School Health Services
Oduntan Daniel Toluwani
CLI/2017/082
Matthew Temitayo Femi
CLI/2017/075
OUTLINE
• Introduction
• Importance
• Definition
• Objectives
• Components
• Elements
• Implementation of elements of school health services
• History of school health services in Nigeria
• Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
• School age is the period, between ages 5-17, during
which a child is undergoing rapid, physical and
mental developments.
• So in other to benefit maximally from educational
program the child must be healthy physically,
mentally and emotionally.
• The purpose of school health services is to ensure
that all students are healthy and ready to learn.
Introduction
• School health services contribute to the goals of
educational and health care system by providing
screenings and referrals, administering
medications and treatments, providing first aid,
providing health counseling and education, and
supporting students to acquire self managements
skills.
• The school health team consists of the school
physicians, school nurses and health assistants
working in partnership with students, his or her
parents - the student’s primary healthcare
provider.
IMPORTANCE
• Research has shown that nutritional deficiencies and
poor health are some of the major causes of low
school enrollment, high absenteeism, early drop out
and poor school performance.
• To provide emergency care for illness or injury while
at school, to ensure that all students get appropriate
referrals to health care providers, to monitor for and
control the spread of communicable disease, to
provide education and counseling in variety of
health and wellness topics.
DEFINITION
• School health services are services provided
through the school system to promote and
improve the health and well-being of learners,
school personnels and in some cases whole
family and the broader community
• School health is also the state of complete,
physical, mental and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity
among pupils, teachers and other school
personnels.
OBJECTIVES
• The main objective of these services is the prevention of illness as well as the
promotion of health and well being of the students through;
1. promotion and maintenance of healthy growth
2. Prevention and control of communicable diseases among school children
3. ensuring a healthy environment for children at school
4. provision of emergency care for school children
5. promotion of optimum sanitary condition of the school
6. inculcating the principles of good health in school children
7. provision of social educational therapy for physically challenged children
8. early diagnosis, treatment and follow up on defective capabilities in children
10.providing first aid and emergency care
COMPONENTS
The components of school health services are;
• School health education
• Physical education
• Nutrition services
• Counseling, psychological and social services
• Healthy and safe school environment
• Health promotion for staff
• Family/community involvement
SCHOOL HEALTH EDUCATION
• This addresses the physical, mental, emotional
and social dimensions of health
• It encompasses many topics including alcohol
and drug abuse, personal health and wellness,
sexual health, and of course healthy eating and
nutrition
• It allows students to develop and demonstrate
increasingly sophisticated health related
knowledge, attitudes, skills and practices.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
• It improves cognitive abilities and learning
through a variety of activity areas such as basic
movement skills; physical fitness; rhythm and
dance; games and individual sports.
NUTRITION SERVICES
• Nutritious foods help maintain healthy
lifestyles;
• This encourages balanced, appealing and varied
meals for students.
• To prevent some malnutrition problems.
• It encourages positive food habits by helping
the children learn about healthy eating which is
a skill they can bring home and spread to their
own families.
COUNSELLING SERVICES
• This aspect helps to improve students mental,
emotional and social health and provides
trusted professionals such as certified school
counsellors, psychologists, and social workers
to guide students.
• They include individual and group
assessments, intervention and referrals.
HEALTHY AND SAFE SCHOOL
ENVIRONMENT
• It is important that schools are safe and secure for all those
who attend and work there. So this aspect is aimed at
promoting a healthy, physical environment.
• A healthy school environment means many things starting
with the physical property as in ensuring that the school
building and grounds are free of dangerous elements
(biological, physical or otherwise) and ending with the social
environment within that building including the health culture
perpetuated by the student body.
• The location should be away from market places, cinema etc
should be heat resistant, minimum thickness of exterior wall
should be 10inches. Classroom < or = 40 pupils / classroom.
• There should be independent, safe and potable water supply,
vendors approved eating facilities by schools.
HEALTH PROMOTION FOR STAFF
• You can’t change your culture without also
improving the ability of your role models to
demonstrate healthy lifestyles to your students. By
focusing on staff wellness, you’ll ensure your teachers
are not only passing their experiences on to their
students, but that your teachers are also reaping the
benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
• And the healthier your employees are, the lower your
overall health care costs will be. This is potentially a
budgetary golden egg; not only will your staff members
be healthier, but you can also use those health care
savings to improve other areas of your organization.
FAMILY/ COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
• You can engage the students in health-conscious
activities during school day but there will be little
positive change if the parents aren’t also
educated on the benefit of living a healthy
lifestyle.
• The same goes with the community as a whole ;
there are some great ways to get your
community’s leaders involved in construction of
safe walkways, bike lanes and playgrounds for
kids and parents alike to enjoy
ELEMENTS OF SCHOOL HEALTH
SERVICES
• Pre entry medical and dental screening
It should include:
i. Physical examination
ii. Mental health examination
iii. Dental examination
iv. Laboratory investigation consisting of genotype and blood group, urinalysis, stool microscopy, hematocrit etc
. Routine Health Screening and Examination which includes
i. Teacher’s observation of the child.
ii. Professional screening
iii. First aid preparedness
iv. Special needs integration services
v. Counseling
. School Health Record- should contain
i. Personal and family history
ii. History of past illness/hospitalization with relevant information on treatment received and necessary follow up
iii. Records of immunization and screening test
iv. Records of heights and weights taken at regular interval
v. Results of teacher’s routine observations
IMPLEMENTATION OF ELEMENTS OF
SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES
• Advocacy and coordination
• Capacity building
• Control of communicable diseases
• Partnerships
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Institutional roles
History of school health services in
Nigeria
• A National study of the school health system in Nigeria by the Federal
Ministries of Health and Education revealed that only 14% of head teachers
indicated that pre-enrolment medical examination was mandatory in their
school and 30% of the students have low BMI and the common health
conditions that contribute to absenteeism include Fever (56%) , Headache
(43%), Stomach ache (29%), cough/catarrh (38%) and malaria (40%).
• A study of comparative cross sectional survey of private and public secondary
schools was designed to determine the school health services available and
practices in primary schools in Ogun State, Nigeria using a multi-stage
sampling technique, structured, interviewer administered questionnaire and a
checklist.
• The study concludes that the practice of the various components of school
health services was poor but better in private primary schools in Nigeria.
Routine inspection by teachers was the commonest form of health appraisal.
The conclusion suggested that more health personnel need to be employed to
cater for the health of the school children in Nigeria and other similar
developing countris
CONCLUSION
• A child's ability to attain her/his full potential
is directly related to the synergistic effect of
good health, good nutrition and appropriate
education.
• School health is therefore an investment in a
country's future and in the capacity of its
people to thrive economically and as a society.
THANK YOU
