Creating health-promoting schools in rural China: a project started from deworming

Intestinal helminth infection is highly endemic in rural areasof China. This project was implemented to determine if dewormingefforts through schools could reduce helminth infections andsuccessfully serve as an entry point for developing a more comprehensiveapproach to school health, i.e. the components of ‘health-promotingschools’. Six primary and junior secondary schools with6188 students were involved in the project. Major interventionsin four experiment schools included: examination and treatmentof helminth infections; health education; improvement of schoolphysical environment; establishment of relevant school policiesand regulations; and strengthening relationship between schooland community. The only intervention taken by the other twoschools as controls was deworming. After 1 year of implementation,helminth infection in students and environmental contaminationby helminth eggs in experiment schools decreased by ~80%, significantlyhigher than that in control schools. Remarkable improvementsin students' knowledge, behaviour and skills of health protection,in school physical facilities, in school/community relationship,and in relevant policies and practices, were also observed inthe experiment schools. The conclusions are that the conceptof the health-promoting school has been well accepted by thestudents, teachers, parents and local government officers, andthat helminth reduction is an effective and feasible entry pointfor establishing health-promoting schools in rural areas wherehelminth infection has been an important public health problem.