School Health Services

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) defines school health services(SHSs) as those that exist due to a formal arrangement between educationalinstitutions and primary health care. SHSs are unique in that theyare designed exclusively to address the needs of children and adolescents inthis age group and setting.We investigated SHSs have been provided to schools and how they contributeto primary healthcare services for school children. We did this by mappingthe national school health systems against the standards of the WorldHealth Organization, and against a framework measuring the strength ofprimary care, adapting this from an existing, adult-focused framework.We found that all but two countries in the European Union and EuropeanEconomic Area have SHSs. There, however, remains a need for muchgreater investment in the professional workforce to run the services, includingtraining to ensure appropriateness and acceptability to young people.Greater collaboration between SHSs and primary care services would leadto better coordination and the potential for better health (and educational)outcomes. Involving young people and families in the design of SHSs andas participants in its outputs would also improve school health