Education Sector Responses to the Health and Nutrition of Schoolchildren
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The first (World Bank 2003a) describes early government programs, typically implemented with the support of civil society organizations, in seven countries: Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The second (World Bank 2008) describes 10 education sectorwide programs implemented as national programs by governments in eight countries: the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, The Gambia, Ghana, Israel, Kenya, Namibia, and Nigeria. UNICEF and the World Bank together have published a sourcebook (UNICEF 2009) that describes 12 initiatives in 6 countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia) that represent a wide range of approaches designed to address the educational rights and needs of orphans and vulnerable children.
Hygiene, Water, and Sanitation* Hygienic practices, access to sanitation, and the provision of clean water are all important contributors to children’s health. Sanitation refers to the infrastructure and service provision required for the safe management of human excreta, including latrines, sewers, and wastewater treatment. Sanitation is clearly relevant to school health and, along with water supply and water quality, is typically managed as part of overall school infrastructure. While school health units of an education system may have an important role in advocating for better sanitation and clean water—often also monitoring water quality and reporting on access to water—school health programs do not have a mandate over these components.1 Hygiene and hygiene promotion refer to human behaviors related to sanitation, such as hand washing. It is with respect to hygiene that school health education and school health services have a direct role to play. Impact on education. Hygiene promotion is among the most cost-effective child survival interventions. Some of the conditions prevented by hygiene promotion, such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infection, are reported to be important causes of school absenteeism. According to a recent study cited by the Global Public-Private Partnership on Handwashing, hand washing with soap at critical times could help reduce school absenteeism by around 42 percent. To achieve this result, children must have access to water and soap in schools. A study by UNICEF and the International Red
* Contributors to this section: Hnin Hnin Pyne, Maria-Luisa Escobar, and Isabel Rocha Pimenta.