ORIGINAL ARTICLES Awareness and Availability of the National School Health Policy in Selected Rural and Urban Primary Schools in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria

West Afr J Med . 2023 Jul 28;40(7):673-677.

Abstract

Abstract  in English, French

Background: The School Health Programme (SHP) is key in actualizing optimal health and education for school-age children. Its implementation in Nigeria has been described as ineffective. Some of the challenges with implementation might be related to end users' lack of familiarity with the National School Health Policy (NSHPo). This study was conducted to determine awareness and availability of the NSHPo in Oyo State.

Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out among teachers in selected rural and urban public and private primary schools in Oyo State. All consenting teachers from the schools from the purposively selected urban and rural local government areas in Oyo State participated. The questionnaire was divided into sections on sociodemographic characteristics, awareness, and availability of the NSHPo document. Summary statistics were computed as well as bivariate analysis using Chi-square test to explore the association between type of school and awareness of NSHPo at p<0.05.

Results: One thousand, one hundred and thirty-eight respondents (rural: 571; urban: 567) participated. In the rural primary schools, 49.4% of the respondents had ever heard of the NSHPo document. Of these, 24.1% had ever sighted a copy and 16.3% had ever seen a copy in the school office. None of the respondents owned a copy when verified during check listing. Awareness of the NSHPo document was higher among rural public-school respondents (52.2%) than rural private schools (43.5%), though not statistically significant (p=0.052). In the urban primary schools, 55.2% of the teachers had ever heard of the NSHPo document. Of these, 22.7% had ever sighted a copy and 18.2% had ever seen a copy in the school office. On verifying these claims, none of the respondents could produce a copy of the document. A significantly higher proportion (62.8%) of respondents in the urban public schools were aware of the NSHPo document compared with 42.1% of those in the urban private schools [p<0.001].

Conclusion: The NSHPo document was not sighted with any of the teachers in both rural and urban public and private schools visited.

Keywords: Avaiability; Awareness; Nigeria; School health programme.

A M Adebayo ¹, O M Dania ¹, O O Ojifinni ²