The National Rural Health Mission’s initiative in preventive health, the School Health Programme, which is currently being implemented in 3,300 schools, will be extended to cover all government and aided schools in the State.
The formal launch of the programme across all 13,763 schools in the State will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, here on Wednesday.
Comprehensive plan
The School Health Programme was launched in October 2008 as a comprehensive long-term investment in the health of children and adolescents through early care and monitoring, inculcation of healthy lifestyle habits and health education. Once all the schools are covered, about 48 lakh children and adolescents in the State will benefit from the programme.
One of the main objectives of the programme is the early identification of disabilities and disorders, providing emotional support to children and helping them overcome stress and promoting health awareness and education among children.
The beginning
The first ever school health clinic in the State, which was started at the Cotton Hill HSS here in December 2007, was what gave the authorities the impetus to push ahead with the implementation of a more comprehensive health programme for children.
The clinic, which had a fulltime team of doctor, nurse and a counsellor, had become so busy that it was an indication of the huge requirement for adolescent and reproductive health services in schools.
The programme intends to utilise the services of Junior Public Health Nurses and Junior Health Inspectors in the Health Service for screening and monitoring the children in schools.
Apart from this about 600 contract staff have also been posted, each of whom will be in charge of 2,500 students in a locality.
“Ideally, we would like to have a full-time clinic in each school with a doctor, nurse and a counsellor. But we are organising the programme in such a way that the health worker in a designated area will be visiting a school at least once a week to screen children on the basis of a check-list. And the health-related information of each child will be recorded in the Health Record card given to each child. A doctor from Health Service will visit a particular school once a month, when the JPHN/JHI can refer a child who they think should be examined by a doctor,” says an NRHM official.
Training to staff
Specialty medical camps, nutrition classes and innovative health awareness programmes will all be arranged in schools by the health workers, in coordination with the schoolteachers and Parent Teacher Association. The health workers undergo continuous training programmes under their parent department on providing basic health care and in identifying early warning signs of a disorder or illness
All medicines are supplied free of cost to schools through the local primary health centres.
Promotion of public health awareness, education on healthy lifestyle and the importance of physical activity, the role of environmental hygiene in maintaining public health are also an important part of the School Health Programme.
