An Assessment of the School Health Services Among Primary Schools in Ido/Osi LGA of Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Adeyemi, Ebenezer Olatunji; Olatunya, Oladele Simeon; Ojulowo, Oluwakemi Blessing; Atoyebi, Olatunji Emmanuel; Bolaji, Olufunke Bosede; Adebami, Olusegun Joseph

Introduction: School Health Service (SHS) connotes the preventive and curative health services to pupils and other members of the school community. Its purpose is to help children achieve the maximum health possible for them to obtain full benefits from their education through early detection and treatment of diseases that could impinge their health and learning. This study aimed at ascertaining the state of the school health services in Ido / Osi Local Government Area (LGA), of Ekiti Sate, Nigeria. Methods: Sixty-seven schools comprising 19 private and 48 public primary schools were surveyed. They were inspected for the availability of the components of the SHS and evaluated using the SHS evaluation scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Results: None of the schools had a doctor or a trained first aider. Only 4.5% of the schools had a nurse. First aid boxes were present in most of the schools with 65.7% (84.2% of private vs 58.3% of public) having essential materials and drugs in their first aid boxes. Children with communicable diseases were sent home by most of the schools (98.5%). 95.8% public schools benefitted from the Federal Government home grown school feeding programme which was lacking in the private schools. Only two private (10.5%) and one public (2.0%) schools attained the minimum acceptable score on SHS respectively. Conclusions: The state of SHS in Ido / Osi is poor. Stakeholders must provide the needed money, materials and manpower to achieve an effective SHS in the area.

EKITI State (Nigeria); SCHOOL health services; PREVENTIVE health services; COMMUNICABLE diseases; EARLY diagnosis; PRIMARY schools

Journal of Nepal Paediatric Society, 2023, Vol 43, Issue 2, p114

1990-7974

Academic Journal

10.60086/jnps540