School health promotion--international perspectives and role of health care professionals.

BACKGROUND Schools have great potential in health promotion; however, this is often neglected area and fewer efforts are done in exploring status of school health promotion in Pakistan. This paper attempts to outline brief historical background of school health promotion in Pakistan; presents critical review of some international school health promotion perspectives; and finally explore opportunities and role of healthcare professionals in Pakistan's context. METHODS A critical review of peer-reviewed literature divided into two broad themes of international perspectives on school health promotion, and role of healthcare professionals. Results are presented in cross-cutting themes and in narrative style. RESULTS School health promotion is very diverse phenomenon, situated in respective cultural contexts. Programmes pesent a range of characteristics from focusing on integrated approach to health education to behavioural changes; and from involving youngsters to policy advocacy. Like the programmes, role of healthcare professionals is also varied and dynamic and without clearly defining their role, development of effective health promotion programmes is difficult. CONCLUSION School health promotion could be facilitated by appropriate trainings for healthcare professionals and evidence-based policy changes.