School health services in Edo State: The benefits, burden, challenges and the way forward

Abstract

Background: Communicable and non-communicable diseases affect the child holistically, especially their education; as they lead to reduced school enrolment, school absenteeism, poor cognitive ability, physical and emotional impairment/disability and even dropping out from school. The establishment of school health services (SHS) promotes, protects and maintains the health of school children and teachers. The aim of this review was to highlight the benefits of school health services, the burden of ineffective SHS and the challenges against establishing a successful SHS in Edo State and make recommendations for improvement.

Discussion: The National School Health Policy (NSHPo) was launched in 2006 to aid and guide the implementation of the school health programme, which includes SHS. However, despite several years post-launch of the NSHPo, the state of SHS in Edo State is significantly and severely below set standards. These include amongst others: lack of sick bays or school-based health clinics, lack of health screening for school-aged children, teachers and food vendors, and lack of personnel. 

Conclusion: In the near future, to achieve the set standard of SHS in the state, there is the need to improve awareness, knowledge and availability of the NSHPo to school heads/owners, the school teachers and students, their parents and the community. There is also an urgent need to review the NSHPo with redefinition and simplification of roles and collaborations of stakeholders, with specific focus on the Ministry of Health. The school community, including parents and the community should build a self-sustaining SHS and focus resources on SHS.