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School Health

Students' health and their ability to learn are inextricably linked. When students are healthy, they are more able to succeed in school. EDC works with schools around the world to address all aspects of school life that can improve the health of students and staff. Key components include policy, curriculum, health and nutrition services, the psycho-social environment of the school, and health promotion for staff.

College Tobacco Prevention Resource

The College Tobacco Prevention Resource is a Web site that provides practical information, ideas, and guidance to college leaders involved with tobacco prevention. The site describes a comprehensive approach to prevention that combines traditional education and cessation programs with efforts to create a physical, social, and policy environment that supports tobacco-free campuses. The goal of the site is to provide resources to assist with the planning, implementation, and evaluation of effective campus tobacco policies and programs.

WHO Global AIDS Project (GAP)

HHD/EDC is working closely with Education International, a federation of teacher unions, and WHO to help teacher unions in Haiti and 11 African countries conduct an HIV/AIDS prevention program. The project’s objectives are to help teachers protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs); advocate for school-based HIV prevention programs and policies; and use skills-based health education in the classroom to prevent HIV/AIDS and other STIs among students.

WHO Rapid Assessment and Action Planning Process (RAAPP)

In the 1990s, HHD, together with World Health Organization (WHO), developed the Rapid Assessment and Action Planning Process (RAAPP) for School Health, an approach and package of tools—research instruments, training strategies, data analysis, and action planning techniques—to assess and strengthen a country’s capacity to deliver school health programs. Since 1999, RAAPP has been used in Indonesia, Nigeria, and, most recently, in India.

Implementation Experiences of School and Community Violence Prevention Grantees

The purpose of this project is to identify and document implementation issues experienced by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration community and school grantees who received support to implement and evaluate youth violence prevention efforts.

Making Health Academic

The School Health Infrastructure Project (SHIP) is working with superintendents of large urban school districts and local health department commissioners to plan for and implement modern school health programs. Such programs integrate the resources of education, health, and social service agencies to improve outcomes around four types of goals to improve knowledge, health behaviors and outcomes, education outcomes, and social outcomes. They are systemwide initiatives that are based on collaboration of youth, families, and communities with school and health organizations.

Read for Health

Young people in grades five through eight face increasing literacy needs and heightened pressures to engage in high-risk behaviors. Read for Health was a curriculum development and dissemination effort that integrated adolescent literacy with healthy development skills. Project staff created student materials and a facilitator’s guide for use in classroom and community settings, an interactive student game for use in the classroom and at home, and a video for parents and teachers to help them facilitate discussions of sensitive issues with early adolescents.

A Painful Reality

When her son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, EDC’s Eileen Mackin was shocked at how unfamiliar his school was with handling mental health problems. After years of talking, learning, and advocating, she is now creating resources so other parents and schools can learn from her experiences. With funds from the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation, she has developed a pamphlet for parents on how they can work with their child’s school on mental health issues and is producing a companion pamphlet for schools.

5 Steps to a Safer Campus

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting, five steps to maintain the health and safety of college students are offered.

EDC's Teen Dating Violence Curriculum Hailed by U.S. Senators

Concerned about dating abuse among American teenagers, U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) held a Washington press conference this spring to announce national distribution of Love Is Not Abuse, a curriculum developed by EDC for Liz Claiborne, Inc. Created by EDC’s Christine Blaber, with input from educators and a national advisory board, the program helps ninth graders recognize, respond to, and seek help for their friends and peers who may be victims of abuse.