Mario Galea, Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly and Community Care said today that in the coming days the Secretariat for the Elderly and Community Care will be distributing a book to primary school children entitled In-Nannu nesa x’Jisimni. The aim of the book it to help children understand the condtion of dementia.
The Parliamentary Secretary commented that children often feel lost when they confront dementia and are not sure what to do or how to handle it.
The publication launch was held at St Thomas More Primary School at M’Skala. Last year 5000 copies of the publication were distributed.
The book helps the students to understand this condition and raises several questions like:
What is understood by the word dementia?
Is dementia contagious?
Why is the person suffering from dementia acting in a strange way?
What are the effects that dementia leaves on the families and on the person in question?
The author of the book Trevor Zahra read out some excerpts and discussed the theme with the students present. The book was illustrated by C.S. Lawrence.
Mario Galea added that the book’s aim is to correct misunderstandings about dementia. Very often research about dementia is done through the internet and children are likely to find information that is not relevant for their needs. It also is the case that children may encounter material that is not written by experts.
The book In-Nannu Nesa x’Jisimni is used as a textbook during PSD and Social Studies lessons.