Global Health Promotion

Views of Health Promotion Online

www.vhpo.net

Dialogues in Progress

CompHP

Developing competencies and professional standards for health promotion capacity building in Europe

Promoting Health in Schools

This project is developed with support from CDC's Division for Adolescent and School Health

Schools can make a substantial contribution to young people's health and well-being, and subsequently in the adult life. A range of strategies and programmes (Health Promoting Schools, Comprehensive School Health, Child Friendly Schools and the FRESH initiative) that share a connecting thread of a Whole School Approach have evolved in the last twenty years, recognizing that all aspects of the life of the school community are potentially important in the promotion of health. This approach goes beyond health education classes in the curriculum and explores how schools can fulfill their potential in promoting the health of all our young people.

In the current context, it appears there is a developing understanding of the interlinked relationship between school education and health, reflected by the prominence given to school education in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the increasing need for equitable health in all settings.

The IUHPE is actively engaged in these global efforts through a number of activities aiming:

to highlight the unique potential of schools to promote both health and education outcomes, based on a solid body of evidence developed in the past;
to contribute to reducing unacceptable health inequities that exist in our world; and

to address the issues that hinder more effective school health, including encouraging dialogue and endorsement by health and education officials, and building capacity and advancing knowledge in low- and middle-income countries.

A short summary of the work is available for download here!

This page is also available in French

Cette page est aussi disponible en Français

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2012 Highlights

IUHPE publishes a new document on Facilitating Dialogue between the Health and Education Sectors to advance School Health Promotion and Education.

A document developed for policy makers and practitioners in the health and education sectors and for non-governmental organisations. The document is designed to provide the stakeholders in school health with simple and practical insights into facilitating and improving dialogue between health and education.

IUHPE publishes a paper dedicated to these webpages on Health Promoting Schools entitled Monitoring and Assessing Progress in Health Promoting Schools: Issues for Policy Makers to Consider.

Click here to find out more!

IUHPE releases additional language versions of two key documents for the Promotion of Health in Schools

Achieving Health Promoting Schools: Guidelines for Promoting Health in Schools is now available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and
Promoting health in schools: from evidence to action is now available in Arabic, Simple Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Key 2011 Activities

A two day international event on New Understandings, Better Integration, Sustainable and Equitable Actions - Schools that Promote Health, Well-being and Educational Success in the Next Decade (http://jasp.inspq.qc.ca/english/) on the occasion of the 15^th Annual Public Health Days of Quebec (JASP) in Quebec - November 28^th - 29^th 2011, organised by the Canadian Association for School Health (CASH), the Institut de la Santé Publique du Quebec (INSPQ), the International School Health Network (ISHN) and the International Union for Health Promotion & Education (IUHPE).

The IUHPE releases more language versions of the Achieving Health Promoting Schools: Guidelines for Promoting Health in Schools (2009) and the Promoting Health in Schools: from evidence to action (2010) documents.

Key 2010 Activities

An International Symposium : Linking Health, Equity and Sustainable Development in Schools in Geneva, Switzerland - July 10^th - 11^th 2010

The 20^th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion: Health, Equity and Sustainable Development in Geneva, Switzerland - July 11^th - 15^th 2010

A Statement resulting from the International Symposium : Linking Health, Equity and Sustainable Development in Schools calling to action

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PUBLICATIONS & RESOURCES

Global Portrait on School Health Promotion
Achieving Health Promoting Schools: Guidelines for Promoting Health in Schools (2009)
Promoting Health in Schools: from evidence to action (2010)
Facilitating Dialogue between the Health and Education Sectors
A document providing some examples of how the IUHPE / CDC collaboration efforts has contributed to informing practice globally over the years

Global Portrait of School Health Promotion

In 2006, a special edition of the IUHPE journal Promotion & Education (now Global Health Promotion) was published with support ped_sh from CDC. The issue presents a global portrait of the present state and future challenges for school health promotion. This publication is acknowledged as a key document in the international development of health promotion in schools.

The content is both informative and stimulating in terms of understanding developments to date and in setting priorities for future action in school health promotion. Authored by invited specialists from all continents, it:

describes experiences and presents reports and case studies from across the World;
identifies major opportunities to improve health promotion in schools in all countries;
demonstrates that promoting health in schools is associated with improved educational achievements as well as measurable improvements in important health indicators;

makes the case for improving the health of staff as well as students.

Many of the commissioned papers make the case that there is an emerging body of global evidence which demonstrates the effectiveness of a health promotion approach in schools and gives clear directions for effective ways of working.

While all of the papers in the special edition are relevant today, it is important to acknowledge changes since its publication. Namely in Europe, the European Network of Health Promoting Schools is now Schools for Health in Europe (SHE), coordinated by Goof Buijs in The Netherlands. However the papers by David Rivett formerly of the WHO Office in Ukraine and the description of the European Network of Health Promoting Schools (ENHPS) by Vivian Barnekow of WHO are still important as an analysis of the development of the ENHPS over the last fifteen years.

In addition to a wide range of papers from across the world the edition contains Case Studies which provide shorter practical examples of health promoting schools in action, and they demonstrate the adaptability of the model to the needs of different countries. There are case studies from countries as diverse as Australia, Kosovo, China, Brazil and Uruguay, Kenya and India.

More case studies can also be found in our partners publication - Case Studies in Global School Health Promotion: From Research to Practice - an Education Development Center (EDC) publication.

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Achieving Health Promoting Schools: Guidelines for Promoting Health in Schools (2009)

This document is the second version of the previous 'Protocols and Guidelines for Health Promoting Schools'. The document was reviewed at different international and national-level events between 2005-2008 in order to adjust the language to the global context and to ensure the essential elements are synthesised for policy makers to understand and apply.

The document provides the blueprint for improving the evidence base to promote health in schools, including:

the principles of health promotion in schools; and
support to plan and implement school health promotion.

Fundamental to this effort has been revisiting the five areas outlined in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion as they apply to school health promotion: building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills and reorienting health services.

The document has been produced by analysing research and evaluation evidence. Those factors which contribute significantly to the design, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of HPS, have been summarised. These evidence-based Guidelines are intended to assist governments, schools, NGOs, and other interested groups and individuals to be more effective and strategic in their efforts to enhance school health programmes.

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The document is available in
ARABIC, CHINESE, ENGLISH, FRENCH, JAPANESE, ITALIAN, PORTUGUESE, RUSSIAN and SPANISH

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Promoting health in schools: from evidence to action (2010)

To complement the recommendations to establish and sustain health promotion in schools set out in the 'Guidelines to Promote Health in Schools', the document 'Promoting health in schools: from evidence to action' is an advocacy document for the health and education sectors to undertake school health promotion activities based on the evidence of effectiveness.

The document provides succinct evidence-based arguments to support the need for school health promotion and advocates for a whole school (Health Promoting Schools) approach to strategically plan and implement school health initiatives.

The content includes brief summaries of the latest evidence of effectiveness in building the health knowledge, behaviours and competencies in young people to prevent non-communicable diseases. It is intended to address policy and decision-makers and education officials in a manner that is understood and applicable to both sectors.

The document is available in ARABIC, SIMPLE CHINESE, TRADITIONAL CHINESE, ENGLISH, FRENCH, ITALIAN, JAPANESE, PORTUGUESE, RUSSIAN and SPANISH.

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Facilitating Dialogue between the Health and Education Sectors to advance School Health Promotion and Education (2012)

In August 2012, the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) published a new document on Facilitating Dialogue between the Health and Education Sectors to advance School Health Promotion and Education. The document is for policy makers and practitioners in the health and education sectors and for non-governmental organisations.

It is designed to provide the stakeholders in school health with simple and practical insights into facilitating and improving dialogue between health and education and does so by:

Identifying the current dilemmas
Exploring ‘what are realistic outcomes for school health', and
Indicating strategies that have a high degree of success.

The document is available in ENGLISH and ITALIAN.

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Monitoring and Assessing Progress in Health Promoting Schools: Issues for Policy Makers to Consider (2012)

This paper is written for these existing IUHPE webpages on Health Promoting Schools. It explores briefly the different types of tools that are available at present for monitoring and assessing progress in health promoting schools. It also offers a brief review of the practical issues that policy makers and practitioners have had to overcome in developing such tools. It is aimed at assisting professionals, with an interest in school health promotion, who are in the early stages of monitoring the progress of health promotion in their schools. It also provides selected references for those wishing to explore the issues in more detail. - Please go to the website and check this new publication out

The document is available in ENGLISH.

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COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERS

Collaboration with the International School Health Network

The International School Health Network (ISHN) has emerged as a means to communicate information and encourage the use of comprehensive approaches to school-based health promotion/health promoting schools.

In cooperation with the IUHPE and other organisations, the ISHN organises a series of webinars on different aspects of school health indicators. The webinars have been designed to be relevant to government officials, practitioners and researchers, who are concerned with school health promotion at the international, national and state/provincial level and will present policy and data collection options for monitoring the health status/behaviours of children/youth, their health literacy, knowledge and skills, and the status/capacity of relevant school health programmes and policies.

To access webinar background information and view the digital recordings, follow the links below. To participate in upcoming webinars, contact Doug McCall, ISHN Coordinator.

Webinars Series I: School Health Monitoring and Reporting

National Monitoring & Reporting Systems (Case Study: United States; Case study: Hong-Kong; Case study: Canada)

Towards Monitoring Results in Health Education: Concepts, Measures and Work in Progress

Monitoring and Reporting on School Health Programs in Low Income Countries: Overview and the Use of the Global Student Health Survey

The Health Behaviours of School-Age Children: Uses of Health and School Connectedness Data in European Countries

A series of documents to further disseminate knowledge and experiences: School Health Monitoring and Reporting

In an effort to further disseminate knowledge and experiences around school health (SH) Monitoring & Reporting, the ISHN, with the support of IUHPE through a Cooperative Agreement it has with the CDC, and in collaboration with a number of experts and practitioners, is developing a series of summary documents:

A Glossary term: A few paragraphs defining SH Monitoring & Reporting Systems,
An Encyclopedia Entry: A two page summary explaining the concept and briefly summarising what is known about the topic,
A Handbook Section: A 15-20 page document (plus additional pages on case studies) summarising the evidence, discussing implementation and providing descriptions and links to good examples. Some of the case studies include digitally recorded webinars and slide presentations which visitors and members can access from within the pages of the summary.
A Bibliography of Research/Reports/Resources: Providing lists of web-linked research references, reports and resources such as planning tools, education or training materials and more.

These documents are available at http://www.schools-for-all.org/!

These documents are part of an ongoing knowledge exchange program that will be expanded to a wide variety of topics.

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