SUMMARY: The potential impact of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) on schistosomiasis transmission in China has invoked considerable global concern. The TGD will result in changes in the water level and silt deposition downstream, favoring the reproduction of Oncomelania snails. Combined with blockages of the Yangtze River's tributaries, these changes will increase the schistosomiasis transmission season within the marshlands along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The changing schistosome transmission dynamics necessitate a comprehensive strategy to control schistosomiasis. This review discusses aspects of the epidemiology and transmission of Schistosoma japonicum in China and considers the pathology, clinical outcomes, diagnosis, treatment, immunobiology, and genetics of schistosomiasis japonica together with an overview of current progress in vaccine development, all of which will have an impact on future control efforts. The use of synchronous praziquantel (PZQ) chemotherapy for humans and domestic animals is only temporarily effective, as schistosome reinfection occurs rapidly. Drug delivery requires a substantial infrastructure to regularly cover all parts of an area of endemicity. This makes chemotherapy expensive and, as compliance is often low, a less than satisfactory control option. There is increasing disquiet about the possibility that PZQ-resistant schistosomes will develop. Consequently, as mathematical modeling predicts, vaccine strategies represent an essential component in the future control of schistosomiasis in China. With the inclusion of focal mollusciciding, improvements in sanitation, and health education into the control scenario, China's target of reducing the level of schistosome infection to less than 1% by 2015 may be achievable.

Objective: To evaluate implementation and effectiveness of nutrition promotion programmes using the health-promoting schools (HPS) approach, to indicate areas where further research is needed and to make recommendations for practice in this field.Design: The searched electronic databases included: CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Health Reference Center, Informit Search, MEDLINE, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Social Services Abstracts and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria were: (i) controlled or before-and-after studies evaluating a nutrition intervention and involving the HPS approach, either fully or in part; (ii) provision of information about components and delivery of the intervention; and (iii) report on all evaluated outcomes.Setting: Schools.Subjects: Students, parents and school staff.Results: All included studies described intervention delivery and six reported on process evaluation. In intervention schools school environment and ethos were more supportive, appropriate curriculum was delivered and parents and/or the community were more engaged and involved. Students participated in interventions at differing levels, but the majority was satisfied with the intervention. The evidence indicates that nutrition promotion programmes using the HPS approach can increase participants’ consumption of high-fibre foods, healthier snacks, water, milk, fruit and vegetables. It can also reduce participants’ ‘breakfast skipping’, as well as reduce intakes of red food, low-nutrient dense foods, fatty and cream foods, sweet drinks consumption and eating disorders. It can help to develop hygienic habits and improved food safety behaviours.Conclusions: More professional training for teachers in the HPS approach, further qualitative studies, longer intervention periods, improved follow-up evaluations and adequate funding are required for future school-based nutrition promotion programmes.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to demonstrate the contribution of whole school approaches embodied by the health-promoting school approach, to the promotion of school connectedness, defined as the cohesiveness between diverse groups in the school community, including students, families, school staff and the wider community. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-disciplinary review of literature was conducted to identify strategies consistent with the health-promoting school approach and the values and principles that promote school connectedness. The review included peer-reviewed articles and published books and reports identified from the databases spanning the education, health, social science and science disciplines and used search terms encompassing health and mental health promotion, schools, social connectedness, belonging and attachment. The paper is also a framework of the contribution of the health-promoting school approach to promoting school connectedness and was developed drawing on health promotion strategies at the broader community level known to foster connectedness. Findings – The paper found that the framework developed illustrates how the health-promoting school approach has the potential to build school connectedness through two major mechanisms: inclusive processes that involve the diversity of members that make up a community; the active participation of community members and equal “power” relationships, or equal partnerships among community members; and supportive structures such as school policies, the way the school is organised and its physical environment, that reflect the values of participation, democracy and inclusiveness and/or that promote processes based on these values. Practical implications – In this paper the detailed mechanisms outlined in the framework provide practical strategies for health promotion practitioners and educators to use in the everyday school setting to promote school connectedness. Originality/value – This paper draws together substantial bodies of evidence and makes a persuasive case for the contribution of the health-promoting school approach to building school connectedness.

Purpose – The purpose of the population-based study in the paper is to report on progress in formulating instruments to measure children's resilience and associated protective factors in family, primary school and community contexts. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper a total of 2,794 students, 1,558 parents/caregivers, and 465 staff were surveyed in October 2003. A cross-sectional research method was used for the data collection. Three surveys (student survey, parent/caregiver survey, and staff survey) were developed and modified to measure student resilience and associated protective factors. Exploratory factor analysis with Oblimin rotation and confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyse the reliability and validity of the scales of the three surveys. Findings – The surveys in this paper find good construct validity and internal consistency for the social support scale of parent/caregiver survey, which had been modified from previous studies. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a goodness of fit for the following scales: student resilience scale of the student survey; the school organisation and climate scale and family functioning scale of the parent/caregiver survey; and the health-promoting school scale and social capital scale of the staff survey. Practical implications – The paper specifies aspects of the resilience concept within a holistic or socio-ecological setting. Measures of validity and reliability indicate that these instruments have the sensitivity to elucidate the complexity of both the resilience concept and the intricacy of working within the multi-layered world of the school environment. Originality/value – This paper provides health educators and researchers with reliable and valid resilience measures, which can be used as guidelines in implementing evaluation programmes for the health-promoting school project and the prevention of mental health problems in children.

Purpose – School connectedness, or a sense of belonging to the school environment, is an established protective factor for child and adolescent health, education, and social well-being. While a comprehensive, whole-school approach that addresses the school organisational environment is increasingly endorsed as an effective approach to promote connectedness, how this approach creates a sense of belonging in the school environment requires systematic in-depth exploration. This paper aims to address these issues Design/methodology/approach – This study examines the influence on school connectedness of a whole-school approach to promote health in school, using a qualitative case study method. Three school communities in Southeast Queensland, Australia, are investigated as case studies in order to formulate a theoretical model of how health promotion approaches can build school connectedness. Findings – This study finds that a health promotion approach builds school connectedness by encouraging a “whole-school” orientation designed to foster interaction among members of the entire school community. Specific activities that promote interaction are school-wide activities involving the entire school community and, at the classroom level, “whole-class” activities in which students and staff work together on activities that create links between the two groups, such as collaborative curriculum planning. The “whole-school” emphasis on partnerships between staff and students and parents is also important, particularly with its focus on initiating and sustaining school-community partnerships. Originality/value – The findings are important, since they validate a whole-school approach to building school connectedness and address an important gap in the literature about how to promote school connectedness and thereby protect the well-being of children and adolescents.