7: Implementing a Healthy Environment for Teaching and Learning Through Health–School Partnership

If public health interventions can minimise those risk behaviours contributing to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, they have the potential to reduce premature death by 47% and increase life expectancy by 9.3 years (Strong, Mathers, Leeder, & Beaglehole, 2005). The Lancet commentary by the World Health organisation (WHO) Director General has reminded us that that non-communicable disease (NCDs) can kill 40 million people each year, accounting for 70% of global mortality with around 15 million falling within the age 30–69 years old, and 80% of the premature deaths in low- and middle-income countries (Ghebreyesus, 2018). There is an urgent need to address the growing inequalities in access to resources for prevention and treatment for NCDs through improved regulations across jurisdictions to eliminate the legal and practical barriers for control of NCDs (Niessen et al., 2018). There is a gap in the conventional public health system for improving the health of students, as students would go to clinics or hospitals for consultation and treatment in the event of illness but where would they go for health improvement?