Rethinking School Health: A Key Component of Education for All Book

Foreword xiii

About the Book xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Contributors xix

Abbreviations xxv

Executive Summary 1

A Strong Education Rationale for Ensuring Good Health and Avoiding Hunger at School Age 2

Education Sector Benefits from a Life-Cycle Approach to Child Development 2

Health and Nutrition Interventions that Promote Gender Equity and Equality and Contribute to MDG3 3

Schools that Effectively Deliver School Health and Nutrition Interventions 4

The Substantial Experience of School Health and Nutrition Programs in Practice 5

Important Technical Challenges Remain 7

The Importance of Partnerships to the Development of School Health and Nutrition Programs 7

Evolving Roles for Development Partners 8

Benefits of Simplification and Consolidation of Program within Education Sector Plans 9

Enough Known to Act Now 10

Notes 11

Chapter 1 Context and Rationale 13

How This Book Is Organized 13

100 Years of School Health and School Feeding Programs in Rich Countries 15

Movement of School Health and Nutrition Programs to a Pro-Poor and Education-Outcomes Focus 16

Greater Harmonization of School Health and Nutrition Programs around a Common Framework 17

Growth in School Health Programs in Low-Income Countries since Dakar 2000 20

Emergence of HIV as a Programmatic Issue for the Education Sector 20

Growing Recognition of the Importance of School Feeding for Education 23

Rising Prevalence of Noncommunicable Diseases in School-Age Children in Low-Income Countries 26

Ensuring Support for the Most Marginalized Out-of-School Children 26

School Health and Nutrition Programs Today 27

Notes 28

References 28

Chapter 2 Evidence of the Importance of Health and Nutrition for Education for All 33

Impact on Education of Health and Nutrition Interventions at Different Stages in the Life Cycle of the Child 33

Evidence for Strategic Objective 1: Ensuring that Children Are Ready to Learn and Enroll on Time 36

Evidence for Strategic Objective 2: Keeping Children in School by Enhancing Attendance and Reducing Dropout Rates 40

Evidence for Strategic Objective 3: Improving Learning at School by Enhancing Cognition and Educational Achievement 42

Estimating the Scale of Impact of Health and Nutrition on Educational Outcomes 48

Estimating the Scale of Benefit of Health and Nutrition Interventions 51

Conclusions: Evidence of the Importance of Health and Nutrition for Education for All 59

Notes 61

References 62

Chapter 3 Education Sector Responses to the Health and Nutrition of Schoolchildren 67

Interventions before School Age 67

Maternal and Child Health 68

Early Child Development Programs 69

Interventions at School Age 73

Deworming 74

School Feeding 77

Micronutrients 88

Malaria Control 94

HIV Prevention and Care 98

Hygiene, Water, and Sanitation 109

Promoting Oral Health 111

Childhood Disability, Education, and School Health 116

Vision: Correcting Refractive Error 120

Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases 126

Conclusions: Education Sector Responses to the Health and Nutrition of Schoolchildren 134

Notes 138

References 139

Chapter 4 School Health and Nutrition Programs in Practice 159

Issues in Designing School Health and Nutrition Programs 160

Expanding Coverage and Targeting the Poor 160

Defining Sectoral Roles 161

Delivery Costs and the Use of the School as a Platform 164

Prioritizing Interventions on the Basis of Cost and Need 165

Examples of Programs in Practice 168

Expanding and Refining Existing Programs 168

The Philippines' Fit for School Program 168

The Sri Lanka School Health Promotion Program 174

School health and school feeding in Guyana 177

Including the Components of School Health and Nutrition Programs in a Sectorwide Education Approach 180

The Kenya education SWAp approach 180

Strengthening school health in Indonesia 184

Conclusion: School Health and Nutrition Programs in Practice 188

Note 190

References 190

Chapter 5 Partnerships to Develop Consensus and Share Knowledge 193

Design and Implementation Issues for School Health and Nutrition Programs 194

Design and Implementation Issues for HIV/AIDS and Education Programs 208

Intergovernmental Regional Networks that Share Knowledge among Countries 215

Support for National Programs 223

Conclusions: Partnerships Develop Consensus and Share Knowledge 232

Notes 235

References 235

Chapter 6 School Health and Nutrition Programs as a Component of Education for All 237

The Education Sector Case for School Health and Nutrition Programs 238

A Life-Cycle Approach to Child Development and Education 240

Health and Nutrition Interventions Can Promote Gender Equity and Equality and Contribute to MDG3 241

The Unfinished Research Agenda 241

An Evolving Role for Development Partners 242

A Time for Consolidation 244

Safe and Simple Interventions that Reach the Poor 244

Enough Known to Act Now 245

Appendix A Selected Bibliography of Source Materials and Toolkits 247

Appendix B Accelerating Deworming by the Education Sector: Checklist of Good Practice 255

Appendix C Accelerating the HIV/AIDS Response of the Education Sector in Africa: Checklist of Good Practice 261

Appendix D School Health and Nutrition Programs by Country in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Greater Mekong Subregion, and the Caribbean 269

Index 287

Boxes

3.1 Home-Grown School Feeding 84

3.2 Effective Sexuality Education 105

3.3 Promoting Hand Washing with Soap in Schools: The Institutionalizing of Hygiene in the Education Sector in Peru 112