Publication:

Effectiveness of school-based health education through student Arogyadoots for vector-borne disease prevention in rural Maharashtra: a pre-post interventional study

Background Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) continue to place a heavy burden on rural India, and conventional control efforts have produced only limited gains. School-based peer education through student ‘Arogyadoots’ (messengers of good health) may offer a practical way to reach rural households. Objective was to assess changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding VBD prevention among trained student Arogyadoots and the rural families they educated.

Methods A pre-post interventional study was carried out in Ghorad village, Seloo Block, Wardha district, Maharashtra, between January 2023 and March 2025. Ninety-seven students from classes VIII-X received a two-month (60-hour) training module on VBDs and then delivered household health education to 970 families over six months. KAP was measured at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and three months later.

Results Mean knowledge scores rose from 46.12% to 77.62% among students (d=2.84, p<0.001) and from 32.20% to 68.34% among families (d=2.67, p<0.001). Attitude and practice scores improved similarly in both groups. At three-month follow-up, more than 94.9% of the gains were retained. All 970 households were reached, 97% of students completed the programme, and protocol fidelity was 94.6%.

Conclusions Trained school students can function as effective, low-cost health communicators for VBD prevention in resource-limited rural settings. Larger controlled trials with longer follow-up and objective outcome measures are needed before wider adoption.