An Assessment of the Level of Provision of School Health Services in Selected Secondary Schools in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess the level of provision of school health services in selected secondary schools in Calabar Municipality.   Methodology: Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.  The study employed the descriptive survey design. The multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to select a total of 314 SS2 students, 100 teachers and 20 principals from 20 schools (10 public and 10 private) and 2 policy makers to make up the sample size of 436. A well validated questionnaire, key informant interview guides and observation checklist were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data from respondents.   Results: Population and independent t-test were used to test the two hypotheses formulated.  The results of data analysis were presented in tables and figure. The result of the study revealed that a significant difference exist between the School Health Programme implementation guidelines and the school health services provided in schools and that school ownership significantly influenced the provision of school health services (P = 0.000 at 0.05 confidence level). Private schools were observed to have more of the facilities/personnel and thus provide more health services than the public schools (school clinics/sick bays were found in 10% public and 50% private schools, school nurse/doctor in 0% public and 30% private schools, pre-entry medical examination found on-going in 10% public and 90% private schools, health records book for recording cases reported by students and staff found in 10% public and 30% private schools).   Recommendations: Based on the findings, recommendations made included: that copies of the School Health Programme policy and implementation guidelines be made a compulsory document for all schools to guide programme implementation and that the Government should see it as a matter of compulsion, for all schools to have a school clinic/sick bay with at least a health personnel to man it before permission will be given them to operate.   Keywords: School health services, school health programme, provision