Assessment of the School Health Service in Addis Ababa during 1985/86 School Year
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Date
1986-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study is an assessment of the school heal t h service in
Addis Ababa which has been operating for the last 45 years.
Fifty-seven school clinics serving a student population of 197,181
were se l ected according to set criteria . 'rhese school clinics were
visited, medi cal records and reports for the 1985/86 school year
revie\'19d , and school health workers interviewed. Najar he alth
problems of school childr"n and problems in th ... delivery of the
school h~alth servi ce its ~lf are i dentified .
Accidents and injuries were .round to be the most prevalert health
problems of school childrf;n \vith .:in overall incidence rate of about
22%. Over 45% of the: report ed deaths fer W1lich causes were possibly
kno\vn during ·the same period were also aue t o accidents . Other
categories of health problems includ.~ inte stinal parasite, dental
problems, skin infections, eye and Ear probl ems and venereal diseases ..
Available data s ugge !3t that most of these problems were cons istantl y
o':;curring over the past 26 yeurs, E~X Cl2:pt for dental caries which has
possibly appedred as .1 new phenomena in recent years.
Comparison of the morbidity patterns between the school population
and the general population of Addis 1lbaba did not show major differences .
On the whole 1 most of the dis eas~ s and conditions idantified are o f the
typc that can be prevent"d through general public health m€i1c.ures .
Nost of the school clinics havL~ seri ous probl (:::l-:IS of space,
budget 7 drugs and ffillnpower:_u Over T:::'r of the school clinics surveyed
have only onc room each and about £:5% W'2re staffed by on0 hedlth
worker each. Lack o f provision [or refresher courSGS r i nadequatt.
supervisi on and ambulance problenls we r e a lso r eported. School
}j;!alth s e r vice activiti es were found to be incomple t e in most of
the important 3ctivities like pariodic medical examination of
children, screening f o r defects and vaccinations . From the f i ndings
of this study it can safely be concluded 'that school health servi ce
i s a n.Ajlected <&rea of service demanding urgent acti on and therefore I'
some recoTrUllendatiuns a:re made to help ill improving the exi sting s ituation
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Keywords
health service