Health-Promoting Schools in the Caribbean Region: Status and Trends

The Health-Promoting Schools Regional Initiative, a global strategy, is directed to strengthen Health Promotion and Health education where students, parents, teachers, and other members of the school community live, learn, work, and play. Through technical cooperation with and among Member States, the Initiative aims to build consensus between the health and education sectors and to establish relevant partnerships with other appropriate sectors, to create, maintain, and/or enhance healthy and supportive physical and psycho-social environments. The Initiative strives to contribute to future generations of people and communities with the appropriate knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that are basic and vital to care for their own health, as well as for the health of their families and community.

Since its official launching in 1995, major efforts in the Americas have been focused on sensitizing policy makers and other key stakeholders, as well as providing technical collaboration for conducting training activities directed to school personnel for the implementation of the strategy at the country level.

The purpose of the Initiative is the development and strengthening of the capacity of the health and education systems and services to design, develop, implement, sustain, and evaluate their Health-Promoting Schools. The Caribbean Network of Health-Promoting Schools provide a space for the exchange of knowledge, ideas, resources, and experiences.

This presentation will describe the conceptual framework of the Health-Promoting Schools Regional Initiative, the status and trends of its implementation in the Caribbean Region, as well as major challenges for the future.