Health education programs in the prevention of foodborne diseases

Abstract

 Foodborne diseases (FBD) usually have an infectious or toxic cause related to  the ingestion of contaminated food; symptoms range from mild gastroenteritis to  more serious situations. People’s homes are the main places in the transmission  chain of these diseases, and so it is necessary to constantly educate and remind  consumers about the risks that some foods and practices offer. This study aimed  to identify articles on educational interventions on the prevention of FBD. This  was a literature review of articles and other documents in MEDLINE, LILACS,  SciELO, REPIDISCA, PAHO, WHOLIS and Google Scholar published from  2000 to 2012. The keywords used were ‘Foodborne Diseases’, ‘Health Education’,  ‘Disease Prevention’, ‘Health Surveillance’, ‘Educational campaigns’, ‘Health  Promotion’, and ‘Food Contamination’ separately or combined. During the study  period 15 different government and six nongovernmental institutions developed  21 health education programs focused on preventing FBD; of these, four were  national, four were state and thirteen were municipal programs. Six focused  on public and private school students, eight were directed towards the general  public and seven to specific groups, i.e., lunch ladies, riverine people, and others.  Media resources, such as television and radio, face-to-face communications  including talks, educational materials available on the Internet and as printed  matter were used as tools to spread information. In conclusion, according to the  literature search, the educational measures to prevent DTA occurred throughout  the country, mostly at the municipal level with the general population being the  central target audience.