The five keys to safer food training course
Train The Trainer course - Module 1: Directed to Women
In response to the increasing number of requests from countries to assist in strengthening their food safety education programmes for the prevention of foodborne diseases, WHO has developed a Train the Trainer course on the Five Keys to Safer Food which provides guidance on how to both educate and promote the adoption of safe food handling behaviours. The first module was designed to target women as women play an important role in the production and the preparation of safe food (women produce between 60% and 80% of the food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world’s food production [FAO Focus, 19 March 2009]). This training course was also developed in response to the WHO Director-General's priorities to promote the health of women, particularly in developing countries (Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda [WHO global report 2009]).
The Five Keys to Safer Food Train The Trainer course complements the package of the Five Keys to Safer Food Poster and Manual. WHO plans to extend the adaptation of this training to other settings, including school children, health workers working in rural settings and immunocompromised people.
This training course builds upon the concepts of Communications for Behavioural Impact (COMBI),a communication method developed by WHO, and is designed to go beyond education and foster the adoption of safe food handling behaviours.
Special thanks are given to the Food and Drug Administration of the United States, Office of Women and Health, for their support in the development of the materials and to the governements of Belize, South Africa and Tunisia which piloted the training.
South Africa: Outcome of the first pilot session organized in September 2007
The Department of health of South Africa adopted the Train the Trainer course to train food handlers in preparation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In February 2009, the Tswhane University of Technology presented the training sessions to lecturers from 6 universities of technology situated in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria who are responsible for the training of Environmental Health Practitioners in Food Hygiene and Community Development. All the candidates indicated afterwards that they are in a position to continue with the roll-out of the course through their respective institutions.
The 5 Keys poster is already available in Zulu and Tshwana and translations in Tsonga, Swazi, Afrikaans, Venda, Ndebele, Sotho, Xhosa and Pedi are in process to cover all the local South African languages and to reach the entire community.
Tunisia: Outcome of the second pilot session organized in January 2008
In January 2008, l'Agence Nationale de Contrôle Sanitaire et Environmental des Produits (ANCSEP) organized the second pilot session of the Train the Trainer course targeted to women. As part of its strategy to encourage the implementation of the Training course in the various educational sectors, ANCSEP asked the participants to propose a training project. The best projects will be selected by ANCSEP and ANCSEP and will support their implementation in collaboration with WHO.
Belize: Outcome of the third pilot session organized in February 2009
The Ministry of Health, Belize, is now considering to include the Train the Trainer course on Five Keys targeted to women in the training of food inspectors and health educators. WHO also piloted in Belize for the first time the second module targeted to health educators working in rural communities. The participants concluded that the Five Keys model would be relevant for rural settings and further development of Module 2 is now under consideration.