Sustaining Adolescent Health Services Delivery during Prolonged School Closures: Considerations in Light of COVID-19

This brief provides an overview of approaches to sustain the delivery of school health and nutrition services described above and targeted to adolescents in periods of school closure, while presenting considerations for the resumption of
school-based service delivery upon reopening.

This resource summarizes effective service delivery approaches that have been utilized by the health, education, and social protection sectors to respond to health and humanitarian crises, drawing from evidence from the Ebola epidemic and emerging evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions suggested within this brief are intended to complement the guidance developed by the UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization as well as the Center for Global Development, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and among others (16–20) (see Annex 1). It should therefore be treated as a living document. Policymakers are encouraged to weigh the approaches highlighted within this brief against the national and sub-national capacity to respond to current and anticipated community and cluster transmission, emerging evidence of successful strategies applied in other contexts, and data generated by community engagement and monitoring.