446 Students Benefit From Lagos’ School Health Programme

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris has disclosed that no fewer than 446 pupils of Festac Nursery & Primary School and Progress Nursery and Primary Schools, both in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, are the latest beneficiaries of the School Health Programme, a comprehensive medical package comprising of basic general screening, eye screening, Ear Nose and Throat (ENT), dental screening and education on personal and environmental hygiene.

Idris who spoke in Lagos ecently explained that the School Health Programme was initiated as part of government’s preventive health strategies to ensure that students in the state’s public schools are sound both in body and mind.

“This programme covers the whole gamut of public health issues as it relates to the health of the children. The preventive health strategy adopted by the state government in this regards focuses on blindness prevention, malnutrition, fever, malaria, as well as other ailments particularly in children of school going age.”

The Commissioner noted that out of the 446 pupils screened for different ailments from both schools, 174 pupils were screened and treated for eye, 154 were treated for dental cases, with 44 of them being treated for different cases, while 74 pupils were treated at the ENT Unit.

“The State government is determined to ensure that the prevalence of blindness and other ailments is reduced considerably in Lagos schools. This, we have been able to achieve through the various missions the School Health Programme Unit have embarked upon,” Idris stated.

The Commissioner said efforts have been intensified in the training of teachers in various Educational Districts in the state on how to detect poor vision, dental problems and poor hygiene in the students adding that the training is in line with the blindness prevention and health prevention strategies as well as health promotion activities in school children.