Abstract
In Thailand, health promotion and disease prevention in children have been operated through school health programs with the collaboration between primary health care units and schools. This study aimed to explore the availability and quality of essential resources at school level of the Elementary School Health Services (ESHS) in Thailand. The methods used in this study were semi-structure interviews and in-depth interviews. Two provinces were purposively selected with specific sampling method, while schools were selected using simple random method. The informants included school directors and school-health teachers from 9 schools and health care workers from 3 health promoting hospitals at the subdistrict level. Although school-health teachers played an important role in this program, this study showed that most of the teachers were newly recruited with little or no experience in providing school health services and that the turn-over rate was high. This was because the unclear career path for such a position also due to inadequate training provided. Moreover, school directors mentioned about shortages of ESHS budget. Devices and equipment for health checks in most study settings were not properly maintained or regularly calibrated. As a result, health information of students was likely not accurate. Also, it was found that a lack of management and linkage between the agencies were the problems in school health services. To sum up, the school health services lacked the necessary resources in all aspects. Therefore, there was a need for knowledge development of human resources, supported budget and materials for health checks, and better management of school health services.
