By Dr Aung Tun, Dr Sumon Myat (School Health)
As Myanmar prepares to open the Central-level School Health Week on 10 August 2026, it is timely to reflect on the remarkable journey of the country’s school health programme – a century-old endeavour that has evolved from a modest medical inspection service into a comprehensive, multi-sectoral platform for nurturing the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the nation’s students. School health is not merely a health-sector concern; it is a shared national investment that determines the strength of Myanmar’s human capital for generations to come.
A Century of School Health in Myanmar
Myanmar’s school health services trace their origin to 1920, when the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, first assigned medical officers and dental surgeons to school children under British administration. Following independence, the Maternal, Child and School Health Department was established in 1953, embedding school health within the country’s basic health infrastructure. School health programmes were formally included in the first People’s Health Plan of 1977-78 as a core community health project.
A defining turning point came in 1996, when Myanmar adopted the concept of health promotion in schools in line with WHO’s Global School Health Initiative, launched the previous year. The Health Promoting School (HPS) approach — built on healthy school policy, physical and social environment, health education and services, and community engagement — was introduced into existing school health services, formally recognising that the “health for all” and “education for all” goals are mutually reinforcing.
In 2006, this evolved into the Nine-Domain Health Promoting School programme, covering health education, environmental sanitation, disease control, nutrition promotion, medical examination, community outreach, counselling, training and research, and physical activity. By 2017, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education jointly issued the National Comprehensive School Health Strategic Plan (2017-2022), consolidating decades of fragmented activity into four coordinated strategic pillars, with technical support from the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office.
Today, the School Health Division under the Department of Public Health continues to lead national coordination, working through a five-tier structure of school health committees – from the central level down to individual schools – in partnership with the Ministry of Education, UNICEF, WHO, the Myanmar Red Cross Society, the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association, and other stakeholders.
What the Data Tell Us
The School-based Adolescent Health Survey (SAHS) 2025, conducted by the Ministry of Health from October to December 2025 among 1,155 adolescents aged 13-17 nationwide, offers the most current picture of student health. Key findings include a continuing double burden of malnutrition (23.0 per cent underweight, 6.8 per cent overweight, 4.5 per cent obese); poor dietary habits, with only 13.2 per cent eating fruit twice or more daily against 49.4 per cent eating junk food twice or more weekly; low physical activity (34.8 per cent active at least 60 minutes daily); high tobacco exposure (31.0 per cent currently smoke, 81.3 per cent exposed to second-hand smoke); and early signs of psychosocial strain (10.4 per cent felt lonely most of the time). On the positive side, hygiene practices remain strong (90.9 per cent brush their teeth daily) and preventive coverage is notable (99.0 per cent received deworming, 48.4 per cent received the HPV vaccine). Together, these findings point to diet, physical activity, tobacco exposure and mental wellbeing as the priority areas for school-based intervention.
Youth at the Centre of the Government’s 100-Day Agenda
The Government’s report on its first 100 days, delivered by President U Min Aung Hlaing to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on 31 July 2026, placed the nation’s youth squarely within its development priorities. According to the 2024 Population and Housing Census, Myanmar’s youth population stands at approximately 17 million, accounting for 32.69 per cent of the total population — a demographic dividend the President described as a golden opportunity for the country, tempered by concern over rising dropout rates and gaps in higher education, vocational training and digital skills.
The Government has committed to formulating a National Youth Development Policy Framework under the theme “Empowered Youth, Strong Nation, Shared Future,” alongside short- and long-term plans for youth development. Within basic education, more than 7.5 million students are now enrolled, supported by over 315,000 teachers, alongside the Smart School programme and the Football for Schools programme launched jointly with the Ministry of Sports. Education spending is set to rise from 6.92 per cent of the state budget in the 2026-2027 financial year to 15 per cent by 2028-2029 — a clear signal of the priority now attached to the sector that underpins school health delivery. These commitments provide an important policy window for reinforcing school health as an integral part of national youth investment, rather than a stand-alone health-sector programme.
Momentum from the July 2026 Joint Ministerial
Meeting
This policy commitment has already begun translating into concrete decisions. On 27 July 2026, the School Health Central Committee held its first coordination meeting at the Ministry of Health in Nay Pyi Taw, bringing together senior officials from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. The meeting resolved to extend school health services beyond government basic education schools to cover private schools, monastic schools, and industrial, agricultural and livestock breeding high schools nationwide – closing a long-standing coverage gap identified in earlier strategic reviews of the programme.
The committee also endorsed the introduction of a Student Health Record Card for students from Grade 6 to Grade 12, intended to provide a continuous, individual health record that follows each student through secondary education. Such a record card, if consistently implemented and linked to the Health Management Information System, would substantially strengthen the evidence base for future SAHS rounds and allow health and education authorities to track individual as well as population-level outcomes over time.
School Health Week 2026: Implementation on the Ground
School Health Week has been observed nationwide every year since the 1999-2000 academic year, after the Ministry of Education, in coordination with the Ministry of Health, designated the second week of August as School Health Week in the education calendar during the 1998-1999 academic year. This year’s School Health Week is scheduled to commence at the central level in Nay Pyi Taw on 10 August 2026. Within the same week, opening ceremonies will extend to every Region and State across the country, reaching down to rural townships rather than remaining confined to major cities – a deliberate effort to narrow the regional disparities in implementation documented in earlier strategic reviews.
A key operational feature of this year’s programme is the formation of School Health Teams in both urban and rural schools, bringing together preventive and curative health staff under one coordinated team rather than the fragmented arrangements of the past. These teams are being reinforced by volunteers from the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) and the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA), alongside general practitioners from the Myanmar Medical Association (MMA) at the township level. This model is designed to extend the reach of school health services into townships and villages where dedicated health staff remain scarce, converting national policy commitments into services actually delivered at the school gate.
The Way Forward
Looking beyond School Health Week 2026, implementation should continue to be guided by the National Comprehensive School Health Strategic Plan’s four pillars – strengthening the HPS structure and committees, improving health literacy and services, harmonising health and education, and deepening community partnership – while consolidating the National School Health Policy, Strategy and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework first commissioned in 2019 and aligning it with the emerging National Youth Development Policy Framework. Priorities going forward include synchronising the Health Management Information System with the Education Management Information System for real-time monitoring; scaling up mental health and psychosocial support services, particularly in conflict-affected and earthquake-affected townships; closing the persistent urban-rural and regional gaps in water, sanitation and basic health service coverage; and mobilising sustained financing, including through partnership with WHO, UNICEF and other development partners, as domestic budget allocations to education expand over the coming years.
Conclusion
From the first medical officers assigned to schools in 1920 to today’s Health Promoting School framework, Myanmar’s century-long commitment to school health reflects an enduring recognition that healthy students make a healthy, productive nation. As School Health Week 2026 opens under a government that has placed youth development at the centre of its agenda, the task ahead is to turn policy commitments into consistent, well-resourced practice in every classroom – from Yangon to the most remote monastic school.
References
1. Ministry of Health & World Health Organization, Myanmar National Comprehensive School Health Strategic Plan (2017-2022).
2. World Health Organization, Myanmar Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) Fact Sheet, 2007 and 2016.
3. The Global New Light of Myanmar, “President U Min Aung Hlaing Reports on Government’s 100-Day Progress at Pyidaungsu Hluttaw,” 1 August 2026.
4. World Health Organization, South-East Asia Regional Office, Health Promoting Schools Framework (2003)
5. Ministry of Health, School-based Adolescent Health Survey in Myanmar 2025, Fact Sheet (October-December)
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