International School Health

2007-03-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

From: Natalie Roschnik

Please find attached an article explaining the importance of providing nutritional supplementation following deworming, rather than deworming alone. (see summary below). The full article can be found here:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/
Micronutrient supplements for children after deworming By Andrew Hall, the Lancet Infect Dis 2007; 7; 297-302

The availability of a few inexpensive, single-dose drugs to treat soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis offers the potential to reduce a considerable burden of acute disease, especially among children in sub-Saharan Africa. These treatments are being promoted as "rapid impact interventions". However, if helminth infections cause underweight, stunting, anaemia, and impaired mental development in children, how will removing worms alone lead to recovery without treating the underlying deficits that have been caused or made worse by helminth disease? Energy, protein, and micronutrients are required by children who are underweight or who have stunted growth; children who are anaemic will require iron and other micronutrients for haemopoiesis; and children who have lost education will need remedial teaching. Treating neglected worm diseases is an essential first step to good health, but anthelmintic drugs need to be integrated with simple and inexpensive nutritional interventions such as micronutrient supplements to promote recovery and have a rapid eff ect.

Country Profile on Healthy Schools: Scotland

2007-03-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

News on Health Promoting Schools in Scotland

News
The latest news on health promoting schools, health and education is on our News page. Full details of the following stories are included:
Oral health takes to the road
Scottish schools get free first aid resource
Someone to talk to
Executive releases packed lunch guidance
New service to stamp out bullying
A healthy inspection
Positive Schools – promoting resilience conference
Scottish Executive's refocused drugs strategy
Action Framework for Children and Young People's Health in Scotland
Extra helping of cash for school meals.
http://www.healthpromotingschools.co.uk/news/index.asp

Schools Health Promotion and Nutrition Bill
The Scottish Parliament has passed the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill, which places a duty on schools to place health promotion at the heart of their activities and serve only healthy and nutritious meals and snacks. Councils will also have a duty to ensure schools are health promoting under the new legislation.
http://lists.ltscotland.org.uk/t/52150/25097/3492/0/

Accreditation report
All 32 council and NHS board partnerships have now had their local approach to health promoting schools nationally accredited by the National Endorsement Team (NET). The Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit has produced a report on behalf of the NET which provides a summary of the national accreditation process.
http://lists.ltscotland.org.uk/t/52150/25097/2024/0/

Emotional literacy and resilience event
More than 150 school staff and others involved in the development of mental and emotional well-being in schools attended the ‘Promoting emotional literacy and resilience among school staff’ event hosted by the Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit in Edinburgh in February.
http://lists.ltscotland.org.uk/t/52150/25097/3493/0/

Walk to School Week
The Walk to School Campaign, organised by Living Streets, has announced the appointment of Tracey McBride as Project Leader of Walk to School Scotland, giving a big boost to the campaign north of the border. This year’s Walk to School Week takes place in May.
http://lists.ltscotland.org.uk/t/52150/25097/3494/0/

Resources
The Resources page contains national guidance and policy documents, classroom resources, downloadable tools and useful website links.
This month we have added the following resources:
Guidelines on Commercial Activities in Schools, which are designed to prevent children being exposed to inappropriate commercial activities in schools.
‘Reaching Higher: Building on the Success of Sport 21’, Scotland’s revised sports strategy published by the Scottish Executive.
Sexual Health Skills, a manual for trainers on sexual health and sex and relationships education.
http://lists.ltscotland.org.uk/t/52150/25097/174/0/

Events
Our Events page features conferences, workshops and training events taking place throughout Scotland relating to health promoting school work.
If you have any forthcoming events you would like featured please email the Health Promoting Schools Content Editor.
New events added this month include:
Grief matters for children: promoting effective bereavement strategies in schools, 1 May 2007A one-day Children in Scotland conference in association with the Childhood Bereavement Network and the National Children’s Bureau.
Contemporary Issues in Home Economics, 12 May 2007This one-day conference is the 8th annual conference for Home Economics and will build on last year’s successful day.
Children and Young People’s Mental Health, 17 May 2007This popular conference is now in its third year and will provide practical information that can be applied in the work setting.
Massage in Schools training course, 8 - 9 June 2007This two-day course will introduce participants to the Massage in Schools programme and how to bring it into schools.
Almost an Adult, 21 June 2007This conference in Sheffield will focus on sex and relationships education for young people on the autistic spectrum.
Active Learning in Personal Social and Health Education, 21 June 2007 (Inverness) and 11 October 2007 (Edinburgh)A series of twilight workshops are being held by Me-and-Us to launch a brand new series of practical personal social and health education guides for schools.

State Profile-School Health Checks in Gujarat, India

2007-02-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

This post is contributed by Dr. Shaileshkumar Sutariya, School Health Unit, Gujarat, India.
Every year more children from new born to 14 years of age group are examined and receive free treatment of primary to tertiary care. Medical officers with their teams examine all school children and new borns to six year age group) through the primary schools and anganwadies. Children with minor ailments are treated on the spot in the school. Children requiring examination by specialists are sent to the related referral centers where different medical experts like ophthalmic surgeon, physician, pediatrician, dentist, skin specialist and E.N.T. surgeons examine and treat them. Those children who require spectacles are provided the same free of cost. Children suffering from Heart, Kidney and Cancer diseases are examined by super-specialty hospitals. Operative and other treatment are given free of cost. Transportation is also provided by the state Govt.
You can acess full reports with five years data and other information from our web site- http://www.gujhealth.gov.in/health_programmes/state_edu/school_health.htm or by email to drsutaria@yahoo.com

OECD Report on Education & Health

2007-02-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

Measuring the Effects of Education on Health and Civic Engagement - Proceedings of the Copenhagen Symposium
13-Sep-2006 This publication is organised around two major papers, one on the links between education and health, the other on the links between education and civic participation. The papers discuss methodological issues and provide a wealth of empirical results, which confirm the important effect education has in both domains. Papers presented at this conference include:

Review of Research on School Nutrition Programs

2007-02-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

Systemic Review on School-based Nutrition Programs
The systematic reviews by the Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) of the effectiveness of selected population-based interventions addressing nutrition focus on three strategic areas:
School-based nutrition programs; Summary of Findings

Country Profile- Australia

2007-02-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

(Provided by Danielle Maloney, President, Australian Health Promoting Schools Association)
There are numerous school health initiatives in Australia. This report covers just one of those activities. Mind Matters is a secondary schools program and was federally funded and rolled out to every secondary school across Australia. As well as a number of curriculum materials it also has resources for a comprehensive approach to mental health in schools. They have a suite of initiatives attached to it such as Staff Matter (staff mental health), Families Matter (parent mental health) and Community Matters (looking at Indigenous communities). They are now in the process of developing a Kids Matter for primary schools.
There are several booklets on specific topics are part of the Mind Matters program, including:
· SchoolMatters: mapping and managing mental health in schools
· Educating for Life: a guide for school-based responses to preventing self-harm and suicide
· Enhancing Resilience 1: Communication, Changes and Challenges
· Enhancing Resilience 2: Stress and Coping
· A Whole School Approach to Dealing with Bullying and Harassment
· Understanding Mental Illnesses
· Loss and Grief
· CommunityMatters: Working with diversity for wellbeing.

As well, there is a section of the Mind Matters web site that explores mental health issues in depth.

Directory School Nutrition Programs

2007-02-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

The Partnership for Child Development (UK) has published a new “Directory of Support to School Health and Nutrition Programmes”. This provides an update and overview of current support to SHN programmes in low income settings (as @ October 2006). It provides an analysis of information gathered from 38 organisations active in this field and serves to highlight areas of ongoing concern as well as emerging trends and issues since the Directory was last updated in 2000. http://www.schoolsandhealth.org/download-documents.htm)

The Secretary-General’s Report on Violence Against Children

2007-01-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

The Un Secretary-General’s Report on Violence Against Children was presented in Canada at WorldForum 2006 in Vancouver on November 20, 2006. Read the report here. (4 MB) The Report is supported by UNICEF, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the World Health Organization. It is founded on perspectives from human rights, public health and child protection contributed by thousands of researchers, practitioners, institutions, professional associations, other civil society organizations and children from every part of the globe, together with governments.

School Feeding Programs in Low Income Countries

2007-01-08T18:12:00.000-08:00

The World Bank in partnership with The Partnership for Child Development has published several case studies, and links to various research reviews that report on school feeding programs. The emphasis is on school feeding programs in low income countries. Go to:
http://www.schoolsandhealth.org/school-nutrition.htm

Sources of Research Reviews

2006-11-09T08:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of sites/sources of research reviews.

Campbell Collaboration - Sociological, Psychological, Educational, and Criminological Trials Register (C2-SPECTR) Database The C2-SPECTR database contains over 11,600 citations to trials or possible trials. The C2-SPECTR serves as an important potential resource for systematic reviewers to identify trials for inclusion in C2 and WWC Systematic Reviews, as well as reviews conducted under the auspices of other organizations.

Cancer Control PlanetThis PLANET portal provides access to data and resources that can help planners, program staff, and researchers to design, implement and evaluate evidence-based cancer control programs.

CDC Community GuideThe Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) serves as a filter for scientific literature on specific health problems that can be large, inconsistent, uneven in quality, and even inaccessible. The Community Guide summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency, and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent disease.

Cochrane Database of Systematic ReviewsCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, part of The Cochrane Library, is the definitive resource for evidence-based health care. It is a rapidly growing list of regularly updated summaries of the best available evidence prepared by members of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)The DARE contains summaries of systematic reviews which have met strict quality criteria. The database covers a broad range of health and social care topics and can be used for answering questions about the effects of interventions, as well as for developing guidelines and policy making.

Database of Promoting Health Effectiveness Reviews (DoPHER)This web-based register contains details of over 1,700 reviews of health promotion effectiveness. These have been systematically keyworded according to health focus, population group, and review methods. DoPHER contains both systematic and non-systematic reviews (around a third are coded as systematic).

Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) - Health Promotion ReferencesHealth Promotion References in Bibliomap (the EPPI-Centre's bibliographic database) are systematically keyworded references relevant to health promotion and public health practice and policy.

Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) - Research Evidence in Education Library (REEL)The REEL has two distinct functions: to publish systematic reviews in education which have been written by members of review groups; and to provide tools and databases for those wishing to undertake systematic reviews in this field.

Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) -- Health Promotion Reviews These are systematic reviews that are relevant to health promotion and public health practice and policy.

Health-evidence.caThis is a web site designed to provide quality research evidence to public health decision makers, saving you time by searching, screening, and rating the systematic review evidence to compile it in a free, searchable online registry.

National Cancer Institute: Research-Tested Intervention ProgramsResearch-tested Intervention Programs (RTIPs) provides easy and immediate access to: research-tested intervention programs and products, summary information and usefulness/integrity scores for each program, and readability scores for products distributed to the public.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) - Public Health Evidence Briefings Evidence briefings consist of detailed expositions of the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence, identification of gaps in the evidence, an analysis of future primary and secondary research needs, and a discussion of the implications of the evidence for policy and practice.

Public Health Research, Education & Development Program (PHRED) - Effective Public Health Practice ProjectThe Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) is a key initiative of the Public Health Research, Education and Development Program (PHRED). It is jointly funded by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the City of Hamilton Public Health Services. The products of EPHPP are a resource for evidence-based decision-making in public health in Ontario and Canada.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)An independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention that systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness and develops recommendations for clinical preventive services.

WHO, UN Agencies Create Committee

2006-11-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

Several UN agencies including WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank have formed a Technical Committee to develop a report on the current state and future directions of school health promotion. The committee will be working on five tracks (partnerships, implementation, disadvantaged populations, evidence and globalization). Several members of the International School Health Network are involved. More info from dmccall@cash-aces.ca

ISHN Launches Blog

2006-11-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

The members of the International School Health Network now have a blog. This new information-sharing device will focus on stories, studies and reports from different countries. More info at www.internationalschoolhealth.org