United States: perspectives in school health

An overview is presented of school health programs being conducted in the U.S. as well as the U.S. education system. Major health problems of youth are identified and initiatives to improve the health of school-aged youth are reviewed. With the start of the new decade, it will be important to use and disseminate the findings from ongoing school health programs and research projects, to address the growing social issues for children and adolescents that directly affect their physical health, and to broaden the scope of school health to include issues of psychological or mental health, issues related to social competencies, dysfunctional family lives, or major life events.