NATIONAL SCHOOL HEALTH AND
EDUCATION PROGRAMME (SHEP)
IN GHANA
PRESENTATION
AT
34TH SESSION OF THE SCN
BY CYNTHIA BOSUMTWI-SAM
BACKGROUND OF SHEP


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1964-Welfare unit school meals programme initiated
by Ghana Education Service.
Current SHN programme initiated out of 1990 World
Conference on EFA (Jomtien).
Feb/March 1991-School health survey conducted in 4
regions by health education unit of the MOH
A joint programme initiated by Ministry of Education
Science & Sports (MoESS) and the Ministry of Health
(MoH), in 1992.
MoESS given the lead role; MoH provides technical
support.
POLICY GOALS

Two out of Ten Policy Goals for Education Delivery
in Ghana:
“Promote and inculcate the values of good health
and environmental sanitation in schools and
institutions of higher learning” (Goal 4)
“Identify and promote educational programmes that
will assist in the prevention and management of
HIV/AIDS” (Goal 9)
VISION OF SCHOOL HEALTH
EDUCATION
A well informed healthy school population
equipped with life skills, to maintain
healthy behaviour.
COMPONENT AREAS


Skills-based health education
Beneficiaries acquire knowledge and skills,
through curricular and co-curricular
activities to make informed choices for
healthy living.
School health services
Health personnel, teachers and other
stakeholders provide screening,
deworming, counseling etc services
COMPONENT AREAS CONT’D

Food and Nutrition
-
Promotion of the use of iodised salt in
schools
Training for school food vendors in food
hygiene and nutrition
-
COMPONENT AREAS CONT’D
Water, Sanitation and environment
Provision of potable water and water harvesting
facilities, institutional latrines/toilets and hand
washing facilities for schools.
 HIV/AIDS Preventive Education
Targeting teachers, students and school community
members (Parents and School Management Ctee
members)
 School Health Policy

SCHOOL FEEDING PROGS.
Two types of School Feeding Progs:
a) Take home ration for girls in schools in
deprived communities in the three regions.
b) Provision of one hot nutritious meal to
primary school children using locally grown
foodstuffs (Ghana School Feeding
Programme GSFP).
SCHOOL FEEDING PROGS. CONT’D
Objectives of GSFP:
-feed all primary school chn
-increase sch attendance and performance
-increase food production and demand
Coverage:
-Pilot in 10 schools (3,000 pupils) nationwide in
2005.
-Currently 200 schools (63,000 pupils) being fed.
COLLABORATORS
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Government Ministries, Departments and
Agencies
Parent Teacher Associations / School
Management Committees
Development Partners –UNICEF, WHO,
Danida, JICA, etc
Non Governmental Organisations,
Community Based Organisations, Faith
Based Organisations etc
SHEP NATIONAL LEVEL LINKAGES
Development
Partners
MLGRD
DANIDA, UNICEF,
JICA,, WHO,WFP etc
Policy Planning &
Management Unit
MOH – Nutrition
Reproductive & Child
Health, School Health,
Health Promotion,
Disease Control,
Eye Care etc
MoESS
SHEP
MWRW&H
CWSA
NGOs
CONIWAS,
WVI, Plan
Ghana etc.
•Narcotics
Control Board
•Road Safety
Commission
•Red Cross
Society
NATIONAL COLLABORATION - HOW?
(NATIONAL DEWORMING PROG.)
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GHS strategy to control anaemia in school age
children; GES Operational Plan strategy.
Target of 1st round: to deworm 4.5 million public basic
school children.
The 2 ministries set up a Task force to:
- Identify responsibilities of stakeholders
- develop materials
- pilot deworming/baseline survey
- train trainers and teachers
- develop media strategy
LINKAGES WITH HIV/AIDS
SECRETARIAT OF THE MINISTRY OF
EDUCATION SCIENCE AND SPORTS
Minister of Education,Sc & Sports
Chief Director
HIV/AIDS Secretariat
17 Agencies (GES, WAEC, NFED,etc)
SHEP
DISTRICT LEVEL LINKAGES
GES SHEP
Coordinator
DISTRICT
ASSEMBLY
•District Water &
Sanitation Team
GHS
•Environmental Health
Assistants
•HIV/AIDS Focal
Person
DISTRICT
HEALTH
MGT.TEAM
NGOs
Community Health
Nurse
SCHOOL LEVEL LINKAGES
School Health Committee
Head teacher, Schoolbased Health Coordinator,
Pupils Reps
PTA
SMC
Health
Worker
Community
Rep
Food
Vendors
CHALLENGE
Since there are so many players
involved at the various levels,
there is the need for efficient
coordination.
THANK YOU