Role of school health clubs in promotion of better health in Wakiso, Central Uganda

Poor sanitation is a national problem and every body’s responsibility. It has effects on health status, education, trade and development. Despite the National policies by Ministry of Education that all schools should have school health programmes, sanitation in schools is still presenting a big challenge to several actors in the Health, Education, Water and Sanitation sectors among others (MoES and UNICEF 2006). The rapid increase in primary schools’ classrooms and enrolment in response to Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda has resulted into increased pressure on the limited sanitation facilities available. More than one third of the global population some 2.5 billion people do not use an improved sanitation facility, and of these 1 billion people still practice open defecation (UNICEF, 2014) Like other Civil Society Organizations under the umbrella Uganda Water and Sanitation NGO Network (UWASNET) which networks or coordinates all Organizations under the water sector in Uganda, Voluntary Action for Development (VAD) has made a remarkable improvement in communities and schools where the integrated community managed water, hygiene and sanitation improvement has been implemented with funding from various partners from Canada, UK, and Ireland. This presentation highlights various avenues used by the trained School Health Clubs to spearhead the process of hygiene and sanitation improvement in an effort to reduce the occurrence of communicable diseases and improve on the general health of pupils in schools. Established and registered in 1996, Voluntary Action for Development (VAD) is a non-profit making indigenous, Non-governmental organization registered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs RE: No:S.1594/1709. VAD is focused exclusively on improving livelihoods of rural poor and disadvantaged communities through Water, Hygiene and Sanitation improvement, Sustainable Agriculture promotion, Child Protection and Development initiatives and Family Economic Empowerment (www.vaduganda.org).