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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.

China Study Shows Health Improvements

Hunger and undernutrition, as well as obesity, plague schoolchildren around the world. Along with vitamin and mineral deficiencies, nutritional problems can obstruct a child’s ability to enroll, attend, and thrive in school. While the inextricable link between health and learning has long been recognized, the most effective way to improve health for students has been less apparent.

Health-Promoting Schools in China

Students sign on to support the WHO project during a mobilisation meeting at Shu Ghang Middle School in Ningbo.

The concept of health-promoting schools is taking hold in China, according to EDC’s Carmen Aldinger, project director in HHD (Health and Human Development Programs) Global Programs, who recently returned from an evaluation visit for the Health-Promoting Schools (HPS) project in China’s Zhejiang Province.

Creating Healthy High Schools

What educators and parents have intuitively known—that students who are “connected” at school fare better than those who feel alienated—is now becoming a priority as researchers identify the ingredients of successful school reform.

An Environmental Approach to Campus Drinking

HEC is working to move colleges away from a primarily educational approach to high-risk drinking and toward a broader, public health approach. HEC collaborates with college students, administrators, and faculty to help them re-examine and expand their responses to student drinking. In addition to serving as a clearinghouse and publisher of prevention resources, HEC provides training and technical assistance to individual campuses.

Bridging Schools and Communities

The prevention work of EDC’s Health and Human Development Programs (EDC/HHD) spans the spectrum, addressing public health challenges related to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; HIV infection; injuries; and violence. We work with communities; schools; and state, local, and national agencies in both the United States and many other countries.