Implications for school-based health programmes of age and gender patterns in the Tanzanian primary school. The Partnership for Child Development.
This paper examines children's potential access to school health services by analysing data on the demographic structure, enrolment patterns and reported causes of early school-leaving in 347 schools in Tanga Region, Tanzania served by a school-based health programme. The analysis indicates that net enrolment ratios have risen over the previous 6 years, particularly among children under 10 years. However, in 1994 children were still much older than expected for a basic school population: 81% were adolescents (> or =10 years) and the mean age was 12 years. These data suggest that schools can provide equitable access to health education and school-based health services for a majority of children, even in a low-income country, and that the primary school population is predominantly adolescent and would benefit from health programmes targeted at that age group.
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012572:School Health Services; D012737:Sex Factors; D013636:Tanzania