One of the initiatives that the medical students of Ateneo de Zamboanga University - School of Medicine assigned at Barangay La Concepcion is the elimination of Open Burning, which is quite enormous in the barangay.
As part of their initial phase of implementation, the medical students conducted a health teaching for the residents of La Concepcion, the participants during the said health teaching were the Senior Citizens and active members of the Women’s Association.
The said health teaching focused more on the negative effects of burning, its consequences (biological, environmental, and in accordance with the law), during the health teaching the medical students also discussed some effective ways to dispose their wastes such as vermicomposting and recycling.
During the said health teaching the medical students also taught the residents about ways on how they can help prevent global warming by responsible active citizens, which includes the avoidance of single-use plastics and responsible solid waste management.
The activity’s effectiveness and relevance was then measured by giving the participants a pre-test and post-test anticipating a significant increase in their scores as an indication that they’ve learned something from the said health teaching.