SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM

1. Medical Service

- The program airs to promote, protect and maintain the health status of
pupils/students and school personnel through the provision of various health
services in the school and inculcation of desirable values and behaviour.

2. Dental Service

- Dental service in an integral component of the school health and nutrition

program giving priority attention to the prevention, early detection, prompt
treatment of dental diseases and the promotion of dental health of the school
populace.

2.1 Sodum Flouride Mouthrinsing Program (SFMP)

- In the Philippines, where there is a lack of community water supplies,

mouthrinsing with 0.2% sodium flouride solution among
institutionalised population groups, like school children, will
appreciably reduce the incidence of dental decay. Hence, the DepEd,
through the Health and Nutrition Center (HNC) is continuously
implementing the Sodium Flouride Mouthrinsing Project (SFMP) to
reduce the prevalence of tooth decay among the children. It is
practical, easy to apply, safe, economical, and has shown positive and
effective results.

3. Nursing Service

- School nursing is a type of community health nursing that focuses on the

promotion of health and wellness of the pupils/students and teaching and non-
teaching personnel of the school. School nurse are expected to perform activities
like: school visitation, school health survey, putting-up of a functional clinic,
health and nutritional assessment, referral of cases, school plant inspection,
attendance to emergency cases, health counselling, orgnaizing/reactivating
school-community health council, establishing data bank on health education
activities. They also assist young people to make choices for a healthy lifestyle,
reduce risk taking behaviour and focus on issues such as the prevention of drug
and substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections,
malnutrition, communicable and non-communicable diseases.

4. Expanded Universal Medical/Dental Check-Up Program (UMDCP) for All Grades I-III
Pupils

- In consonance with the Schools First Inititie, the Univesal Medical and Detal
Check-up (UMDC) was first implemented last SY 2005-2006 as a major activity of
the National School Health Maintenance Drive for the elementary level to
underscore the need to promote good health and nutrition among children. The
 project aimed to examine all pre-schoolers in DepEd supervised pre-schools and
Grades I-III pupils in public elementary schools to be undertaken by school
health and nutrition personnel and volunteer private/public health professionals
affiliated with medical association and organizations nationwide. While before,
physical examination of school children was conducted by school health personnel
all year round, with UMDC, such examination was done during the 1st 3 months
of the school year, thereby devoting the remaining 7 months for health
interventions/management of identified ailments foun among the children.

5. School-Based TB Prevention and Control Program - DepED-GSK Healthy Lungs Project

- The TCP laban sa TB complements the existing TB Control Program by way of

educating the children and teachers through Teacher-Child-Parent Approach
guides and workbook had been distributed to all schools covering Grades V
teachers and student. The modules contain preventive messages and used on
strategies to carry over teaching in the classrooms to the house.

6. Oral Health Education "Bright Smiles, Bright Futures" Program

- The "BSBF" Program is a global oral health education program being implemented
in Europe and other Asian Countries. In the Philippines, the program was piloted
in Region IV, Batangas Division, of which results showed the effectiveness of the
program in oral health promotion. The program aims to enhance the oral health
education component of school dental health program through the integration of
four (4) basic dental concepts in the elementary school curriculum; limit snacking
sweet and sticky foods; use of toothpaste with fluoride; proper toothbrushing,
and regular visit to the dentist. Support instructional materials were developmed
through the financial support of CPPI and has been used by the teachers in
Grades I-III. The school dentists in the other hand provided dental services to the
recipients of the program.

7. School-Based AIDS Education Program

- School-Based AIDS Education Program is a practical and massive information

dissemination campaign on the risks of acquired immune deficiency syndrome or
AIDS as an attemp to reduce chances of infection/contamination. This project
was conceptualized as an approach to prevent the spread of HIV infection in view
of the fact that no vaccine or treatment has been developed yet despite
unprecedented global research efforts. Instructional materials have been
developed to facilitate in the integration of HIV and AIDS prevention
concepts/messages in Health and Science VI (elementary level) and Makabayan
(secondary).

8. Psycho-Social Intervention Project

- The Psycho-Social Intervention project is designed to prepare school health

personnel with the knowledge and skills to conduct psycho-social intervention
 activities and train other school personnel
trained DepEd personnel will ensure that
sustained in the armed conflict areas; and
to mobilized when similar disastrous
responsibility.
on crisis management. This cadre of
necessary intervention activities are
more importantly, they will be ready
events happen in their areas of

9. Traditional and Alternative Health Care (TAHC)

- The Health and Nutrition Center in collaboration with the Philippine Institute of
Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) embarks on the use of herbal
medicines and other alternative health care modalities in the management and
treatment of common ailments among school children and personnel in the
schools. Traditional and alternative health care services such as herbal medicine
preparation and message therapy are integrated in the service delivery
component of the total and nutrition program. The use of tried and tested herbal
plants are intensified in the schools, thus, the need for funds to purchase skin
oitments, anti-cough syrups, antipyretic medicines, etc. will be minimized.

SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAM

1. Breakfast Feeding Program (BFP)

- The Breakfast Feeding Program Project (BFP) is a response to the problem of

"short-term-hunger syndrome" among public elementary school children who go
to school without having breakfast. It provides breakfast meal in the form of
fortified instant noodles and fortified biscuits in the school for a total of 120 days
during the school year. The feeding activity is utilized as a venue for health and
nutrition education and values development.

2. Food for School Program (FSP)

- Food for School Program seeks to rescue poor families from hunger and
undernutrition. It is a food subsidy package for young learners who belong to
poor families. It provides daily ration of one (1) kilo of rice to identified families
through the child. As long as the child goes to school everyday, the family is
assured of staple food on their table.

3. The Teacher-Child-Parent (TCP) Approach to School Health and Nutrition Program

(SHNP)

- The TCP Approach to school health and nutrition utilizes an innovative relay
system to strengthen the carry-over of learning's the child has mastered in
school to the home, thus, promoting the sharing of messages and skills with the
other members of the family. Under this scheme, health and nutrition messages
presented in the classroom are relayed through the children to the parents who
are expected to eventually put these messages into practice at home. Home
activities are designed in TCP modules, guides and workbooks to assure the
participation of parents/family in health and nutrition experiences. This approach
 to learning is done through cirricular and co-corricular activities.

4. Applied Nutrition Program

- The Applied Nutrition Program (ANP) is a self-help supplementary feeding

endeavor that is jointly undertaken by the school and the community. It focuses
on the improvement of the nutritional status of below normal cases on Grade I to
VI pupils, through the provision of indigenous food supplements side by side with
the development of positive health and nutrition values.
One of the important components of ANP is the Food Production otherwise known
as "Gulayan sa Paaralan" Project. It aims to raise the level of public
consciousness on the health and nutritional dimension as well as economic
benefits of establishing school, household and community garden. Established
school gardens to serve as the food basket/main source of commodities to
sustain supplementary feeding; thus intensifying production of selected varieties
of fruits and vegetables that are rich sources of protein, calories vitamins and
minerals to improve nutrition.
Food and nutrition needs of school children have been given priority concern by
the government in response to the findings that hunger and malnutrition affect
their academic performance. The emphasis in malunggay is simply due to the line
of benefits it offers to improve health and nutrition. Researches proved that
malunggay is one of the most nutritious vegetables having 4x the calcium in
milk, 3x the potassium in bananas and 3/4 the iron in spinach, 7x the Vit. C in
oranges and 2x the protein in milk.
Recently, the Department of Education in coordination with the Food and
Nutritional Research Institute, conducted a 2-week workshop on the development
and standardization of malunggay-based recipes for in-school feeding. A total of
41 malunngay recipes were developed and a recipe book is now being finalized
for dissemination to the field. It also include a 30-day cycle menu in schools
through the home economics teachers and school canteen teachers as guide in
the preparation of meals, snacks and drink concoction for school feeding.
Recepes were developed by selected nutritionist-dietitians and writers from
various regions of the country. The cost per serving is affordable, ranging from
P4.00 to P15.00 only.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

1. National Drug Education Program

- NDEP is an educational endeavor aimed to raise the consciousness of elementary

and secondary students on the perils of use of illicit drugs. It has been designed
to enable all sectors to work collaboratively with the school system as the core,
thereby unifying all sectoral endeavors. Support instructional modules have been
developed, and printed and distributed to the schools. The program has five (5)
components, namely: (a) Curriculum and Instruction; (b) Co-curricular and
 Ancillary Services; (c) Staff Development; (d) Parent Education and Community
Outreach; and (e) Monitoring, Research and Evaluation.
NDEP is anchored on RA 9165, other wise known as "Comprehensive Dangerous
Drugs Act" of 2002, specifically in Article IV, Section 42-45 of the Law

2. Teachers Halth Welfare Enhancement Program Through Provision of Annual Health

Examination and Free Simple Diagnostic Tests

- The school health personnel shall conduct health examination and health profiling
of all teachers and non-teaching personnel. The findings will be recorded in the
Teacher's Health Record. Personnel found during the examination to be at risk of
certain diseases or with early signs and symptoms of diseases are further
screened by the school medical officers and nurses through the use of diagnostic
tools such as glucose meter for diabetes, hemoglobin color scale for anemia,
otoscope/audiometer for hearing impairment, Snellen's chart for visual acuity,
etc. Dental examination is conducted by the school dentists. All teachers who are
diagnosed to suffer from ailments shall be referred to government
hospitals/clinics for further confirmatory tests and treatment. Simple/Mild cases
will be manged by the school health personnel in the school. Counselling will be
undertaken for behavior modification to those in need such as the teachers who
smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, are obese, hypertensive or under stress, etc.
The health record will be used for 5 years. The health profile/data of each teacher
will always be available when needed.

- Some diagnostic tools such as stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers, glucose and

urine strips, Snellen's Charts and otoscopes are provided in the school clinic as
well as the Teacher's Health Record and CSC Form 86. ECG machines and other
equipment/supplies as deemed necessary may be purchased from SHNP savings
at the regional/division offices or sourced from LGUs, NGOs or from local school
board/IRA funds.

3. Health Promoting Schools (HPS)

- The Helth Promoting Schools (HPS) Approach has become a universal

phenomenon for the past decades. It emerged from the Health Promotion
Concept, and isone of the components of the Child Friendly School System
(CFSS) jointly implemented by UNICEF and the Department of Education. The
project started in 1999 and is continuously expanding due to positive responses
and promising results in the field. Initially, the project involved 131 pilot
elementary schools from 25 pilot division (20 provinces and 5 cities) nationwide.
In the year 2000, Training of Trainors on Health Promoting Schools was
conducted by the Health and Nutrition Center, in cooperation with UNICEF to
selected Regionald and Division Health and Nutrition Personnel and Education
Supervisors and Principals of the pilot schools. After the training, all of them were
able to conduct echo training in their respective divisions. Every year the HPS
coverage exapnds to other schools so that more schools benefit from the project.
In our desire to involve more schools, the HNC and UNICEF had developed a HPS
Training Manual which serves as a guide to school health and nutrition personnel
and school administrators in making their schools health promoting.