ArticlePloS one2019
Comprehensive school-based health programs to improve child and adolescent health: Evidence from Zambia.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03607084 (Evaluating the Impact of School-based Health Programs on Children's Well-being and Academic Performance), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluating the Impact of School-based Health Programs on Children's Well-being and Academic Performance
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- School-based health and nutrition interventions addressing double burden of malnutrition and educational outcomes of adolescents in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence of Malnutrition and Associated Factors Among School Children in Hawella Tula Rural District, Hawassa, Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Understanding the burden and distribution of health conditions in Zambia's school-aged population: evidence from the school health programme.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Implementation and evaluation of the Y-Check comprehensive adolescent health check-up intervention in Zimbabwe: a pre-post mixed-methods study.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Strengthening school health in Namibia: A framework for policy development, implementation and evaluation.Journal of public health in Africa · 2026Article
- Nourishing Beginnings: A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach to Food Security and Healthy Diets for the "Forgotten" Pre-School Children in South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
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- Development and validation of a self-control competency scale for late-school-aged children.Child health nursing research · 2020Article
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Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile 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 paper, we evaluate the impact of a new and comprehensive primary school-based health intervention program on student-reported morbidity and anthropometric outcomes in Lusaka, Zambia.
methodsA prospective matched control study identified 12 classes in 7 schools for the intervention and 12 classes in 7 matched schools as controls. Teachers in intervention schools were trained to deliver health lessons and to refer sick students to care. In addition, vitamin A and deworming medication were biannually administered to intervention students. The primary study outcome was student-reported morbidity. Secondary outcomes were weight, height, health knowledge, and absenteeism. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate program impact.
results380 students ages 4-16 were enrolled in the study in 2015, and 97% were followed up at endline in 2016. The intervention decreased the adjusted odds of self-reported acute illnesses by 38% (95% CI: 0.48, 0.77) and the adjusted odds of stunting by 52% (95% CI: 0.26, 0.87). It also increased health knowledge by 0.53 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.24, 0.81). No impact was found on weight (adjusted mean difference β = 0.17, 95% CI: - 1.11, 1.44) and student absenteeism (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.60, 1.33).
conclusionThe results presented in this paper suggest that comprehensive school-based health programs may offer a highly effective way to improve students' health knowledge as well as their health status. Given their low cost, a more general adoption and implementation of such programs seems recommendable.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03607084.
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