Revitalizing school health programs worldwide.
Each year, the Shils Fund recognizes outstanding activities that help improve oral health. The program is named in memory of Dr. Edward B. Shils, who led the Dental Manufacturers of America and Dental Dealers of America for more than 50 years. A 2010 Shils Award will be given to an innovative school health initiative called Fit For Schools Program (FFSP) in the Philippines. Such recognition in the US indicates the lessons that can be learned from a program initially tailored for another country. Health in a highly industrialized nation can be enhanced by heeding the FFSP principles used to craft an effective health promotion initiative. This evidence-based intervention is not exclusively an oral health initiative; it is an integration with other evidence-based health interventions and models a sustainable public-private partnership to advance positive health outcomes in socially responsible entrepreneurial ways. As the editor of this column in Compendium, I wish to applaud both leaders of FFSP: Dr. Habib Benzian and Dr. Bella Monse. The following article was written by the senior advisor, Dr. Benzian, who modestly refers to the program's receipt of another award from the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the World Health Organization in 2009. To my knowledge, the presentation of that award was the first time a health promotion project led by dentists has ever received such high-level global recognition and was one of three projects so recognized for innovative solutions to global health in that year.
The Health Bureau, Winslow, United Kingdom.
Habib
H
Benzian
D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control; D006235:Hand Disinfection; D006801:Humans; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000517:prevention & control; D010679:Philippines; D016730:Program Development; D055818:Public-Private Sector Partnerships; D012572:School Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*