Authors

L J Appleby²; G Tadesse¹; N Dejene³; I A Gardiner²; E Yard³; J E Grimes²; L J Drake²;  ¹ Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Ethiopia;  ² Imperial College London, UK;  ³ Partnership for Child Development, Ethiopia

Discussion

Schools provide an effective platform from which simple and safe control and treatment interventions can be distributed, and health messages can be disseminated for the benefit of many children. Coordinating programmes to deliver health through school platforms inherently requires strong partnerships and coordination across and between sectors. In Ethiopia, a costed, integrated school based pilot programme has been implemented over the past four years, in partnership with the Ethiopian Government and implementing partners. The programme, known as the Enhanced School Health Initiative (ESHI), addresses the key needs of school age-children in the area, and was developed following baseline surveys which indicated a high prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths (STH), poor nutritional indicators and inadequate WASH infrastructure in schools. ESHI focused on strengthening multi-sectoral coordination of SHN while collecting operational data on efficacy, effectiveness, and costs. Key coordinating structures include the small-holder farmer cooperatives as well as multi-sectoral coordination committees, headed by the Bureau of Education and attended by bureaus of health, finance and water as well as relevant stakeholders. This regional SHN task force structure is now being scaled up to national level, in accordance with the National School Health and Nutrition Strategy. Operational evidence of the cost-effectiveness and synergistic benefits of and integrated SHN programme provide the Federal Ministry of Education with tangible budget lines for mainstreaming the programme into national sector plans.