Anti Virus 2.0; an international and multidisciplinary tool for healthy life education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Anti Virus 2.0; an international and multidisciplinary tool for healthy life education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Capacity Building for youth in ACP countries, Latin America and Asia

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

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.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 98700 Eur

Project Coordinator

ERASMUS UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM ROTTERDAM & Country: NL

Project Partners