School Health and Nutrition in Developing Countries

Water No Longer Making Children Sick

A schoolgirl in Pakistan benefits from clean water provided by Save the Children

Across the developing world, millions of school-age children are affected by serious — yet easily treatable and preventable — illnesses, which inhibit their ability to learn.

Healthier children stay in school longer, attend more regularly, learn more and become healthier and more productive adults.

Save the Children is a global leader in the field of School Health and Nutrition (SHN) with programs reaching 2 million children in 20 countries across all global regions.

Save the Children’s School Health and Nutrition core interventions aim to:

• Increase health and nutrition services at schools including: deworming (neglected tropical diseases), micronutrient supplementation, and control of malaria, as well as vision and hearing screening.
• Increase access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools.
• Promote lifelong health behaviors through skills-based health education, including HIV/AIDS prevention.
• Ensure basic health-related school policies and support from individual schools and communities to the national level.

A group of young boys wash their hands at a school-based program in Bangladesh. Photo credit: Jeff Holt

By addressing girls' special health needs, including treatment of anemia, providing sanitary facilities and water in schools, we are reducing their barriers to learning and increasing their chances to succeed and stay in school.

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Last Updated February 2011