching life sciences which is now broadly implemented in the education curriculum in The Netherlands. Due to the large scale of the activities professional support for the organisation of the Dutch events was subcontracted to AV Brothers. Together with Surinamese partners Bureau Openbare Gezondheidszorg and Ministry of Education and Community Development Suriname we executed the project with the Hoogendoorn high school and the Prinses Amalia primary school. Colleagues from the Academic Hospital in Paramaribo were involved as local experts in infectious diseases. In Indonesia, partners included the highly recommended school SMA Negeri 16 and the Faculty of Medicine Airlanga University both located in Surabaya. In Senegal, the high school Cem Ndiareme participated supported by BOKO Africa foundation. BOKO Africa foundation has expertise in education in Senegalese communities to raise awareness for infectious disease prevention.The first part of the project was the development of content for the e-learning module by Erasmus MC, Cirion foundation and E-learning for Kids foundation. The technical realization of the e-learning module was subcontracted to Parcours, while the technical implementation of the online Viruskenner platform was subcontracted to Nowton.In each country five main activities were implemented and two evaluation moments were organized. Firstly, the Teach the Teacher event took place, in which teachers got an introduction in the project and shared their educational experiences with other teachers. Secondly, we measured the baseline knowledge of the students before young scientists and doctors from local institutions and the Department of Viroscience introduced them in the world of virus infections. After this kick-off the school teaching module began and the students worked for about two months on their knowledge and skills to develop a prevention tool or communication method. They were supported by young scientists, their coaches, who were reachable via e-mail or an online (video) call and who also visited the schools to have an informal consultation hour for the students. The best groups were chosen to present their innovative products and ideas in a national final. The best groups were awarded by an international jury with a Viruskenner prize. Finally, in every country a knowledge quiz was held and the best students were also awarded a prize. After the national final, the students filled in an evaluation form, in which their knowledge was evaluated again and their opinions about the project were recorded. In total about 1500 participating students from three countries thoroughly evaluated the project and the results of the evaluation showed that that they all increased their knowledge regarding virus infections. The Viruskenner project was embedded in the existing curricula of the participating schools strengthening the quality development of local education and training.