Health–Related Practices among Some Egyptian School Children during The H1N1 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Swine influenza was recognized as a threatening health problem in the world. Thus, The Ministry of Health and population in Egypt took aggressive actions to prevent this serious health hazard. Several interventions were directed to schools. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess H1N1 healthy practices in schools, identify knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of school children and teachers, regarding health education (HE) messages and to assess the school environment. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in four schools in Giza governorate: three language/private and one public. A structured questionnaire assessed the school students KAP (n=300). Training on prevention of H1N1 was received by 75% of the school team. A semi-structured in depth interview explored the perception of school team (n=32) regarding H1N1 and an observation checklist assessed the school environment. Results: The study revealed that the Health Education Campaign raised health awareness of students about personal cleanliness especially hand washing (46.9%). Additionally, 87.5% of the school staff admitted improvement of the school environment during implementation of this campaign. Primary grade students were generally better in following instructions and obeying orders regarding personal cleanliness than those in preparatory grades (p<0.01). Vaccination did not achieve complete coverage (9.7%). Conclusion and Recommendations: Health education is reasonably effective in promoting some healthy practices in schools and among students. H1N vaccination coverage is jeopardized by the mass media interferences. There is great need for plans to emergency epidemic conditions and for continuous school environment supervision. Mass media should provide accurate information.