Elementary-school pupils as health educators: role of school health programmes in primary health-care.

The high proportion of children attending primary schools in rural parts of Indonesia and the low health-care cover in these areas prompted a plan to involve schoolchildren in a health-education programme. Action-oriented health lessons aimed at modifying community-health-related behaviour were designed to suit the teaching format familiar to rural teachers. The lessons involved pupils in health activities in their own homes and neighbourhoods. Evaluation of the teaching module on diarrhoea showed a substantial improvement in knowledge, skills, and attitudes of rural families regarding this illness, and indicated how a vastly increased outreach of primary health-care activities is possible through a well-designed school-health programme.