Health policy reform and comprehensive school health education: the need for an effective partnership

This article offers a framework for considering how health care reform issues will impact the success of any national movement to implement Comprehensive School Health Education and the potential role that CSHE proponents can play in advocating reforms congruent with CSHE goals. The effectiveness of the CSHE movement within this arena will depend largely on its ability to critically self-diagnose its potential contributions to short-term and long-term positive health outcomes, and on its ability to join forces in ensuring that a variety of health, educational, and social services are made available in nontraditional sites--particularly schools--that are able to reach children and their families. An important step will be to expand the availability of Comprehensive School Health Education throughout the country: only one-half of all states currently mandate Comprehensive School Health Education programs, and implementation is spotty in some of these states. Another boost for the potential role of CSHE proponents can be found in the Year 2000 health objectives, of which more than one-third of 300 objectives geared to promoting health and disease prevention are devoted to the health behavior of school-age children and youth. Many of these objectives can be achieved directly or indirectly in schools, contingent upon appropriate financing and the establishment of CSHE goals as priorities at the policymaking level. An important factor will be the ability of the CSHE movement to provide its programs in the most cost-effective and cost-efficient manner, possibly including redeployment of staff and relocating resources as needed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)