SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM By Mahmoud Abdelfattah Elsherief Professor

SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM By Mahmoud Abdelfattah Elsherief Professor of Preventive Medicine 2020

1. School Health Program In Egypt school health services is considered as an important level of services, which offered to an important sector of the community.

2. Aims and Objectives of School Health Services; The objectives and functions of the school health services are: a. To make certain that every school child is as fit as possible so that each may obtain the maximum benefit from his education. b. To promote positive health in all children attending school, it is not sufficient just to check that absent of disease; there must be a definite program designed to make every child as fit as possible. c. Creation of a suitable environment for health, physically, mentally, and emotionally

d. Training of school children on health habits. e. Health promotion, and health appraisal of school children. f. Care of handicapped children, according to the condition of their cases.

3. The Importance of School Health Program; School children are subjected to special considerations because: a. They are major segment: of children in school age, comprises 20% of the population. b. Vulnerable groups: all of school children are dependent on their parents and suffer from educational stress and strain of growth. c. Children of school age are highly exposed to the risk of communicable diseases. d. There a close association between health and education.

4. Components of School Health Program; 4. 1. School Building; a. Site: Site of school should be silent, away from any source of noise, that interfere with the educational process, away from swamp to prevent exposure of school children to the hazards of mosquitoes, and not directly located at speedway to prevent road accidents among school attendants, in general the place should be safe guarded from any source of health troubles, and its surrounds are free from any dangers. The school should be as near as possible from the place of living of the students.

b. School Area; The school area that planned to be a school should have a wide area to face a horizontal extension in the future. One and half to meter 2‑ for each preparatory and secondary schools students. c. Shape of School Building; The shape of school buildings must be as follows: the pattern of wings, its model takes the form of letters E or T or L, the distance between wings not less than 20 m, this gives better chance for natural lighting and ventilation. The building of laboratories is better separated from the building of classes as a prophylactic measure against fires or chemical explosion also the kitchen in boarding schools must be separated for the same purpose. The storey not more than 2 -3 floors. The following spaces are recommended. 1. 0 - 1. 5 m 2 for primary school. .

d. Class room and Seats; The area of window(s) must be not less than 1/6 of the whole area of class. The class should be 4 -6 X 8 meters, about 48 m 2 It is convenient for 24 students. Seats: must be designed with an ideal lower border of the window at the level of child shoulder or higher models, with desk sloping to facilitate the process of writing without any physical stress on the student. e. School Structure; Building structure must be provided with more than one stair case to prevent over crowdedness of children on the stairs with the probability of many risks; also the building should be provided with a damp proof, fire proof and rats proof.

4. 2. Medical Screening; 4. 3. Staff; School staff i. e. teachers, social workers, administrators, nurses, health visitors, physicians, have to be free from communicable diseases. This medical team have the following duties; : a. Sharing in the seminar of health education. b. Attending the setting of preadmission and periodic examination c. Attending the campaigns of vaccination of school children. d. Regular meeting between team member

4. 4. Special Class and/or School; Distribution of students according to their health status, Those of specific health problems are assigned to special class (es), at the first floor in regular school for rheumatic heart disease children with special care by the school health team. Special student such as handicapped needs special class or school. 4. 5. Sanitary Measurements; The daily activities of the school should be arranged to follow properly the sanitary measures as much as possible; water supply, sewage disposal, refuse disposal, vectors control, proper ventilation, and lightening, .

4. 6. Nutritional Program; a. Nutritional education b. Diet supplement c. School Feeding Programs: Stress on protective nutrients [protein, vit. A] served food should be palatable, variable, (monotonous food causes objection by children) to satisfy appetite. A strict measure for food sanitation, and a drastic measure against food peddlers for prevention of communicable diseases among school children.

E. Health Services Health services delivered through school health unit should include: 1. First aid measure: that cover management of minor and mild wounds, burns, bruises, fractures, bleeding. 2. Curative services: that include all specialty needed. 3. Dental care services: 4. Preventive services that include: a. personal hygiene b. home nursing c. school feeding program (see later) d. management of "at risk" children e. prevention and control of parasitic infestation

5. health appraisal What's health appraisal? Health appraisal means: a follow up assessment for evaluation of health status of a given population. METHODS OF HEALTH APPRAISAL a) Comprehensive medical examination b) Screening tests c) clinical services studies d) survey Who are responsible to do health appraisal for school children? 1. School health physician. 2. Health visitor (nurse)

WHAT ARE THE DUTIES OF SCHOOL HEALTH PHYSICIAN'S: 1. Medical examination of students at preadmission/and periodic especially for students of first and fourth class. 2. Providing medical care for sick children. 3. Providing first aid care for those exposed to accidents or emergencies. 4. Prevention and control of infectious diseases. 5. Health education. 6. Supervision of health records. 7. General inspection of the school and school environment to detect any fault that threat student's health. 8. Participates in the local committees which plan the different activities that related to educational process.

WHAT ARE THE DUTIES OF HEALTH VISITOR? 1. Assists the physician for most of the previous activities. 2. Inspect child for general cleanliness. 3. Performs first aid measures. 4. Assists in medical examination, and registration. 5. Keeps the health record and files. 6. Refers the child to the physician and follow those children whom currently that they are free from infectious diseases. 7. Participates in prevention and control of communicable diseases and performs booster doses of immunization. 8. Participates in health education program.

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