ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies four main tasks for school health services: to provide basic information; to integrate health education elements in periodic health or medical examinations of pupils; to provide learning and training opportunities in first aid and dental care; to provide information on medical aspects of health education programmes. It describes recent development projects in Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America, and outlines present constraints. In Belgium there are separate health service systems for public and private schools. For the public sector medical aspects are integrated in psycho-medico-social centres; for the private sector there are separate medical school health services. Learning about health is a complex process that starts very early, in the pre-school phase. In this first phase the family is very important; the first internalization of values and attitudes take place within the family. This is primary socialization.
