HEALTH STATUS OF CHILDREN UNDER SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES IN DOIWALA BLOCK, DEHRADUN

Background -The introduction of school health services in India dates back to 1909, when school children in the city of Baroda were given the first medical examination. School Health programme ,promoting basic check up of school children for a variety of health related problems, is a systematic effort in raising awareness about health issues among school children and their families. Good health increases enrollment and reduces absenteeism. It also ensures attendance of the poorest and most disadvantaged children to school, many of whom are girls. Aim- To study the morbidity status of the school children & elicit relationship of healthy habits with morbidity pattern. Study Type- Observational study Methodology- A cross sectional survey to find out the morbidity pattern was conducted on 757 school children (340 boys and 417girls), aged 5-16 years studying in class I-VIII in five different schools of Doiwala, Dehradun under Rural Health training centre, Rajeev Nagar. Results- Overall students attendance was 78.2%. Clinical anaemia was higher in Girls (46.7%) as compared to Boys (34.1%). Worm infestation was higher in boys (65.1%) as compared to Girls(57.3%). Over all abnormal Visual acquity(8.5%) or eye abnormality (14%) was noticed among study subjects. Dental Caries (53.1%) and dermatitis (16.3%) were more in boys. Healthy habits like daily bathing (82.6%), daily teeth brushing (61.1%), mouth rinsing after meal (53%) and hair clean/combed (80.2%) were more in girls as compared to boys while trimmed nail was equally (55%) noticed among both the groups. Conclusion- Morbidities found amongst students are basically due to low awareness & negligent behaviour about personal hygiene are the key areas of concern and by active involvement of school teachers improvement in personal hygiene of school children and reduction in related morbidities can be achieved