Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis in School

In most cases, transmission of infectious diseases occurs in setting where the individuals despise adhering to preventive and managements measures set by Departments of Public Health. Schools are among the common sites for transmissions of tuberculosis (TB) due to the large numbers of people: staff and pupils (Simovska & McNamara, 2016). For the preventive and management measures in schools to be effective, health practitioners urge that there is a need for a cooperation between school staff, students and parents. Common measures that most schools use to protect staff and students from transmitting tuberculosis include maintenance of proper hygiene and conducting BCG immunization programs. Nowadays, health education has been introduced in schools in order to impact students and teachers with the right skills, values, and knowledge of health matters.

For example, through coughing, tuberculosis can be spread widely. • Emphasizing on good hygiene practices In a school setting, it is necessary for teachers to educate the students the need for maintaining good hygiene practices. Generally, good hygiene practices is a prevention and control measure that prevents the spread of all infectious diseases in schools. Failure to which even other preventing and management measures shall turn out ineffective. Children in schools need to be informed of standard precautions. This because rubber latex or nitrile are best known for good barriers properties. However, latex free gloves need to be distributed because there exist people with latex allergy. Use of gloves made from clear plastic needs to be avoided especially when giving first aid to persons with open cuts.

• Personal Hygiene According to health practitioners, personal hygiene needs to be treated with utmost care since poor hygiene is the cause of tuberculosis. At the start of every academic term, teachers will emphasize to pupils on the need to maintain proper hygiene. In addition, all schools should introduce cleaning routines. Cleaning helps make the environment safe and conducive for the learning process. It is recommended that for effective cleaning, individuals need to use warm water and detergent. By using detergents, it is possible to remove all contaminants and germs causing diseases. All areas within schools such as classes and offices need to clean regularly. Evaluation to Assess the Outcome of the Prevention and Control Measures Different tools of evaluations shall be used to measure the effectiveness of the health promotion program aimed at preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases in schools.

Examples of tools that can be used during evaluations of health education and promotion programs include the use of data analysis, and comparison (Czumbel et al, 2018). In this context, the data analysis and comparison shall be conducted prior to and before the introduction of the health education and promotion program. Regular evaluations on the health promotion programs in schools need to be performed. This way, areas that require improvements shall be noticed with much ease. Failure to which, more young lives would be lost. For these prevention and control programs to be effective, there needs to be a collaboration between pupils, parents, and staff working for schools. Governments through the ministry of health are willing to offer any support, either moral or materialistic, to schools in order to curb further spread of infectious diseases in schools.