Health Promoting Schools – Trachoma WHO Case Study

In 2021 IEHU met with Professor Susan Sawyer, Chair of Adolescent Health, Department of Paediatrics at The University of Melbourne and her team to discuss synergies between trachoma elimination in schools and Professor Sawyer’s work in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Group for Health Promoting Schools.

WHO promotes school health programmes as a strategic means to prevent important health risks among youth and to engage the education sector in efforts to change the educational, social, economic and political conditions that affect risk. Health Promoting Schools are characterized as schools constantly strengthening their capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working.

IEHU and the Clean Faces, Strong Eyes Hygiene Group (Northern Territory (NT) Department of Education, Centre for Disease Control and other NT trachoma stakeholders) contributed a case study about the collaboration between health and education sectors for the WHO topic brief Water, Sanitation and Hygiene ‘WASH’. The case study Trachoma control through school approaches, Australia was published by WHO in May 2023.

Case study authors:

IEHU: Fiona Lange, Emma Stanford, Nick Wilson. NT Dept of Education: Tamie Devine. CDC: Yash Srivastava. Uni Melb/Murdoch Children’s Research Institute: Dr Nat Evans

22 Nov 2023