National Integrated School Health Screening Program in Iran

Background: Screening program in schools are designed to identify children who have early signs of health problems. This study provides information about the findings of national screening program in Iran. Methods: This national program is conducted by the Ministry of Health& Medical Education (MOHME) with collaboration of the Ministry of Education & Training. This program had two major parts including 1) screening of behavioral, hearing and visual disorders, pediculosis and calculating body mass index and 2) physical examination of students, conducted by pri­mary care physicians. All services are offered free of charge. The students' parents are informed about the health status of their children. Results: The screening program conducted in 2007-2008 included 3,124,021 students from 33 cities who were studying in the first- and third- grade- students in elementary schools, first- grade- students in middle and high schools. Of total students stud­ied, 12.48% had weight disorders, i.e. body mass index 95th percentile. 4.77% had visual disorders, 3.95 % had head lice, 2.24% had behavioral disorders, and 0.6% had hearing disorders. Conclusion: In addition to its benefits to the students' health status, the results of this screening program help health policy mak­ers to design interventions for prevention and or early detection and treatment of the most common disorders docu­mented among school students.