Health promoting schools provide community-based learning opportunities conducive to careers in rural practice

The World Health Organization conceived "health-promoting schools" as a means of providing the information and support systems necessary for the worldwide changes in behavior that are needed to improve health globally and decrease health care costs. We developed and evaluated a model of progressively implementing health-promoting schools with support from university medical school trainees in Canada and Uganda. The model uses oral health as a medium for establishing rapport and success around a topic with little stigma. The evaluation involved questionnaires of the Canadian trainees about practice intentions before and after involvement in the health-promoting schools to determine whether community-based learning in health-promoting schools resulted in more trainees planning to work in rural areas or underserved countries. We found that Canadian medical trainees cited their personal involvement and perceived ability to effect significant and identifiable positive change in both the school children and the community as reasons why they were more willing to practice in rural or under-served areas.