Current status about school health department settings and staff building of the centers for disease control and prevention in China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To learn about the construction and staffing of the school health system in Chinese institutions for disease prevention and control, and to provide basic information for the school health system, team capacity building and work development.@*Methods@#Electronic questionnaire was used to collect the setting and staffing of school health departments (including school health centers and departments/rooms) at the provincial, prefecture and county (district) levels in the centers for disease control and prevention. Statistical analysis was made on the proportion of school health, the number of staff and the characteristics such as age, education, major and working years in the provincial, prefecture and county (district) levels.@*Results@#Among the 3 313 institutions, the proportion of independent school health departments was 10.8%, and those of the provincial, prefecture and county (district) levels were 74.2%, 15.0%, and 9.6%, respectively. Among the institutions with separated department, the average number of staff members was 4.4, while the number of staff was 2.5. The average age of school health workers was 40.4 years old, and the proportion of male and female employees was 45.2% and 54.8%. The proportion of personnel who have been engaged in school health work for less than 5 years on average was as high as 65.1%. The majors of the staff were mainly public health ( 40.4 %), 54.0% of the provincial staff had a master s degree or above, and 47.8% and 58.7% of the staff at the prefecture and county (district) levels were junior college or below respectively.The proportion of provincial level personnel with intermediate and senior titles was 69.6%, and the proportion of municipal and countylevel personnel at the junior level and below was 52.2% and 56.2% respectively.@*Conclusion@#The proportion of independent school health departments within centers of disease control and prevention across China was low. There is a serious shortage of school health personnel, and there are problems such as low levels of education and professional titles, especially in county (district) level institutions. It is urgent to strengthen the construction of the school health system of the centers for disease control and prevention in China.