School health services
Encyclopedia
School health services are services from medical, teaching and other professionals applied in or out of school to improve the health and well-being of children and in some cases whole families. These services have been developed in different ways around the globe but the fundamentals are constant: the early detection, correction, prevention or amelioration of disease, disability and abuse from which school aged children can suffer.
that many pupil
s were backward in their studies only because of lack of physical vitality. In 1920, it was shown that so many pupils in the schools of Brooklyn, New York, were compelled to pass through the same grades twice that, at the average cost of $40 a term for each pupil, the borough
lost $2,000,000. On this basis various social organizations demanded an appropriation
from the city of $100,000 for more effective medical aid to the school children, contending that more than half of the extra expense could thus be saved. Out of 252,000 school-children inspected in New York City
in 1919, 74% were found defective physically, defective teeth and vision being the chief faults.
Unesco
Unesco has published a set of tools, to support the FRESH
framework, to guide those wishing to set up school health services around the world. Designed primarily for developing nations, these tools can be of universal use http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35173&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.The main emphasis of these tool is on:
United States
School health services are well developed in the United States. Central guidelines are provided by Making Health Academic but each state and within that each school board has adopted its own specific methods.
's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) designed to enable all schools to be part of a co-ordinated school health program. The project is built around the fact that six preventable behaviours, mainly learned in childhood
and youth
, account for most of the serious illnesses and premature deaths in the United States; these are:http://www2.edc.org/makinghealthacademic/cshp.asp#rationale
United Kingdom
The health of children and youth in the UK is mainly the responsibility of the NHS
, for example child health screening http://www.nsc.nhs.uk/ch_screen/child_ind.htm and advice for parents of overweight children http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=823. School based services are therefore more limited than in the US.
. A database of School Health and Nutrition (SHN) Programmes in low and middle income countries can be found on the site:
India
has a non-profit SHARP NGO dedicated to improving the health of indian school studentshttp://www.schoolndia.org
in schools was first instituted in France
in 1886, then, in succession, this example was followed by Belgium
, Hungary
, Chile
, Germany
and Great Britain
, the latter in 1908. In the United States, medical inspection in schools was first instituted in New York City
in 1892, then in Boston
in 1894, in Chicago
in 1895, and in Philadelphia in 1898.
Background
It was shown by statisticsStatistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
that many pupil
Pupil
The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...
s were backward in their studies only because of lack of physical vitality. In 1920, it was shown that so many pupils in the schools of Brooklyn, New York, were compelled to pass through the same grades twice that, at the average cost of $40 a term for each pupil, the borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
lost $2,000,000. On this basis various social organizations demanded an appropriation
Appropriation
Appropriation is the act of taking possession of or assigning purpose to properties or ideas. The word appropriation was first used by a Russian theorist named Bakhtin to describe a holistic language theory. The Russian word for appropriation is prisvoenie, which directly translated means ‘to make...
from the city of $100,000 for more effective medical aid to the school children, contending that more than half of the extra expense could thus be saved. Out of 252,000 school-children inspected in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1919, 74% were found defective physically, defective teeth and vision being the chief faults.
UnescoUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Tools
Unesco has published a set of tools, to support the FRESHFRESH, UNESCO
FRESH is an acronym for Focusing Resources on Effective School Health, an inter-agency framework developed by UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank, launched at the Dakar Education Forum, 2000, which incorporates the experience and expertise of these and other agencies and organizations. It is a...
framework, to guide those wishing to set up school health services around the world. Designed primarily for developing nations, these tools can be of universal use http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35173&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.The main emphasis of these tool is on:
- HIV/AIDS
- Food and nutrition
- Helminths and hygiene
- MalariaMalariaMalaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
- Violence
- DrugsDRUGSDestroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...
, tobaccoTobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and alcoholAlcoholIn chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
School health services are well developed in the United States. Central guidelines are provided by Making Health Academic but each state and within that each school board has adopted its own specific methods.Making Health Academic http://www2.edc.org/makinghealthacademic/about.asp
This is a five year project funded by CDCCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) designed to enable all schools to be part of a co-ordinated school health program. The project is built around the fact that six preventable behaviours, mainly learned in childhood
Childhood
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...
and youth
Youth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...
, account for most of the serious illnesses and premature deaths in the United States; these are:http://www2.edc.org/makinghealthacademic/cshp.asp#rationale
Examples of existing services
- MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. An example from a maritime state is http://www.mass.gov/dph/fch/schoolhealth/index.htm where a typical mission statement starts "School Health Services fosters the growth, development and educational achievement of Massachusetts' students by promoting their health and wellbeing ... " - New MexicoNew MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. An example from a southern state is http://www.healthierschools.org/ where an interesting "yuccaYuccaYucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North...
model of coordinated school health" is used to help visualize the inter-relationship of the services.
Relevant US Wikipedia links
- National Assembly on School-Based Health CareNational Assembly on School-Based Health CareThe National Assembly on School-Based Health Care is a membership organization that promotes and supports school-based health centers to assure that all children and adolescents receive high quality, comprehensive health care...
- American School Health AssociationAmerican School Health AssociationThe American School Health Association is a professional association. It claims a membership of 2,000 members in 56 nations, more than half of whom practice in K-12 schools or administer health education or health services programs in school districts or state departments of education.Founded in...
United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
The health of children and youth in the UK is mainly the responsibility of the NHSNational Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
, for example child health screening http://www.nsc.nhs.uk/ch_screen/child_ind.htm and advice for parents of overweight children http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=823. School based services are therefore more limited than in the US.
Examples of existing services
- EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
- Warrington http://www.warrington.gov.uk/learning/school_health.asp - Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
http://www.sebt.n-i.nhs.uk/index2.html - ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
http://www.sciennes.edin.sch.uk/handbook/healthservice.html
Other countries
School health systems are expanding in low- and middle-income countries. Information on school health in these countries is collated on the Schools and Health website http://www.schoolsandhealth.org maintained by the Partnership for Child DevelopmentPartnership for Child Development
The Partnership for Child Development is an organisation based at Imperial College London that seeks to improve health and nutrition in school-age children and youth in low-income countries, and thereby improve their education...
. A database of School Health and Nutrition (SHN) Programmes in low and middle income countries can be found on the site:
Examples of existing services
- AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
http://www.health.wa.gov.au/services/category.cfm?Topic_ID=6 - CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/7-18yrs-ans/comphealth_e.html - IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
http://www.dohc.ie/public/information/childrens_health/school_health_services.html - NigeriaNigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
has a non-profit NGO dedicated to improving the health of Nigerian adolescents.http://www.actionhealthinc.org/ - SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
http://www.hpb.gov.sg/hpb/default.asp?pg_id=1161 - PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
http://ihspakistan.com/SchoolHealth.html
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
has a non-profit SHARP NGO dedicated to improving the health of indian school studentshttp://www.schoolndia.org
History
Medical inspectionInspection (medicine)
In medicine, inspection is the thorough and unhurried visualization of the client. This requires the use of the naked eye.During inspection, the examiner observes:External signs:...
in schools was first instituted in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1886, then, in succession, this example was followed by Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, the latter in 1908. In the United States, medical inspection in schools was first instituted in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1892, then in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1894, in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1895, and in Philadelphia in 1898.