EuroHealthNet responds to WHO public consultation on the implementation guidance for school health services
School Health Services (SHS) are defined by the WHO as services provided by a health worker to students enrolled in primary or secondary education, either within school premises or in a health service situated outside the school premises that has an official agreement with the school to provide health services to the school’s students.
Schools offer an unmatched opportunity to implement intensive, long-term and large-scale health programmes to children and adolescents. Globally, most children and adolescents are enrolled in school, therefore SHS are well placed to timely respond to students’ health needs, leveraging the intrinsic link between health and education.
About the WHO Implementation Guidance for School Health Services
In 2021, WHO, UNESCO, and other partners published a package of guidance to support school health programmes, including global standards for health promoting schools (HPS) and the WHO guideline on school health services. These provide a menu of evidence-based interventions for school health services, however implementation aspects are not covered.
WHO opened a public consultation, offering experts an opportunity to contribute to the new implementation guidance for school health services. Read EuroHealthNet’s response here.