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Background
Schools play a key role in providing safe, nurturing learning environments that provide the foundation for learners to grow, learn, and become healthy, educated, and engaged citizens.
What is a health-promoting school?
Health-promoting schools (HPS) are schools with strengthened capacity to be healthy settings for living, learning, and working. HPS reflect a whole-school approach, comprising healthy school policies, curricula, environments, communities, and health services. A comprehensive school health programme aims to make every school a health-promoting school, which can be achieved by building health-promoting education systems. A health-promoting education system is one that, through intentional, planned actions, institutionalizes health promotion in all its functions, i.e., governance of the educational process and its content, resource allocation, educators' professional development, information systems, and performance management
What is new?
Although the concept of HPS was introduced by WHO many decades ago, the aspiration of fully embedded, sustainable HPS within educational systems is yet to be achieved; few countries have implemented HPS at scale. To fulfill the vision of “making every school a health-promoting school,” United Nations agencies collaborated on developing global standards for HPS and systems, implementation guidance, and case studies from low- and middle-income countries. These evidence-informed resources are intended to be used by national education, health, and associated sectors to strengthen their school health programmes in order to build health-promoting education systems.
Why is physical activity important for health and well-being?
An active lifestyle promotes physical and mental health, leading to better overall health and well-being. The many benefits of physical activity include improved cardiovascular health, stronger bones and muscles, healthy weight maintenance, better sleep, increased self-esteem and confidence, and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression. Active children are more likely to become active adults, and the benefits of physical activity continue throughout life, reducing the risk of developing chronic health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and obesity.
Why is physical activity important for education and learning?
Regular physical activity may contribute to addressing the global learning crisis, as it is associated with better brain health, which includes cognitive development, classroom behavior (e.g., time spent on tasks), and academic performance. It has also been linked to a reduction in bullying, pro-social behavior, and better school engagement and attendance. Physical activity outdoors has been linked to lower visual impairment (myopia), which may facilitate better learning.
