Recent Developments in School-Based Health Services in Turkey

Seventeen million students aged between five and nineteen years and one million teachers and staff attending over 55.000 schools account for more than twenty percent of the Turkish population. They can present with a broad range of medical disorders. It is important that they have services designed to deal with their health problems. The aim of this article is to review the recent developments in school health services in Turkey. Recent projects aiming to improve school-based health services and health research at schools have also been reviewed. In countries where social inequalities are prevalent, school-based health services have a particular importance in reaching out to children who do not have access to appropriate health care. Nowadays, it is encouraging to observe that the topic of "school health" has gained interest among managers and health workers in Turkey. Keywords: Health policy, school health, Turkey health project