Teams gear up for health survey next week

At least 20 teams are currently gearing up for the upcoming survey to determine the health condition of children in the CNMI.

The teams, composed of volunteers from the Department of Public Health, Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service, and the University of Hawaii, are taking part in a hands-on training on how to conduct household surveys.

The training, led by project leader Nicky Davison and principal investigator Rachel Novotny, is being held at the Division of Youth Services Parent Education Program office in Garapan.

Novotny said they are teaching the volunteers all components of the survey. The training, she said, will equip the research teams with the required knowledge and remind them on the safe use of the research equipment that would be used.

She said the survey, which would identify whether children in the Commonwealth are at risk to nutrition-related diseases and deficiencies, would be held this month and in July on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.

At the end of their training today, she said they would have to conduct an actual survey in the Garapan area near the training venue. Novotny said the area is included in the survey samples. “So we would just walk outside and do the survey,” she said.

Novotny said they would also train the volunteers to ensure that when they conduct the survey, they would be polite and careful. She said that working with children has always been a huge challenge during surveys.

“So we have to make it a point that we make it interesting and fun for the children,” she said.

Novotny said she hopes the reception to their teams would be positive. There will be four teams doing the research starting June 20 next week until July 7, to be conducted simultaneously on all islands. The team will start the fieldwork at 9:30am and end at 6pm on those dates.

Benavente said the team will travel from village to village and house to house to conduct interviews with parents and screenings of their children. She assured parents that the results of the survey would be confidential and, when they present the report, it would be presented as a group.

The survey would have a random sampling of 420 children from ages six months to 10 years. Among the health screenings that would be conducted are blood pressure, cholesterol, and hemoglobin level tests. The team will also conduct dental examinations to identify decaying, filled, and missing teeth, as well as check whether any of the children have inflamed or bleeding gums. The team will also check if the children have any skin rashes and determine early signs of puberty.

NMC-CREES will collect dietary and physical activity information of the children, while the University of Hawaii will conduct the “anthropometrics” of the children, where they will check the children’s weight and height to calculate their “Body Mass Index” and arm circumference.

The DPH said referrals would be made for any abnormal screening levels observed and parents will immediately be informed about the findings. Survey results will also be formally presented to the community after being analyzed.

They said the perks for participating in the survey is a free health screening for their children without them having to go to a clinic. Results will be given in an instant for the parents’ reference.

The survey is funded by two different sources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.