The Rio de Janeiro State Health Department took a health-education activity in quiz format to Colégio Estadual Chico Anysio, a state school, testing students' knowledge of e-cigarettes, condom use and HPV vaccination. The department announced the initiative on 28 August 2026.
The activity swapped the traditional talk for questions and answers in teenagers' own language — right down to the invitation, which promised a chance to "farmar aura", slang this generation uses for gaining status. The idea is simple: whoever answers correctly learns and teaches; whoever gets it wrong finds out on the spot what they need to know.
Who is who in this conversation
The State Health Department is the body that coordinates public health policy across Rio de Janeiro State, from disease surveillance to the supply of vaccines through the SUS, Brazil's public health system. Activities inside state schools bring those services closer to the people who most need preventive information before a problem appears.
The Brazilian Red Cross — Rio de Janeiro Branch works towards the same goal by a different route. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the branch works in prevention, first aid and community health education, training people who can act before an emergency and pass on what they have learned.
Why information is prevention
The three subjects of the quiz have one thing in common: they depend on well-informed individual choice. E-cigarettes are popular among young people, many of whom think they are harmless, when in fact they deliver nicotine and create dependence. Condoms remain the method that protects at the same time against sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy.
HPV vaccination, offered free of charge by the SUS to adolescents, is the main tool for preventing cervical cancer and other tumours associated with the virus. It is most effective when given before a person becomes sexually active — which is why school is the right place for this conversation.
School as a way in
Talking about health at school reduces the embarrassment many young people feel about going to a health centre or asking an adult. The game format takes the lecturing tone out of it and gives students back the role of the person who knows, not the person being corrected.
There is also a multiplier effect well known to anyone who works in community education: a teenager who understands the subject takes the information home, to their group of friends and onto social media. Every correct answer becomes content that travels far beyond the classroom.
Where the Red Cross comes in
The Brazilian Red Cross — Rio de Janeiro Branch runs a permanent programme of in-person courses open to the public, with training in first aid and health topics — a path for anyone who wants to be ready to act at home, at work or in the community. The courses are taught in Portuguese.
Care for adolescents also appears in other areas of the branch's work, such as the Yellow September suicide-prevention campaign, which deals with mental health and listening.
Practical information
Questions about HPV vaccination can be taken to any SUS primary health unit, which will explain the age groups covered and the current schedule. Other prevention activities and content are in the branch's news section.
Based on information from the Rio de Janeiro State Health Department (@saudegovrj), published on 28 August 2026 — original post, in Portuguese.
First published in Portuguese on 3 September 2026. Read the original →