School Health Program (CSHP)
“The Healthy Learning”
School Health Program (CSHP) – “The Healthy Learning”
Locations: Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria
School health programme (SHP) refers to all health activities carried out to mobilise and strengthen health promotion, health education and health prevention and restorative services within the school community. It is aimed to improve the health of students, school personnel, families and other members of the community. The components of a typical SHP are the following:
- School Health Policy
- Healthy School Environment (Child Friendly School)
- School Health Services
- School Health Instruction including skills-based education
- Intersectoral Participation
SHP is one of the most efficient strategies that a nation can use to prevent major health and social problems. Next to the family, schools can serve as vehicles for imparting relevant health-related instructions, life skills and experiences that can prepare young people for their roles as healthy, productive and responsible adults.
The school provides a unique opportunity for health education, promotion and prevention, and is a means of establishing a firm foundation for the healthy habits of the future adult population of any nation. School health activities not only support the sustainable development goals for health (SDG 3) and education (SDG 4), but also SDG 2 (reducing hunger), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation).
In collaboration with the selected the Parents Teachers Association, Lagos State (Nigeria) Ministries of Education and with active financial support from Mixta Africa and technical support from Amara Medicare and Society for Family Health, we launched a CeSAHA School Health Programme in Lakowe Community, Lagos Nigeria in 2021.
The goal of the initiative tagged “The Healthy Learning” was to create and nurture a supportive school environment that is critical to promoting and maintaining the health of all students, their staff and parents and even the wider community through a well-designed and professionally delivered school health intervention programme.
- To assess the existing school health services provided by the school.
- To enthrone positive health seeking behaviours, practices among students, staff and the wider community,
- To increase awareness, availability and utilisation of school health services,
- To promote best class sanitation and hygiene practices in the school.
- To create and sustain a healthy and safe learning environment for students and a productive workplace for staff.
- Stakeholder engagements
- Approval Obtained from Regulatory bodies
- Recruitment and Training of volunteers
- Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis
- The “Quick Wins” Interventions – High Impact. Moderate Efforts
- School Health Programme comprising; Anthropometric measurements for the pupils, eye, ear and dental screening and TB screening for the pupils of the school.
- Blood pressure screening, HIV and AIDS and TB screening for parents and staff
- Health Education and Hand Hygiene, Health Promotion
- Distribution of IEC materials
- First Aid box refill
- Distribution of eye glasses to pupils and parents who had eye defect
- The Transformational – High Impact, High Efforts – Plan for medium to long term
- 546 pupils were screened
- 27 staff and parents were screened
- 19 presumptive TB Pupils
- 2 RVS positive parents and staff
- 13 pupils got glasses, 6 of them referred for ophthalmologic review
- 14 parents got glasses, 1 was referred for ophthalmologic review
- There was appreciable increase in the knowledge and attitude of good hand hygiene practices amongst pupils by 9%
The beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the CeSAHA team and partners and would like this type of services to be extended to other schools.