Utilization of School Health Programme (SHP) Facilities and Factors Affecting Implementation in Secondary Schools in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria

Purpose: This paper was aimed at determining the level of utilization of School Health Programme (SHP) facilities and to explore the factors that affect the implementation in secondary schools in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Methodology: Two research questions were formulated to guide the study. The study employed the descriptive survey design. The multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to select a total of 314 SS2 students, 100 teachers and 20 principals from 20 schools (10 public and 10 private) and 2 policy makers to make up the sample size of 436. A 20-item validated questionnaire, key informant interview guides and observation checklist were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data from respondents. Results: It was observed that all the facilities assessed were being utilized by both students and teachers (an example is the utilization of toilet facilities by 100% of teachers from private and 90% from public schools and 98.7% of students from private and 89.5% from public schools and the utilization of plastic waste bins by 100% of teachers from private and 94% from public schools and 98.7% of students from private and 92.3% from public schools). Regarding factors affecting implementation of SHP, 50% of respondents (teachers) reported the presence of programme-related and management-related factors, as much as 90% indicated government-related factors and 49% reported community-related factors. Recommendations: The government at different levels should review, articulate properly and enforce their roles aimed at effective implementation of SHP as indicated in the National implementation guidelines and that the Ministry of health and Education should, through collaborative effort organize awareness programmes for all school administrators, teachers and students on the why, what, how and way forward of school health programme