
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 4, 1995                   TAG: 9505040132
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

COALITION PUSHES HEALTH STANDARDS

A coalition of health organizations is pushing U.S. schools to stress health education as aggressively as math or science by adopting minimum standards for health education for all grades.

School systems that adopt the new National Health Education Standards will make kids ``health literate'' and save billions of dollars in health care costs, say leaders of the group that devised the standards.

The group's appeal to school systems comes at a time when conservative politicians and some religious groups are questioning the role of schools in such areas, particularly sex education and AIDS education. Coalition leaders made no reference to these concerns.

``By helping kids avoid bad habits like smoking and eating poorly, we can avoid some of these health-care costs while improving our national quality of life,'' said John Seward, chairman of the American Medical Association's Board of Trustees. ``In the end, billions in health care will be saved, but more importantly, we'll be saving the lives of the kids.''

The coalition, which includes the American Public Health Association and the American Cancer Society, urged schools to adopt a health education agenda that could be taught from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Topics that would be covered would include self-esteem; analyzing the influence of culture, media and technology on health; goal-setting and nutrition; taking risks; disease prevention, and the social and psychological reasons for substance abuse.

``These standards, if used by local and state schools nationwide, can and will lead to national health literacy,'' said Dr. John Seffrin, executive vice president of the American Cancer Society. ``There is a strong link between health and the ability to learn.''

Copies of the standards will be nationally distributed by the Cancer Society.

Seffrin said the long-term goal was that today's kids ``will become adults who make wise decisions who will pass them down to their children.''

According to a recent Gallup poll, four out of five parents with adolescent children regard health education as more important or as important as other school subjects. Less than 5 percent of U.S. schools now have planned, sequential health education.

by CNB