A seminar to disseminate findings of a 2007/08 survey on the health conditions of some selected first and second cycle institutions in Ghana has been held in Accra.

The survey was conducted to assist stakeholders in the education sector to develop and establish programmes that would improve standards of health among students.

It was conducted among 13,473 students from selected schools in the Central, Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta regions.

The study was initiated in July 2006 by the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and the World Health Organisation.

Other collaborating partners were UNICEF, UNESCO and UNAIDS, with technical support from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study was conducted in 2007 and 2008 by Mr. Andrew Owusu, an Assistant Professor at the Middle Tennessee State University, in collaboration with the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Unit of the Ghana Education Service.

The study investigated factors, including alcohol and other drug use, hygiene, physical activity, dietary behaviours, mental health, sexual behaviour and violence among students.

The report found that 38 per cent of the 7,137 students covered in senior high schools (SHS) in 2008 suffered from malaria while 20 per cent took drugs (self-medicated) to prevent malaria.

It also noted that "37 per cent also used mosquito nets to protect themselves against malaria".

On sexual behaviours which contributed to HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies among SHS students, the report said 21 per cent of the total number had never had sexual intercourse, five per cent had sexual intercourse for the first time before age 13, while 48 wanted to wait until they were married.

For example, tobacco use reported two per cent for students who smoked cigarettes a day or more, five per cent used other forms of tobacco and 29 per cent reported other people smoking in their presence on a day or more within a seven-day period.

Alcohol and drug use among the 6,236 junior high school (JHS) students covered in 2007 was 15 per cent for students who drank alcohol within 30 days of the study, while 15 per cent suffered hangover or got into fights one or more times during their lifetime and three per cent of them used drugs one or more times in their lifetime.

The Minister of Education, Mr. Alex Tettey-Enyo, said school children came to school with myriad of health problems, which interfered with their ability to be consistent in school attendance.

"Ill-health in school can, therefore, result in the waste of precious resources and investments in the provision of education," he said.

He said poor health and nutrition were important underlying factors for low school enrolment; others are absenteeism, poor classroom performance and early school dropout.

Mr. Tettey-Enyo said with the GSHS surveillance system in place, Ghana had the necessary tools for monitoring and evaluating health-related behaviours and protective factors among students.

"Although this surveillance system has enormous potential to relate scientific evidence in support of policy making, the value of this surveillance system will be greatly diminished without effective data dissemination," he pointed out.

He advised policy makers to place greater importance on the GSHS to ensure that the result played a pivotal role in policy making and evaluation of pertinent programmes.

The National SHEP Coordinator, Mrs. Ellen Mensah, said the period of adolescence transition from childhood to adulthood had its own physical, emotional, mental and social changes, which demanded an effective school health support service to address.


Story by Precious Koranteng-Agyei & Martha Asantewaa Boateng
Source: Daily Graphic