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The Five Outstanding Objectives of Health Education
- To develop health attitudes.
- To eradicate the disease through health drive programmes.
- To provide a healthful environment for physical and mental growth.
- To improve the general conditions of living in the community.
- To instruct the children and youth so as to conserve and improve their own health.
Need for Revitalization
The school has direct contact with the vast majority of the nation’s young people aged 5-17 years, for about 6 hours a day, and for up to 13 critical years of their social, psychological, physical, and intellectual development. School-age children constitute about 23% of the population of the average Nigerian community, and they are even more significant members of disease affected population. Given the school setting, with little control over their interactions, they are even more exposed to rapid and widespread infectious diseases and control can be a tard bit difficult. Hence, the implementation of these school health clubs is an important component of the overall healthcare delivery system of any country as it comprises all activities in the school environment that contributes to the understanding, maintenance and improvement of the health of the school community members and beyond, consequently impacting the healthcare sector positively. The school setting provides several advantages and opportunities for delivering content and skills on health and development issues among learners (young people) and teachers as well as parents (community at large).
Young people attending school are at a stage in life where they are willing and able to learn new information and skills, irrespective of whether the information is good or bad, and some public organisations in the health and education sector have long evaluated and agreed on the need to seize this time in imparting health contents and skills to young people; and the school setting rather than the community is also agreed to be the most ideal place for such. The school setting presents an ideal opportunity to impart valuable health information and skills to young people. Also, the school setting provides an opportunity for peer education, which is an important aspect of their growth and development, as most of these young people share experiences and are likely to influence one another positively or negatively.
From the available statistics about active hours children spend in the education environment, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has recorded that almost 40% of their educational life is spent in school during which they undergo physical and mental development. The overall objective of implementing health clubs in schools is to promote and improve student achievement by increasing healthy life skills through a healthy school environment, accessible health services, prompt and effective health education and necessary healthy behavioural change. School health education clubs are focused on skills-based health education, covering disease prevention, nutrition, and reproductive health