Health promoting schools: Creating healthy settings for learning and living
Health promoting schools: Turning classrooms into wellness centers for life
Principal Elena Martinez walked through her school’s gates and barely recognized it. Two years ago, garbage piled up in corners, bullying was rampant, students bought chips and soda from vendors outside, and the only physical activity was chaotic recess. Mental health problems went unnoticed. Academic performance was abysmal.
Today, her school in rural Mexico looks completely different. Clean drinking water fountains line the corridors. A vegetable garden where students grow food for the cafeteria occupies what was once barren dirt. Peer counselors trained in conflict resolution help students work through problems. Teachers participate in wellness programs. Parents attend workshops on nutrition and mental health.
Test scores improved 30%. Absenteeism dropped by half. But the real transformation went deeper. “Students told me they feel safe here for the first time,” Principal Martinez said, tears in her eyes. “Parents say their children actually want to come to school now. That’s when I knew we’d become something special—a health promoting school.”
According to WHO’s work on health promoting schools, a health promoting school is one that constantly strengthens its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working.
For more on child wellness, see our articles on student health and educational environments at ObserverVoice.com.
What Makes a School Health-Promoting
A health promoting school fosters health and learning with all the measures at its disposal. It engages health and education officials, teachers, teachers’ unions, students, parents, health providers and community leaders in efforts to make the school a healthy place.
These schools strive to provide a healthy environment, school health education, and school health services along with school/community projects and outreach, health promotion programmes for staff, nutrition and food safety programmes, opportunities for physical education and recreation, and programmes for counselling, social support and mental health promotion.
They implement policies and practices that respect an individual’s wellbeing and dignity, provide multiple opportunities for success, and acknowledge good efforts and intentions as well as personal achievements. They strive to improve the health of school personnel, families and community members as well as pupils; and work with community leaders to help them understand how the community contributes to, or undermines, health and education.
Critical Focus Areas
Health promoting schools focus on caring for oneself and others; making healthy decisions and taking control over life’s circumstances; creating conditions that are conducive to health (through policies, services, physical/social conditions).
They build capacities for peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable ecosystem, equity, social justice, sustainable development. They prevent leading causes of death, disease and disability including helminths, tobacco use, HIV/AIDS/STDs, sedentary lifestyle, drugs and alcohol, violence and injuries, unhealthy nutrition.
These schools influence health-related behaviours through knowledge, beliefs, skills, attitudes, values, and support systems.
An effective school health programme can be one of the most cost effective investments a nation can make to simultaneously improve education and health. WHO promotes school health programmes as a strategic means to prevent important health risks among youth and to engage the education sector in efforts to change the educational, social, economic and political conditions that affect risk.
Related topics include adolescent health, child health, health promotion, nutrition, obesity, and physical activity. For more on school wellness programs, see our article on preventive health at ObserverVoice.com.
WHO’s Global School Health Initiative
WHO’s Global School Health Initiative, launched in 1995, seeks to mobilize and strengthen health promotion and education activities at the local, national, regional and global levels. The Initiative is designed to improve the health of students, school personnel, families and other members of the community through schools.
The goal of WHO’s Global School Health Initiative is to increase the number of schools that can truly be called “Health-Promoting Schools”. Although definitions will vary, depending on need and circumstance, a Health-Promoting School can be characterized as a school constantly strengthening its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working.
The general direction is guided by the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986); the Jakarta Declaration of the Fourth International Conference on Health Promotion (1997); and the WHO’s Expert Committee Recommendation on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion (1995).
WHO’s Health Promotion team coordinates comprehensive work. WHO passed two critical resolutions: WHA 67.12 on contributing to social and economic development through action across sectors and WHA 62.14 on reducing health inequities through action on social determinants of health.
Recent Initiatives and Publications
June 2021 UNESCO and WHO urged countries to make every school a health-promoting school. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros made a call to make every school a health-promoting school in June 2023. WHO produced video on making every school a health-promoting school in June 2021.
October 2023 WHO released updated guidance on adolescent health and well-being. January 2024 WHO released web version of second edition of Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) guidance.
April 2025 WHO published Antimicrobial resistance prevention and education in schools: brief for education policy-makers and school practitioners. October 2024 WHO published Mental health of children and young people: service guidance, noting mental health conditions are prevalent and often develop early in life yet very few of the world’s children and young people receive the mental health care they need.
October 2024 WHO published Legal considerations for health emergency measures in schools and education and How school systems can improve health and well-being: topic brief on sexual and reproductive health.
WHO’s activity on investing in school health coordinates global efforts. WHO’s fact sheet on health literacy explains critical connections.
Transformative Impact
Back in Mexico, Principal Martinez’s school hosts monthly community health fairs. Students teach their parents about handwashing, nutrition, and mental health awareness. The vegetable garden has become a classroom where children learn about food systems, sustainability, and biology.
“Health promoting schools aren’t just about preventing disease,” Martinez explained. “They’re about creating environments where children thrive—physically, mentally, emotionally, socially. When a child feels safe, well-fed, and emotionally supported, learning happens naturally. When we improve school health, we improve everything.”
The transformation demonstrates what WHO has long emphasized: schools are uniquely positioned to reach children during critical developmental periods, making them ideal settings for health promotion that benefits entire communities across generations.
For more information, visit WHO’s health promoting schools topic page or explore related content at ObserverVoice.com.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A health promoting school is one that constantly strengthens its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working. It fosters health and learning with all measures at its disposal; engages health and education officials, teachers, students, parents, health providers and community leaders; provides healthy environment, school health education, school health services, school/community projects, health promotion programmes for staff, nutrition and food safety programmes, physical education opportunities, and counselling, social support and mental health promotion programmes. Related topics: adolescent health, child health.
WHO’s Global School Health Initiative, launched in 1995, seeks to mobilize and strengthen health promotion and education activities at local, national, regional and global levels. The Initiative is designed to improve health of students, school personnel, families and other community members through schools. The goal is to increase the number of schools that can truly be called “Health-Promoting Schools”. Direction is guided by Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986), Jakarta Declaration (1997), and WHO’s Expert Committee Recommendation on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion (1995). WHO’s Health Promotion team coordinates work.
Health promoting schools focus on caring for oneself and others; making healthy decisions and taking control over life’s circumstances; creating conditions conducive to health through policies, services, physical/social conditions; building capacities for peace, shelter, education, food, income, stable ecosystem, equity, social justice, sustainable development; preventing leading causes of death, disease and disability (helminths, tobacco use, HIV/AIDS/STDs, sedentary lifestyle, drugs and alcohol, violence and injuries, unhealthy nutrition); influencing health-related behaviours through knowledge, beliefs, skills, attitudes, values, support. Related: nutrition, physical activity.
April 2025 WHO published Antimicrobial resistance prevention and education in schools. October 2024 WHO published Mental health of children and young people: service guidance, Legal considerations for health emergency measures in schools, and How school systems can improve health and well-being: sexual and reproductive health. January 2024 WHO released web version of Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) guidance.
An effective school health programme can be one of the most cost effective investments a nation can make to simultaneously improve education and health. WHO promotes school health programmes as strategic means to prevent important health risks among youth and to engage education sector in efforts to change educational, social, economic and political conditions that affect risk. June 2021 UNESCO and WHO urged countries to make every school a health-promoting school. WHO’s activity on investing in school health coordinates efforts.
- WHO Health Promoting Schools Topic Page
- UNESCO and WHO Urge Countries to Make Every School a Health-Promoting School (June 2021)
- Mental Health of Children and Young People: Service Guidance (October 2024)
- WHO Health Promotion Team
- Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) Guidance (January 2024)
Disclaimer: This article is an adaptation of publicly available information from WHO’s Health promoting schools health topic page (WHO, Geneva. Licence: CC BYNC-SA 3.0 IGO). WHO is not responsible for the
content or accuracy of this adaptation. This content is for informational and educational purposes
only and does not constitute medical advice. ObserverVoice.com is a news and information platform
— not a healthcare provider.
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