Health status assessment of children studying in the government school of an urban field practice area of the government medical college of Uttarakhand

• Author Details:   
• Shiv Kumar Yadav
• Priyanka Dobhal ^*
• Abdulla Asad
• Rishabh Tiwari
• Deepika Bhardwaj

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Background: School health is vital for academic success and lifelong well-being. Healthy students learn better and develop healthy habits. Schools play a key role in early identification and intervention of health issues, promoting a culture of wellness for students, staff, and the community. This improves academic performance, reduces absenteeism, and fosters a healthier future.

Materials and Methods: An observational study was conducted in the field practice area of department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Dehradun school using a pre-validated questionnaire and physical examinations to assess students’ health. Socio-demographics, hygiene practices, eating and sleeping habits, and deworming Data included /IFA intake. Height, weight, and several physical characteristics were measured.

Result: The study includes students between 10-16 years majority of them were from 14–16-year (65%), with a higher female (55.62%) than male (44.37%) proportion. Majority of them were Muslim (76.03%) and most of the students were in class 10-12 (63.6%). Hygiene practices varied; most students washed hands with soap (88.5%), bathed daily (74.85%), but fewer changed clothes (53.8%) or washed clothes daily (47.9%). Tooth brushing habits were infrequent, with only 8% brushing twice daily. Nutritional anaemia prevention practices were limited; only 71.6% received deworming tablets and 47.9% received iron supplements. Pad availability at school was reported by 62.8% of students.

Conclusion: Present study elucidates that student exhibited good personal hygiene, but awareness and implementation of WIFS and deworming programs were insufficient. Improved sensitization of teachers and students regarding various school health programs is the need of an hour.

Keywords: Personal hygiene, School health, Weekly iron folic acid supplementation, Menstrual hygiene.