Supporting School Health

Supporting School Health in Disadvantaged Rural Areas in Bekaa and Southern Lebanon

School health promotion programs are effective in helping students achieve health literacy, enhancing their health-related behaviors, and thereby improving their health status. However, in resource-limited countries, such programs are restricted to some sporadic initiatives. The aim of this project was to the school health program in its three components; medical screening, health education, and school health environment. The project was designed by the World Health Organization (WHO) Lebanon Country Office and implemented in collaboration with the Modern University for Business and Science (MUBS) in five public schools located in rural areas in Lebanon.

The socio-ecological model guided the intervention that adopted a holistic approach by targeting the students, the school environment, and the students’ parents. The project tackled student health through medical screening and EHealth Modules, addressed the school environment through an assessment of relevant environmental indicators, and targeted parents through health seminars about different child healthrelated topics.

900+

Students

300+

Parents

Public Schools

The project was evaluated and the results of the evaluation showed that the project proved the effectiveness of such a comprehensive and holistic approach in improving school health. As a result, we strongly recommend that similar projects be replicated and expanded at the national level to provide children and their parents with a healthy schoolenvironment that promotes wellbeing at all levels.