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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1415992
This article is part of the Research Topic How School Health and Nutrition Interventions are Reshaping the Global Public Health Narrative View all 7 articles

Countries need stronger international support to integrate health and well-being and transform education

Provisionally accepted
Parviz Abduvahobov Parviz Abduvahobov *Stuart J. Cameron Stuart J. Cameron Ayodeji Ibraheem Ayodeji Ibraheem Joanna Herat Joanna Herat Christopher Castle Christopher Castle
  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The reciprocal relationship between education and health is well-established, emphasizing the need for integrating health, nutrition, and well-being components into educational sector planning. Despite widespread acknowledgment of this need, countries lack concrete measures to achieve this integration. We examine challenges that countries have faced and the progress they have made in integrating these components into education sector plans and review the extent to which existing educational planning guidelines and tools address health and well-being. The review reveals a significant underrepresentation of health, well-being, and related themes in existing educational planning frameworks. Recent tools and frameworks developed to support a more holistic approach to education have not yet been widely adopted in standard education sector planning processes. The implementation of such approaches remains inconsistent, with significant barriers including limited cross-sectoral collaboration, lack of capacity, and insufficient funding, among others. Addressing these gaps requires improved guidance, technical support, and a multisectoral approach to education planning that includes health, nutrition, and well-being as fundamental components of foundational learning, supported by political commitment, capacity, and adequate financing.

    Keywords: Education, School, cross-sectoral planning, school health, school nutrition, wellbeing, Child Health, adolescents

    Received: 11 Apr 2024; Accepted: 01 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Abduvahobov, Cameron, Ibraheem, Herat and Castle. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Parviz Abduvahobov, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, France

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