The Ministries of Education and Health have established a committee in the Dili municipality to implement a pilot school health program.
The National Director of School Social Action, Belchior R.A. Barros, said the committee’s role was important for the program’s implementation and to assess planned activities related to student health.
“It provides training to the teachers in order to stop the children smoking and throwing rubbish arbitrarily in the school corridor, including a health promotion campaign in schools,” said Barros in Dili.
The committee is composed of representatives from the ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture and Public Works and Transport, as well as health facilities.
Schools in Dili municipality that already have water and sanitation facilities in place will be targeted as part of the pilot project.
Twenty-two basic schools in Dili will take part this year, although there are plans to extend the program to other municipalities as well.
The Ministries first established this program in 2015, but it failed due to lack of coordination at the ministerial level, he said.
He added that the program had received support from Japan’s SHARE organization for 2016 to 2017.
Meanwhile, Rita Maria Soares, the ministry of health’s representative for health personnel promotion, said the establishment of this committee would help ensure all activities are integrated and well organized.
She the program would help raise awareness about diseases such as dengue, malaria and zika, as well as improve oral and eye screening among children.
