Clever & healthy: The new information platform for children and adolescents on health promotion and prevention
Right from an early age, an awareness on health-related topics plays an essential role in preventing diseases and strengthening health. Helmholtz Munich has therefore developed a new health platform together with children and adolescents. The platform clever.gesund provides understandable and scientifically based health information as well as support in implementing personal health projects at schools. The new platform is aimed at students and teachers. It is the core of a joint three-year pilot project for improving health literacy among children and adolescents, which is supported by AOK Bayern.
Good and reliable health information is not easy to find. The flood of information on the internet and in social media makes it difficult for children and young people to find their way around in search of understandable and reliable health information. However, knowledge about a healthy lifestyle is an important part of early prevention, especially in lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes or obesity. A healthy lifestyle strengthens one's own health and can prevent the development of diseases.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Tschöp, CEO at Helmholtz Munich, says: "The vision of Helmholtz Munich is a healthier society. With clever.gesund we are making an important contribution to disease prevention for children and adolescents. If they understand which factors promote health and which bring about illness, they can more easily take responsibility for their own health."
Dr. Irmgard Stippler, Chairwoman of the Board of AOK Bayern, continues: "It is important to us that the new health platform is oriented towards the needs of the students. That is why clever.gesund was developed together with them. Beyond simply providing information, we want to use the platform to support children and adolescents in independently evaluating health information and making their own decisions."
Even in its pilot phase, the health platform clever.gesund offers comprehensive and scientifically based information on questions about eating and drinking, exercise, relaxation or addiction. Between short texts, readers can click through small games and graphics or watch videos and illustrations.
Developed together with children and adolescents
What is special about the platform is that children and young people have helped to shape it from the very beginning. In various workshops, the team of Helmholtz Munich exchanged ideas with students and discussed with them: Which topics are exciting? How does health knowledge become attractive for young people? What kind of information do the children and adolescents want?
Implement your own health projects
Children and adolescents receive ideas, instructions and checklists for their own school health projects on clever.gesund. In this way, the students learn to build up their awareness on health-related topics and to pass on their knowledge to their fellow students.
Teaching material for classes
For teachers and school social workers, there is a separate section on the platform with project examples, instructions and materials that teachers can use to support students in carrying out their health projects. The website also offers learning units on various health related topics that can be used in regular lessons. In this manner, teachers and social workers at schools can also support their students in dealing with health information.
You can find the platform clever.gesund at: www.clever-gesund-info.de