Factors affecting the provision of health service delivery in schools in Engela district, Ohangwena region, Namibia (original) (raw)
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University of the Western Cape, 2019
Provision of effective school health services is fundamental to learners' health and learning. It is obvious that ineffective or absent school health services would ultimately jeopardize the health of learners, core school activities and results. Hence, it is vital for the government departments and schools concerned, to ensure effective school health services delivery, for the benefit of all learners and to alleviate health problems in schools. The purpose of the study is to understand the effective provision of school health services related to the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) and Integrated School Health Policy (ISHP) frameworks in the selected Western Cape formerly disadvantaged schools located in both the Metro East and Metro North Districts. A qualitative research procedure was chosen utilizing qualitative research methods, individual interviews, focus group interviews and non-participant observation. The study focused on three schools, including two public primary schools and one public secondary school that were purposefully sampled to participate in the study. The research concentrated only on the views of the parents, educators, and principals. This investigation revealed that parents, educators, and principals find themselves incapacitated and helpless in addressing health issues due to inadequate school facilities, information, and support for effective school health services delivery in their schools. This study concludes by recommending that principals, teachers, and parents should be carefully trained on how to deal with learners' health problems that may arise either from home or at school. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ x DESCRIPTION OF KEY TERMS School Health Services-are parts of the school health program provided by physicians, nurses, dentists, social workers, teachers, and other skilled health personnel, to appraise, protect and promote the health of students and the school personnel (Baru 2009). School Health Problems-refer to health problems of school children which vary from one place to another and may include malnutrition, stomach parasites, injuries and infectious disease including skin, eye, or ear diseases amongst others illnesses (Sonawane 2017). Integrated School Health Policy (ISHP)-is a recognized advancement of the school health agenda and the recognition of school health services as a national priority programme, offered through the integrated involvement of the Departments of Basic Education (DBE) and Social Development (DSD) (Integrated School Health Policy 2012). School Health Program-includes maintenance of the school environment, protection, and promotion of health, as well as health education (Currie & Vogl 2013). Health Promoting School-is defined as a school that is constantly strengthening its own capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working (Struthers et al. 2013).
Strengthening a Comprehensive School Health Approach in the Eastern Health Region
Eastern Health is the largest integrated health authority in Newfoundland and Labrador, serving a regional population of more than 290,000 and offering the full continuum of health and community services, including public health, long-term care, community services, hospital care and unique provincial programs and services. The geographic territory covered by Eastern Health is approximately 21, 000 km2. Our vision is Healthy People, Healthy Communities. It is within this context that we offer services to schools. “Comprehensive school health depends on a common vision, shared responsibilities and harmonized actions among health, education and other sectors” (Joint Consortium for School Health -Comprehensive School Health) . We use the Comprehensive School Health Framework to guide our service in a number of ways. For example in rural areas, health staff is organized by interdisciplinary teams to provide service to schools. Also we have established interagency committees at both local...
Issues and Opportunities in Primary Health Care for Children in Europe, 2019
Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) defines school health services (SHSs) as those that exist due to a formal arrangement between educational institutions and primary health care. SHSs are unique in that they are designed exclusively to address the needs of children and adolescents in this age group and setting. We investigated SHSs have been provided to schools and how they contribute to primary healthcare services for school children. We did this by mapping the national school health systems against the standards of the World Health Organization, and against a framework measuring the strength of primary care, adapting this from an existing, adult-focused framework. We found that all but two countries in the European Union and European Economic Area have SHSs. There, however, remains a need for much greater investment in the professional workforce to run the services, including training to ensure appropriateness and acceptability to young people. Greater collaboration between SHSs and primary care services would lead to better coordination and the potential for better health (and educational) outcomes. Involving young people and families in the design of SHSs and as participants in its outputs would also improve school health.
South African Family Practice, 2010
Background: The level of development of a country is measured by the health status of its children. The higher the mortality and morbidity rates in children, the more the country is challenged to improve its health care system. Although South Africa accepted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1996 thereby committing itself to prioritisation of children, the implementation of school health services in South Africa has deteriorated to levels that contravene these rights. The promotion of health in schools requires a strong political commitment that will influence all levels of policy making, in other words national, provincial and local, towards an integrated and coordinated school health programme. Methods: A qualitative, explorative and descriptive study was conducted to identify barriers that led to poor implementation and a decline of school health services in the Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces. The data-collection method of choice for this study was focus group discussions, which were conducted with all intersectoral role-players involved in school health programmes. To ensure broad representation of the various stakeholders, 10 participants were selected from five districts in each of the two provinces. This resulted in 50 participants per province. Results: The study findings reveal the following as barriers that hamper successful implementation of comprehensive school health programmes: • Barriers related to governance, for example lack of national policy guidelines for school health services and failure of government to prioritise school health services • Programme-related issues, such as lack of intersectoral collaboration and unrealistic nurse-learner ratios • Management-related issues, such as lack of support by management and managers' limited knowledge of the Healthpromoting Schools Initiative • Community-related issues, such as health professionals not including the communities in school health programmes Conclusions: The need for political commitment in consistently placing the health and education of learners as a priority on the national agenda cannot be over-emphasised. Having adopted the CRC, South Africa took a giant step towards the prioritisation of child protection and care issues. This commitment can only be achieved through conscious intersectoral efforts that will promote a spirit of working together and sharing scarce resources towards one common goal.
Schools for health, education and development: a call for action
Health Promotion …, 2009
In 2007, the World Health Organization, together with United Nations and international organization as well as experts, met to draw upon existing evidence and practical experience from regions, countries and individual schools in promoting health through schools. The goal of the meeting was to identify current and emerging global factors affecting schools, and to help them respond more effectively to health, education and development opportunities. At the meeting, a Statement was developed describing effective approaches and strategies that can be adopted by schools to promote health, education and development. Five key challenges were identified. These described the need to continue building evidence and capturing practical experience in school health; the importance of improving implementation processes to ensure optimal transfer of evidence into practice; the need to alleviating social and economic disadvantage in access to and successful completion of school education; the opportunity to harness media influences for positive benefit, and the continuing challenge to improve partnerships among different sectors and organizations. The participants also identified a range of actions needed to respond to these challenges, highlighting the need for action by local school communities, governments and international organizations to invest in quality education, and to increase participation of children and young people in school education. This paper describes the rationale for and process of the meeting and the development of the Statement and outlines some of the most immediate efforts made to implement the actions identified in the Statement. It also suggests further joint actions required for the implementation of the Statement.
Evidence of effectiveness of school health promotion In the EMR Region
Effectiveness Quality of health services depends on the effectiveness of service delivery norms and clinical guidelines. Effectiveness answers the questions; – Does the procedure or treatment, when correctly applied, lead to the desired results? – Is the recommended treatment the most technologically appropriate for the setting in which it is delivered? Evidence Indicators of effectiveness of school health promotion Minimizing the bureaucracy to school increasing the participation of pupils, school staff and parents and governors maximizing the degree of national consistency and the rigour of judgement of healthy school status. Guidance about gathering of evidence Much of the evidence that is required from the school is self-explanatory, and is already available. The guidance is based on a premise that evidence may be oral, written or observed and that good practice suggests " triangulation " or combining different sources of evidence e.g. ensuring that a written policy is backed up by discussion with pupils and staff. There is less reliance on gathering written evidence and more on seeking the opinions of a broad spectrum of players in the school community. Opinions should be substantiated by triangulation. Evidence from pupils, gathered by conversation, by questionnaire, by focus group, by group discussion or by other means should broadly reflect the whole school view. If the above principles are adhered to , then the evidence will better reflect the outcomes and impact crucial to ensuring healthy school status is bringing about change e.g. it is much more an outcome to hear pupils say they are consulted and have influenced over policy development than it is see to minutes of a school council meeting. School Health in Egypt Prior to the year 1992, school Health services for school children were provided through the School Health Department in the Ministry of Health. Though the School Health Department provided services using over two thousand facilities of the Ministry of Health and Population, access to health care was limited as a result of two reasons.
An Assessment of School Health Services in Private and Public Primary Schools in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria
2024
Background: The School Health Service is to help children at school to achieve the maximum health possible for them to obtain full benefit from their education. This study aimed to examine the difference in the knowledge and practice of school health services between public and private primary schools in Ado Ekiti. Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study of public and private primary schools. A multistage sampling technique was used to recruit 425 teachers in 80 public and private schools into the study. A semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire and observational checklist were used for data collection. Data were analysed using SPSS version 25. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, the sample mean, and frequency tables were done. Inferential statistics were used to test for associations between categorical variables and statistical significance set at p-value < 0.05. Results: The mean age of the teachers in public schools was 42.0 ± 7.5 years, compared to 30.46 ± 7.2 years for teachers in private schools. Married teachers in public and private schools were 202 (92.7%) and 125 (60.4%) respectively. In the public schools, 64 (29.4%) teachers had more than 15 years' experience and 11 (5.3%) in private schools. More than half of the teachers in both public and private schools had good knowledge of school health services, 118 (59.0%) and 89 (55.3%) respectively with p value of 0.477. Only 4 (10%) of the public schools investigated had good practice of school health service while it was 23 (57.5%) in private schools, this was statistically significant with p value of 0.001. Conclusions: There was no significant difference between the knowledge of school health services among teachers of public and private schools. School health services were better practiced in private schools when compared to public schools. Advocacy for strategies that promote a more comprehensive practice of school health services is especially recommended in public schools.
South Africa case study: Building support and policy change for integrated school health
Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC), 2019
This case study is implemented within the project 'Fostering policy support for child and family wellbeing-Learning from international experience'. Using a thematic and analytic framework for the project that draws on Kingdon's multi-streams theory 2 we are gathering and sharing evidence and learning on what has led to increased policy recognition of and policy change in family and child health and wellbeing (FCHW). In specific countries that have demonstrated policy recognition and change in FCHW post 2000, we are exploring within their context how different policy actors have come together to raise policy attention, develop policy options and promote their political adoption as processes for policy change, taking advantage of windows of opportunity for that change. The case studies were implemented with a local focal person with direct knowledge or experience of the policy process and include evidence from published and grey literature and interview of key informants involved in the policy processes. This case study explores how change was built for integrated school health in South Africa combining health, educational and social services to ensure the wellbeing of learners. In post-apartheid South Africa, the new political order made radical advances in child health and education introducing many affirmative health and education policies reflecting holistic, ecological views of child wellbeing. In this context, provincial health departments raised and framed the need for standardised school health services underpinned by national policy and strategy. A committed academic group facilitated a comprehensive policy development process with provincial actors, resulting in the 2003 National School Health Policy. Through this, relationships were built between government departments, researchers, policy makers and others. That the policy became a Department of Health initiative was seen as a missed opportunity to build the collective effort across health, education and social development needed to realise the vision and potential of school health. The main window of opportunity occurred in 2009, when a new administration with committed Ministers in Health and Basic Education advanced high-level inter-sectoral relationships and drove reforms that brought together local learning with regional and international experience, culminating in the Integrated School Health Policy in 2012. Regional and international organisations made important contributions to advancing integrated, holistic approaches to school health. This was accompanied by domestic learning and evaluations, which built support for a holistic, integrated view of school health services. Committed and influential academic groups, government officials and development partners collaborated to develop and implement policy options promoting this holistic view of school health and wellbeing within an increasingly receptive policy environment. The Integrated School Health Policy reconciled different modalities, facilitating its relevance in provinces, given the varying level of delivery of school health services across provinces.