School health promotion in South‐East Asia by Japan and partners

Abstract

School health promotion in Southeast Asia has developed rapidly in recent years, and Japan has been one of the significant contributors to the reinforcement of school health promotion in the region. Starting from the Hashimoto Initiative on global parasite control, Japan advocated for international partnerships with several agencies for the development of school health programs in Southeast Asia. Through a strengthened collaboration with international organizations, countries such as the Lao PDR, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand have created and implemented school health programs on nutrition, sanitation, and deworming, among others. In addition to school health program formulation and implementation, the expanded network in Southeast Asia led to a more capacitated school health personnel, with many workers in the education and health sectors benefitting from the training programs jointly held by collaborating organizations.