Organisational focus
PCD supports low-income countries to meet their school health needs using the findings of evidence-based research. PCD is a knowledge-based institution which creates and shares information. Core health interventions that PCD supports are school feeding & nutrition, deworming, water and sanitation, disability screening, and health education.[4]
It conducts operational research showing how interventions can be implemented and evaluated at the country level, for example enabling mass treatment of children for common infections such as hookworm and bilharzia.[5] PCD also facilitates the sharing of knowledge between academia, governments and agencies at both national and international level, through web sites, mailing lists, and a global network of partners. In recent years, a major focus of this work has been assisting educators and health professionals to work together to help schools respond to the threat that HIV/AIDS poses to education, as well as supporting governments to better target orphans and vulnerable children in their child health programming.[6][7]
A major function of PCD is capacity building, by means of courses and workshops for governmental and non-governmental staff in developing countries. These include annual training courses in school-based health, nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia in partnership with local academic organisations such as Mahidol University, the University of Ghana, and the Kenya Medical Research Institute.[8][9]
PCD are a core member of FRESH (Focusing Resources on Effective School Health), an inter-agency initiative that the group jointly developed with WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Bank. This initiative is a key guiding strategy for PCD's development work.[10]
