When Syrian children fled a homeland tormented by civil war, little did they know that their lives would still be put at risk. Today, refugee children in camps fall easy prey to chronic and life-threatening diseases because of the alarming fact that they have limited access to healthcare services. Efforts have been made by international organizations to promote health and prevent diseases for refugee children and youth. There is still a pressing need, however, for a coordinated and comprehensive school health program where all concerned parties join hands to make health services available to all school-aged children in camps.

In schools, the health issue for refugee children is still a concern, and a serious one. For Zaatari camp alone, the facts speak loud and clear.  Almost half of the 24 schools in the camp do not have a school nurse, and only four schools have a designated social worker. As far as health education is concerned, 13 out of 24 schools provide classes on random schedules and without relying on textbooks or other sources of information. The physical environment makes matters worse: in crowded caravans, a single classroom houses 50 students in an atmosphere where there is limited furniture and no available facilities for physical activity or recreation. These findings are based on an assessment conducted by EMPHNET on February 18, 2016.

Five years into the Syrian conflict, more children are being displaced and more children are in need of an integrated school health program that can help provide them with much-needed healthcare services. There are challenges, but there are also promising opportunities for change.

One such opportunity is a partnership between EMPHNET and UNICEF for an Integrated School Health Project (ISH). Launched in January 2016, ISH is a seven-month project being implemented in schools and Makani centers in the Syrian refugee camps of Jordan namely: Zaatari, Azraq, Emirati Jordanian Camp (EJC), Cyber City Camp (CCC) and King Abdullah Park. The goal of the project is to fill the gap in the existing ISH program by rendering it more inclusive and integrated. EMPHNET will work closely with UNICEF, UNHCR, MoH, MoE and other NGOs and CBOs to deliver the program’s services in an efficient and sustainable fashion.

To achieve its goal, the project first aims to strengthen the ISH program by providing governance and support. This encompasses developing ISH guidelines, which will be partially derived from the existing MoH school health guidelines. The guidelines will serve as a basis for developing, implementing, and evaluating school-based health services in the camps. Relevant capacity-building trainings will be provided to members of the MoH, MoE, NGOs, and CBOs on the deliverance and management of quality school health services based on the established guidelines. Furthermore, health promotion and education workshops will be conducted for teachers, facilitators and volunteers.

Secondly, the project will also establish a digital ISH data management system in order to keep track of all ISH-related activities. The data management system will incorporate the collection, storage and analysis of data from the school health services. Additionally, EMPHNET will develop a performance-based pay system for the doctors delivering the physical health and dental examination for 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades and immunization services for 1st and 10th grades.

The first two months of the partnership have been fruitful. A number of coordination  meetings were held for both the Zaatari and Azraq camps. These meetings were attended by EMPHNET, UNICEF, and representatives of UNHCR, MoH, MoE, NGOs and CBOs to help facilitate the integration of health with education.

Moreover, EMPHNET carried out monitoring and evaluation (M&E) visits during February. These M&E field visits were conducted in Zaatari camp with the objective to collect preliminary monitoring data for the project using pre-prepared assessment tools.

In April, EMPHNET supported MoH to vaccinate 3117 students in grades 1 and 10 in Zaatari Camp. EMPHNET, in cooperation with MoH, Save the Children Jordan (SCJ), and International Relief and Development (IRD) conducted the pilot examinations on physical and dental health, and weight and height measurements in boys’ and girls’ schools. This was done in order to assess time issues, flow of work, and the data management system. Moreover, a referral system was developed and discussed with the service providers in camps to follow up on targeted students with health problems.

EMPHNET team also plans to visit CCC, EJC and King Abdullah camps to meet with stakeholders so as to coordinate and plan for future project activities. Furthermore, EMPHNET will conduct more coordination meetings and continue to participate in existing stakeholders’ meetings inside the camps.