School-based Health Programs on Children's Wellbeing in Lusaka, Zambia

Morbidity Clinical Trial

Official title:

Evaluating the Impact of School-based Health Programs on Children's Well-being and Academic Performance

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03607084
• Other study ID #: IRB15-1539
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 17, 2015
• Est. completion date: July 28, 2016

Study information

• Verified date: July 2018
• Source: Harvard School of Public Health
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study evaluates the impact of a new and comprehensive school-based health program implemented in Lusaka, Zambia.

Description:

While school-aged children in low- and middle-income countries remain highly exposed to acute infections, programs targeting this age group remain limited in scale and scope. In this study, we evaluate the impact of a new and comprehensive primary school-based health intervention program on student health outcomes and academic performance in Lusaka, Zambia. The intervention involved the training of teachers to become school health workers and the provision of vitamin A supplementation and deworming medication on a bi-annual basis. Teachers in intervention schools were trained to deliver health lessons and to refer sick students to care. This study is designed as a prospective matched control study. Students from the seven intervention schools are matched with students from control schools.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 614
• Est. completion date: July 28, 2016
• Est. primary completion date: July 28, 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children attending one of the 14 schools in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children not attending one of the 14 schools in the study.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Acute Disease
• Morbidity

Intervention

Behavioral:
• School Health Worker Program
The intervention trains selected teachers to deliver health lessons to students, perform basic first aid, recognize common illnesses, refer student to skilled medical attention when needed. The intervention provides schools with basic medical supplies including pain relief medication, thermometers, bandages, antiseptics, and oral rehydration solution. Vitamin A supplementation and presumptive deworming medication are administered to students during biannual health screenings.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Harvard School of Public Health	Healthy Kids/Brighter Future

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in prevalence of acute disease	Students report on the presence of 14 systemic, genitourinary, respiratory, and gastrointestinal illnesses in the past two week. Acute illnesses are combined into a summary index of morbidity.	Baseline, 6 months, and one-year follow-up
Secondary	Change in weight	Calculate body mass index (BMI)-for-age z-scores using the World Health Organization AnthroPlus Software macro for Stata. Thinness and overweightness are defined respectively as: BMI-for-age below -2 SD and as BMI-for-age above 1 standard deviation.	Baseline, 6 months, and one-year follow-up
Secondary	Change in height	Calculate standardized height-for-age (HAZ) z-scores using the World Health Organization AnthroPlus Software macro for Stata. Stunting was defined as HAZ below -2 standard deviation.	Baseline, 6 months, and one-year follow-up
Secondary	Change in health knowledge	Calculate the percentage of correct answers on 11-question quiz on various health topics.	Baseline, 6 months, and one-year follow-up
Secondary	Change in school attendance	Calculate percentage of students who missed one or more days from school in the past two weeks.	Baseline, 6 months, and one-year follow-up
Secondary	Change in academic performance	Students report on their own school performance and academic performance is verified by term marks.	Baseline, 6 months, and one-year follow-up