18 October 2016, Brazzaville – A four-day regional consultation on national school health programmes in the African Region opens today in Brazzaville, Congo.  The Consultation – organized by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFR) in collaboration with the Government of Congo – brings together 29  countries of the Region, development partners, non-government organizations (NGOs), civil society, youth representatives, and the United Nations system to take stock of progress made in the region on school health in the African Region and provide inputs to the Global Guidance for Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA! Guidance).

Speaking at the opening of the consultation, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, acknowledged that the youth in the African Region face various challenges against attaining healthy, successful and happy lives, and underscored the need for countries to prioritize adolescent health in an all-rounded approach. She said, “We encourage Member States to prioritize high-impact adolescent health interventions in national strategies that seek to strengthen health systems in view of achieving universal health coverage.” 

Dr Moeti confirmed that the school setting has been recognized as one of the essential platforms for the delivery of quality health services to the greatest number of children and adolescents. “It is therefore proper to monitor the progress accomplished in the implementation of the school health programme and identify the challenges and opportunities so as to move forward the agenda in this area,” she urged.

His Excellency, Mr Clément Mouamba, Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo expressed his pleasure at Congo’s hosting such a milestone event towards ensuring adolescent health, and stated that stepping up efforts on adolescent health is also a priority for his country. “Indeed, the vision of His Excellency Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic, is to accelerate the progress of Universal Health Coverage in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  And this calls for enabling the healthcare system to better meet the health needs of youth and adolescents, in particular those in schools.”

The main objective of the Consultation is to review progress in countries and develop country action plans that will later help to develop a regional action plan to strengthen national school health programmes in the African region. It specifically aims to:

• take stock of the status of the implementation of school health programmes in the African region against programme components, including, governance, evidence-based planning, monitoring and evaluation, school health policies for safe and supportive physical and social environment in schools, partnerships and school health services, life-skills-based health education, and human and financial resources; 
• provide technical updates and guidance on evidence-based school health policies in key areas – water and sanitation, prevention of early pregnancy and support to pregnant and parenting adolescents, nutrition and physical activity, substance use, mental health;
• provide inputs into the AA-HA! Guidance, and discuss the implications of its recommendations for school health programmes in the African region; and
• develop    country action plans for programme scale-up, and set short and medium-term actions for implementation at country levels.

Stakeholders are gathered at the Consultation with the core shared value that children, adolescents and youth afford Africa the best opportunity to operate radical changes for a prosperous, healthy and sustainable Region. And, as confirmed by the Regional Director, “[The] consultation is in line with efforts to achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, whose successful outcome depends on equity and the principle of ‘leave no-one behind’.”

It is expected that at the end of the Consultation on 21 October 2016, country action plans for strengthening national school health programmes in the African region with country specific priority actions will be developed.  Then the regional action plan will be developed and  linked to the implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.  

WHO will continue to support Member States in developing  integrated  strategies for  reproductive, women’s, new-borns’, children’s and adolescents’ health,  disseminate standards and guidelines; provide technical support and capacity strengthening; and support countries for the strengthening of school health programmes and innovations, as well as for mobilization of domestic and external resources for the success of these programmes.

_____________________________________

For more information, please contact:

Dr Phanuel Habimana, Team Leader, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, Family and Reproductive Health Cluster, WHO AFRO habimanap [at] who.int (habimanap[at]who[dot]int) Tel +47 241 39407

Dr Symplice Mbola Mbassi, Technical Officer, Family and Reproductive Health Cluster, WHO AFRO mbolambassis [at] who.int (mbolambassis[at]who[dot]int) Tel +47 241 39221

Loza Mesfin, Communications Officer, WHO AFRO  tesfayel [at] who.int (tesfayel[at]who[dot]int)  Tel +47 241 39779,

C. Boakye-Agyemang, Acting Regional Communications Adviser  boakyeagyemangc [at] who.int (boakyeagyemangc[at]who[dot]int)  Tel +47 241 39420,