Getting started with Youth Health 2.0
By: Kishan Kariippanon MD, MPH
A great opportunity to work in the Northern Territory was made
possible when I got
my current job as Youth Health Policy officer in the Sexual Health
and Blood Borne
Virus Unit (SHBBV), an agency that is part of the NT's Centre for
Disease Control.
The primary functions of the Youth Health Policy officer is to
network with service
providers and non government agencies and initiate grassroots
participation in sexual
health awareness and promote Clinic 34 - a free and confidential
sexual health service
in the NT. The SHBBV unit has a clinic in Darwin, Katherine, Alice
Springs, Tennant
Creek and Nhulunbuy.
The main challenge in this role, in my opinion, is to facilitate
the engagement and
increase the health seeking behaviour of youth with sexual health
services. The
search for a method in sexual health promotion brought me to social
media as an
already familiar networking and information sourcing tool amongst
youth. A strength
of this tool being its ability to encourage participation and allow
for 'user added
value'which can possibly result in users taking ownership of the
health issues at hand.
Through the advice of my colleague and a personal friend together
with the leadership
from my manager a.k.a networking, I am learning and having input
into how social
media can be used to make sexual health promotion more engaging and
palatable
to youth. I conducted a mini literature review and observed
different sexual health
related programs through social media and proposed to pilot a local
project. The
community in the NT is quite unique and therefore a specialised
approach needs to be
drawn rather than duplicating projects from other States.
The policy from the government is still being formulated on the
'use of Web 2.0
by public servants' for work purposes. Nevertheless the Federal
'Government's
Response' to the recommendations from "Engage: Getting on with Gov.
2.0" report
will enable this process to take practical form through guidelines
and policies that will
fuel the use of Web 2.0 in the public sector and allow for better
engagement with the
population.
While the above is still in process, the Menzies School of Health
Research has taken
up the pilot project we proposed and called it 'Studio 34'. This
project aims to provide
knowledge on how young people can be engaged through the use of
social media to
promote youth health. The project involves holding a competition on
the best rap on
youth health with the support of local hip hop artist like Kaotik,
DT3 and Pott Street
and promoting this through service providers and schools.
Expressions of interest
from schools in Darwin are coming in for presenters to talk about
creating content on
youth health through social media, arts and music.
We hope by the end of November of 2010 we will be able to have a
sufficient body
of knowledge to improve the Studio 34 project and systematically
destigmatise sexual
health with the help of social media.
Kishan Kariippanon MD,
MPH
A great opportunity to work in the Northern Territory was made
possible when I got my current job as Youth Health Policy officer
in the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Unit (SHBBV), an agency
that is part of the NT's Centre for Disease Control.
The primary functions of the Youth Health Policy officer is to
network with service providers and non government agencies and
initiate grassroots participation in sexual health awareness and
promote Clinic 34 - a free and confidential sexual health service
in the NT. The SHBBV unit has a clinic in Darwin, Katherine, Alice
Springs, Tennant Creek and Nhulunbuy.
The main challenge in this role, in my opinion, is to facilitate
the engagement and increase the health seeking behaviour of youth
with sexual health services. The search for a method in sexual
health promotion brought me to social media as an already familiar
networking and information sourcing tool amongst youth. A strength
of this tool being its ability to encourage participation and allow
for 'user added value' which can possibly result in users taking
ownership of the health issues at hand.
Through the advice of my colleague and a personal friend
together with the leadership from my manager a.k.a networking, I am
learning and having input into how social media can be used to make
sexual health promotion more engaging and palatable to youth. I
conducted a mini literature review and observed different sexual
health related programs through social media and proposed to pilot
a local project. The community in the NT is quite unique and
therefore a specialised approach needs to be drawn rather than
duplicating projects from other States.
The policy from the government is still being formulated on the
'use of Web 2.0 by public servants' for work purposes. Nevertheless
the Federal 'Government's Response' to the recommendations from
"Engage: Getting on with Gov. 2.0" report will enable this process
to take practical form through guidelines and policies that will
fuel the use of Web 2.0 in the public sector and allow for better
engagement with the population.
While the above is still in process, the Menzies School of
Health Research has taken up the pilot project we proposed and
called it 'Studio 34'. This project aims to provide knowledge on
how young people can be engaged through the use of social media to
promote youth health. The project involves holding a competition on
the best rap on youth health with the support of local hip hop
artist like Kaotik, DT3 and Pott Street and promoting this through
service providers and schools. Expressions of interest from schools
in Darwin are coming in for presenters to talk about creating
content on youth health through social media, arts and music.
We hope by the end of November of 2010 we will be able to have a
sufficient body of knowledge to improve the Studio 34 project and
systematically destigmatise sexual health with the help of social
media.