1. THE ROLE OF SCHOOL HEALTH COMMITTEES IN
HIV PREVENTION
THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PEER
EDUCATION, SEXUALITY AND HIV&AIDS 2014
18-20th June 2014
Luciana Koske
Global Communities
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2. Background
School Health Committees (SHCs) are platforms
that bring together schools and community to
address the health concerns of the students.
MoH and MoEST developed the Kenya National
School Health Policy and Guidelines together with
an implementation framework
The Policy advocates for formation of SHC and
SHC structures at County and Sub-county levels
Focus is on Comprehensive School Health Program
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3. Members: Head Teacher, teacher in charge,
PTAs’, Education board and sponsor, special
needs, MoH (Public Health Officer, Community
nurse, extension worker) & students.
This presentation seeks to:
• Create awareness on the Comprehensive
School Health Program through SHCs to make
schools a healthy place.
• Raise awareness on importance of linkages
and networking within the community 3

4. Rationale of SHCs
• Increased enrollment due to Universal Primary
Education: enrollment increased from 5.9m in
2002 to over 8m today.
• Declining parental guidance and support due to
competing demands.
• High rates of HIV infection among the young
people - 60% of adolescents are sexually active
by 18 years (KAIS, 2007)
• Low levels of knowledge on HIV prevention
among young people (SACMEQ, 2010) 4

5. Rationale cont…
• High rate of alcohol and substance abuse
among youth
• Health care services often are not youth friendly
• Inadequate support and linkages between
schools and communities in managing youth
health care
Recognizing these challenges the government
established the idea of SHC – through introduction
of National Health Policy and the current
Education Sector Policy on HIV and AIDS which 5

6. Role of SHCs: They enable learning institutions to:
• Link the school to health facilities
• Focus and advocate for support on priority
areas e.g. values & Life skills, Gender issues,
Child rights, protection & responsibilities,
water, sanitation & hygiene, nutrition, disease
prevention &control, special needs and
environmental safety
• Develop action plans & mobilize resources in
line with health priorities of the school
• Encourage community-owned behavioral 6

7. 7
Role of SHCs also enables young people to:
• Access information, skills and knowledge to
prepare them for their future sexual lives
• Gain confidence & improve on their health
when their parents and adults are concerned
about their welfare
• Improve their SRH and protect themselves
against teen pregnancy, STIs, including HIV
through linkages to health services available
• Take advantage of educational and other
opportunities that will impact their lifelong
well-being

8. HOPE Program: 4-year USAID/PEPFAR funded
program to promote HIV prevention among school
age children.
• Program design recognizes the critical
importance of involving & strengthening
parents, family networks and communities in
youth-focused interventions for greater impact
and long-term change.
• Program extends support beyond the school to
parents & communities to create a mutually-
supportive system to influence behavior
change. 8

9. HOPE Program has supported SHCs to:
– Strengthen linkages to health facilities
– Hold community events that brought together
Stakeholders to understand SHC process
– Encourage participation of BOMs &
establishment of PTAs in school activities.
– Engage CHEWs (MoH) to act as link between
school and health facilities.
- Participate in forums and discussions with
young people
- Encourage parents to enrol for capacity 9

10. Challenges
• Inadequate information on Adolescent Sexual
Reproductive Health (ASRH) & their role as
parents and community
• Inadequate capacity (financial & human)to
respond to young people’s health needs and
concerns
• Stigma and discrimination of Youth Living with
HIV at school and community level
• Inconsistent messaging and inadequate
documentation of lessons learned and best
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11. Recommendations
• Improve advocacy mechanisms to cater for ASRH
services and IEC materials.
• Train health & service providers towards youth-
friendliness.
• Ensure consensus on relevant interventions and
their socioeconomic and cultural
appropriateness.
• Recognise and sustainably address the unique
needs of YLHIV at school.
• Strengthen coordination for consistent messages11

12. Conclusion
• SHC can help to strengthen partnership &
collaboration of all stakeholders on health
concerns including HIV prevention, care and
treatment at school & community level.
• A multi-sectoral approach to comprehensive
sexuality information for young people at
school and community level is needed—SHC
help create this linkage.
• Operationalize the youth friendly services
policy to enable youth access health care
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13. Acknowledgement: HOPE Program Team
• Betty Adera
• Fred Nyagah
• Ann Wahinya
• Lily Murei
• Kimberly Tilock
• HOPE Program Partners
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SHUKRANI