Introduction: Dengue is an endemic disease that affects community members of all ages, including young chil- dren. With proper exposure, children will be aware of their surroundings and can keep themselves protected. Thus, the current study design introduces an activity-based programme to suit children, with the aim of testing the effectiveness of this programme by analysing knowledge and practice scores of children before and after the programme. Method: A pilot study to determine the effectiveness of an activity-based programme was conducted among fifty KEMAS kindergarten children from June to July 2019. The one-day based programme consisting of theatre performance and games were conducted at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. Data from participants involved was collected a week before and a week after the activity-based programme using a validated questionnaire. Results from the data were statistically analysed using the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive test was used to generate socio-demographic data while the Wilcoxon Sign-Rank test was used to compare knowledge and attitude scores before and after the programme. Results: A total of 46 participants have successfully attended the activity-based programme and completed pre and post questionnaires. There were significant differences in both knowledge and practice scores among participants following participation in the activity-based programme, where, p < 0.001. Conclusion: This preliminary study concludes that an activity-based programme on dengue has improved participants’ knowledge and practice towards dengue, thus can be considered as a validated programme for early exposure of prevention knowledge and measures against dengue among kindergarten children.
Chikungunya is an infection caused by chikungunya virus which at present has spread to new countries and con- tinents. Chikungunya is associated with self-limiting and non-fatal infection in the past. However, in recent times, increased severity of the disease has been reported resulting in health and economic burden. The threat and bur- den of chikungunya would grow in future in the absence of specific antiviral or vaccine to control or eliminate the infection. This review discusses chikungunya in general including transmission of its etiological agent and clinical manifestations of the disease. Subsequently, management and treatment of chikungunya virus will be reviewed with particular emphasis on natural products or their active compounds with potential anti-chikungunya virus activities.