Article published in the Lancet on Friday 22 January 2021

This recent article^[1] in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health is both an advocacy tool and a roadmap for building bridges between education and health and enabling the development of intersectoral practices in schools.

Child and adolescent health is influenced by a complex set of cultural, environmental, social and economic factors. Schools, as an educational setting where children spend a large part of their daily lives, have an important influence on the health and wellbeing of students. The discussions about reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown the interconnectedness of health and education inequalities.

The article takes stock of the available evidence on school health interventions and the conditions necessary for their effectiveness and sustainability. It calls for an educational look at health issues. It reminds us that to improve health and reduce inequalities, all pupils must attend school from an early age and for as long as possible, and that their success at school must be maximised. Coherence between policies, structures and systems, human resources and practices in each school is necessary to improve school and health outcomes. Finally, it shows that health professionals can be catalysts for structural change and act as vehicles for cross-sectoral implementation of reforms and innovations in school systems to promote the health of all students.

Read the article and the editorial of the Lancet

[1] Jourdan, D., Gray, N. J., Barry, M. M., Caffe, S., Cornu, C., Diagne, F., El Hage, F., Farmer, M. Y., Slade, S., Marmot, M., & Sawyer, S. M. (2021). Supporting every school to become a foundation for healthy lives. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30316-3

On 21 January 2021 from 14.00 – 15.00 CET, the interactive webinar “Health literacy in schools: an education asset in the 21^st century” will take place. The webinar is part of the Global Health & Education webinar series and organised by the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education in collaboration with Schools for Health in Europe Network Foundation (SHE). The webinar will be held in English.

The aim of this webinar is to discuss health literacy in the school context and the educational sector. Health literacy is a critical 21st century competence that enables children and adolescents to critically evaluate health information, make informed decisions about health, and inform their health behaviour. The development of health literacy begins as early as in childhood and schools represent the most promising setting to facilitate the enhancement of child and adolescent health literacy.

During this webinar the experts: Associated Professor Leena Paakkari, University of Jyväskylä, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Finland, Doctor Orkan Okan, Bielefeld University, Faculty of Educational Science, Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, Germany, and Professor doctor Kevin Dadaczynski, Fulda University of Applied Science, Fulda Public Health Centre, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany, will address the following questions:

1. What is health literacy and why do we need to address it in schools?
2. Why should we incorporate health literacy into the school curriculum?
3. How can we embed health literacy into school health promotion frameworks?

Link for the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83136909908

More information

On Monday 23 November 2020 from 19:00 – 20:30 (Melbourne time zone) the Monash University will organize the free online live stream: “Re-imagining health education”. The live stream is part of their series of Global Critical Conversations which welcomes a line-up of distinguished scholars, educators and industry representatives to share their insights and engage in dialogue focusing on the Monash Education Research priorities. The online live stream will be held in English.

Health education has long been a school subject area and an important element in public health and health promotion campaigns but its goals are still difficult to achieve. Continuing challenges force professionals to critically rethink health education, its assumptions and practices, and thus transform it.

Panelists from Australia, Italy and Canada will explore the new ways of working, teaching, and learning in health education. They will answer these questions:

• What are the current major challenges facing health education?
• What can we make of health education’s intentions and tactics?
• What does it mean to bring interdisciplinarity to the table, what does it offer and what challenges does it pose?
• How might we involve people and communities through participatory approaches to health education?
• Is there a need to explore new spaces for health education?
• How well placed are we to realize new ambitions for health education and what kind of workforce do we need?

More information: https://bit.ly/2Ur7kr4

CHRODIS-PLUS mobilizes more than 50 partners from 21 European countries to help them cope with chronic diseases and is co-funded by the European Commission health program. The purpose of the CHRODIS-PLUS joint action is to ensure a “comprehensive community” approach to health promotion and disease prevention. CHRODIS-PLUS has set up 21 pilot projects and 16 policy dialogues with the aim of evaluating tools and good practices to fight chronic diseases, promote their long-term sustainability and integrate them into policies.

The following publications are available:

• Consensus statement: concerning the EU added value of cross-country collaboration to prevent and manage chronic diseases beyond 2020.
• Landscape report: a comparative overview of policies, approaches, good practices, gaps, and needs in participating countries.
• Recommendations for the implementation of health promotion good practices: five good practices in eight new contexts across the EU where implemented and evaluated. They involved cross-sectoral work and focused on improving physical activity and nutrition among different groups (children, employees and older people) in schools, workplaces and communities.
• Seven recommendations for intra and intersectoral collaboration for health promotion and chronic disease prevention: that would foster effective intersectoral collaboration inside and outside of health care in order to strengthen health promotion activities.
• 16 action plans for policy and legislation: that would tackle key chronic disease risk factors, strengthen health promotion, and ensure health systems are well equipped to meet the challenge of chronic disease.

EuroHealthNet has been a partner of the CHRODIS-PLUS joint action since 2017.

Read the full article: https://bit.ly/38HETh4