Stakeholders Push for Review of School Health Policy

Health and education stakeholders have renewed calls for the review of Nigeria’s 2006 National School Health Policy (NSHP), citing its inability to address present-day health challenges facing schoolchildren.

The demand was made at a roundtable on revising the NSHP, organised in Enugu by the Protect Urban School Children’s Health (PUSH) project, led by the Health Policy Research Group (HPRG) of the University of Nigeria.

The PUSH initiative is supported by the Rivers State Ministry of Health, the University of Dundee, and the CHORUS Urban Health Research Consortium.

The meeting drew representatives from the Federal Ministries of Education, Health and Social Welfare, Women Affairs, and Budget and Economic Planning, as well as officials of the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNESCO, NCDC, NPHCDA, Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency, and the Paediatrics Association of Nigeria (PAN).

Dr. Prince Agwu, Principal Investigator of the PUSH project, said urgent action was needed to update the policy to reflect current realities.

He highlighted gaps in governance, financing, and implementation, warning that “school-based health services are not optimal, essential health indicators are being neglected, and the links between schools and the health system have broken down.”

Agwu also noted that his team had developed a new chapter for the revised policy, informed by research using qualitative, quantitative, and geographic information system methods. Policy dialogues also involved children, ensuring their perspectives were included.