EVALUATION OF HEALTH EDUCATION A TOOL FOR ERADICATING COMMUNICABLE DISEASE AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

EVALUATION OF HEALTH EDUCATION A TOOL FOR ERADICATING COMMUNICABLE DISEASE AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

A communicable disease is an illness caused by a specific infectious agent or it’s toxic products(1) .It arises through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person or animal to a susceptible host either direct or indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal host ,vector or the inanimate environment (2). Infectious disease can be a major cause of illness among children and can affect a child’s schooling by causing absenteeism .They may in turn, affect other children and staff, and can prevent parents careers ability to work, especially where both parents careers work (3) .School health programs could not be fully implemented without having staff and parent’s cooperation and involvement .Parents, community leaders and teachers often can and do serve as role models for students. Students serve as a linkage with school and family while parents can and should cooperate with schools to help their children. (4)Communicable diseases spread quickly among students in the classroom, there must be gathered printable and advise for germ prevention in school (5). Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in public concern about communicable diseases in the schools all over the world .School administrations must find ways to strike a balance between protecting the general school population from exposure to dangerous communicable diseases and ensuring the infected student’s right to privacy and to public education. This study focuses on evaluation of health education as a tool to the prevention and control of communicable diseases among primary school pupils, excluding immunization and harm reduction interventions, which are the subjects of additional evidence. It takes its lead from two meetings, one held by Interior Health in November 2005 and a second by Vancouver Health Authority in February 2006, which focused on population health and health promotion, including specific sessions on their relevance to communicable diseases. Both meetings demonstrated the gap between the rich discourse located in academic literature on health promotion and population health and its application on the ground. More so, these meetings confirmed that health promotion strategies have not been a priority focus of communicable disease prevention initiatives.

EVALUATION OF HEALTH EDUCATION A TOOL FOR ERADICATING COMMUNICABLE DISEASE AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS