Assessing the Impact of a Game-Based Health Education Curriculum on Infectious Disease Prevention in Rural Ghana

Abstract

Malaria and diarrhea are major causes of illness and death in Africa. These preventable diseases take the biggest toll on children, mostly due to lack of education and adequate resources in the home. The purpose of the reported research project was to test the role of game-based health educational curriculum in improving diarrhea- and malaria- related knowledge and behaviors among Ghanaian children and compare its effectiveness to a more traditional, lecture-based method of health education. Analysis of before and after surveys revealed that game-based educational intervention had a positive impact on healthy behaviors of primary school children, while lecture-based learning positively affected acquisition of theoretical knowledge by junior high students. These findings suggest the need for age-based approach in designing games for children's health education curricula.