CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
In Nigeria, the provision of health services for the citizenry is accorded a priority status by the national government. Every year, huge sums of money are allocated to the health sector. In particular, considerable effort is directed at combating childhood diseases. Thus, the National Programme on Immunization (NPI), a programme of immunization against deadly communicable diseases is substantially funded by the national government. The national government’s focus on children is understandable against the background that the children of today are the adults of tomorrow and that a healthy citizenry is an asset to the nation. Today, most of these children are of primary school age, and many of them indeed, have unhindered access to school (UNICEF Nigeria, 2004). It is the contention of health professionals, educators and social workers that the provision of school health services is a cost effective way of meeting the health needs of children (Nakajima, 1992). Therefore, it is a welcome development for the Nigeria government to have made specific provisions for the rendering of health services in all schools in the federation, as enunciated in its policy document (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1998).
School health services refer to the health-care delivery system that is operational within a school or college. The services aim at promoting and maintaining the health of school children so as to give them a good start in life. In addition, the services seek to enable children benefit optimally from their school learning experiences (Okafor, 1991; Ezedum, 2003). Health appraisal is a major component of health services. Health appraisal according to Ogbuji (2003), is that aspect of health services which concerns itself with evaluating the health of an individual objectively. Health appraisal dovetails into three specific activities, each of which is related to the others. The activities are health observation (which involves physical inspection of the physiology and behaviours of children), health examination (which involves screening tests or medical diagnoses), and health records (which involves the keeping of records of the health histories of the children).
Health appraisal is of benefit to school health programme in a number of ways. First, it affords the school authorities the opportunity to detect signs and symptoms of common diseases as well as signs of emotional disturbances that could impede the learning activities of school children. Besides, health appraisal helps in providing information to parents and school personnel on the health status of school children (Cornacchia, Olsen & Nickerson, 1991).