The Effectiveness of School Health Program

The Effectiveness of School Health Program

The Effectiveness of School Health Program





1. Introduction

Health promotion is focused on preventing and reducing untimely morbidity and mortality. It is a way of mediating between people and their environment, combining personal choice with social responsibility, for people to create a healthier future. Health promotion is practised in nearly all countries that are members of the United Nations. It occurs in many settings, such as schools, workplaces, hospitals, villages, towns and cities.

The School Health Program emerged simultaneously in Europe and North America in the mid-1980’s. It is based on the Declaration of Alma Ata (WHO, 1978) and the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (WHO, 1986).The Charter, adopted a ‘settings approach’, where the focus is on the settings in which people live, love, work and play. This programs support schools and their communities in better health actions. It complements the WHO School Health Initiative, which provides an impetus for mobilizing and strengthening school health promotion and education activities at local, national, regional and global levels.

Patterned after the World Health Organization’s “Global School Health Initiative” , the Program Sekolah Sihat was piloted in Malaysia in the year 2003. Program Sekolah Sihat, or translated as “Healthy Schools Program”, was aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles among primary school children aged 7 – 12 years old.

2. The Structure of the School Health Program

A set of regional Guidelines for Schools Health Programs was developed in 1995 (WHO, 1996). All members of the United Nations endorsed the guidelines. The guidelines identified six components of the Health Promoting School which includes :

i. School Health Policies
ii. The Physical Environment of the School
iii. The School’s Social Environment
iv. Community Relationships
v. Personal Health skills
vi. Health Services

2.1 School Based Health...

Similar Essays