Teen Newsletter: September 2020 – Healthy Schools

School is back in session, but this year looks very different for a lot of students in grades K-12. Whether you are virtual or in person, school plays an important role in your life. Schools have direct contact with more than 95% of our nation’s young people aged 5 to 17 years—that’s you. Most students, depending on age, spend approximately 6 hours per day and up to 13 critical years of their social, psychological, physical, and intellectual development in school. Schools play an important role in promoting your health and safety by helping you establish lifelong health patterns.

Healthy students are better learners, and academic achievement bears a lifetime of benefits for health. Schools are an ideal setting to teach and provide you with opportunities to improve your dietary and physical activity behaviors and manage your chronic health conditions (i.e., asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, food allergies, poor oral health). When school health policies and practices are put in place, you can grow to be healthy and successful adults.

Public health problems are diverse and can include infectious diseases, chronic diseases, emergencies, injuries, environmental health problems, as well as other health threats. Regardless of the topic, we take the same systematic, science-based approach to a public health problem by following four general steps.

1. Surveillance (What is the problem?)
   In public health, we identify the problem by using surveillance systems to monitor health events and behaviors occurring among a population.CDC Healthy Schools uses three surveillance systems administered by CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health to monitor health behaviors, practices, and policies in schools:

• School Health Profiles (Profiles)
• School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS)
• Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)

To better explain the other steps, let’s focus on a topic presented in the YRBSS sexual behaviors infographic above—condom use. Fewer students who have sex are using condoms.

• Risk Factor Identification (What is the cause?)
  After we’ve identified the problem, the next question is, “What is the cause of the problem?” For example, are there factors that might make certain populations more susceptible to disease, such as something in the environment or certain behaviors that people are practicing? Why are more students who have sex not using condoms? According to the 2019 YRBS, prevalence of condom use was less common among non-Hispanic black and Hispanic students compared with non-Hispanic white students; this is a health disparity. As public health practitioners, we wonder, do these students have access to sexual and reproductive health education and clinical services?
• Intervention Evaluation (What works?)
  Once we’ve identified the risk factors related to the problem, we ask, “What intervention works to address the problem?” We look at what has worked in the past in addressing this same problem and if a proposed intervention makes sense with our affected population. Variations in condom use behavior by demographic characteristics were examined by the YRBS to support public health professionals in implementing quality sexual and reproductive health education and clinical services that prevent STDs/HIV and unintended pregnancy.
• Implementation (How can we do it?)
  In the last step, we ask, “How can we implement the intervention? Given the resources we have and what we know about the affected population, will this work?” CDC Healthy Schools uses the data collected through the three surveillance systems above to identify effective strategies, develop and evaluate programs, and develop guidelines and tools to improve school health policies, programs, and curricula. As you can see, using The Public Health Approach helps public health professionals identify populations needing targeted interventions.

This month we bring you Wellbee, the ‘health educator’s friend’. Wellbee is a cartoon character that exemplified “wellbeing.” With this month’s public health topic being healthy schools, Wellbee seems like a perfect fit.

More than 50 years ago, when CDC was still the Communicable Disease Center, Public Information Officer George M. Stenhouse wanted to develop a public health symbol that could be used by all state and local public health agencies in the U.S.

In response, staff artist Harold M. Walker, who had previously worked as an animator in Hollywood on cartoons such as “Felix the Cat,” took to his drawing board to design Wellbee. Wellbee was first introduced to the public on March 11, 1962, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.

CDC designed a comprehensive marketing campaign that used newspapers, posters, leaflets, radio and television, as well as personal appearances at public health events. Wellbee’s first assignment was to help promote Sabin type II oral polio vaccine.

Wellbee’s future assignments included other health promotion campaigns, such as diphtheria and tetanus immunizations, hand-washing, physical fitness, oral health promotion, and injury prevention.

Mr. Stenhouse announced in a February 1963 memo to members of the Conference of State and Territorial Directors of Public Health Education that “Wellbee, the ‘health educator’s friend,’ had a busy year. He was particularly active in promoting community polio programs. He spoke Spanish in New Mexico; he came to life in costume in Hawaii and led a parade.”