WHO in our schools

The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking for a foothold in our schools through curriculum and an ever-growing presence in health care provided at School-based Health Centers (SBHCs). The effect of COVID policies that increased in virtual schooling, combined with decreased vaccination levels during the pandemic years prompted the WHO to join up with another U.N. organization, the United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

Recently, the WHO and UNESCO launched their plan to promote new global standards for health-promoting schools.¹

WHO and UNESCO want to change curriculum 

“The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that health literacy should be incorporated in the core curriculum as children enter school, supported by a health-promoting school environment.”² Researchers from UNESCO published a paper in 2020 declaring that schools have a “responsibility” to influence all aspects of children’s lives, including “spiritual and social,” because there’s “increasing absence of parental support at home.”

This graphic sums up the attitude of the U.N. regarding capturing the minds of our children in the name of health. Remember, the WHO is the global public health arm of the United Nations: 

Do you see parents or families anywhere in that graphic? 

The UNESCO authors plainly state, “education and wellbeing are intertwined dimensions.” Schools are a “natural setting for promoting their health…” and a “strategic social environment” where teachers can influence “global development.” UNESCO researchers state that “health-related contents may be embedded in the school curricula as a core discipline, or could be integrated in a health-carrier discipline such as science, or even delivered as extracurricular programme.” 

UNESCO was established right along with the formation of the U.N. in 1945, with the declaration that “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences to peace must be constructed.”⁴ And what better place to shape the minds of men than to start in the mandatory schools? 

Since 2015, UNESCO has focused on Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), which targets education, but the COVID school disruptions turned the U.N. agency’s attention to health. “The U.N. agency UNESCO is focused on turning into actions the educational commitments set by the United Nations ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,’” while our UNESCO Chair on Educational Health and Sustainable Development is… paying particular attention to the SDG3 concerning the promotion of “good health and wellbeing” and SDG4 to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”⁵ 

You may have heard of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), which goes hand-in-hand with the medicalization of our children. UNESCO researchers refer to “emotional and social skills” as a “warm blanket of prevention” of “emotional problems” that lead to “social deviations.”⁶ Twenty-nine states have incorporated SEL into their educational standards directly,⁷ and most have adopted “Common Core” federal standards, which experts believe have SEL baked in, even if it is not stated openly.⁸ 

Combining health with education is in line with the U.N. Agenda 2030: Sustainable Development Goals.⁹ (Listen to SHF’s interview with Alison McDowell for a background.) These goals are focused on collective goals, even when they come at the expense of the individual. “The goal is to stimulate students’ citizenship skills, in particular their sense of responsibility towards personal and collective health, thus empowering young people to take action for a more healthy and sustainable society and to claim – as informed citizens – for policies that positively impact their health and the environment.” 

Merging health and schools is an investment in human capital 

In 2020, with the world in a tailspin from COVID declarations, UNESCO, WHO, UNICEF and the World Food Program (WFP) jointly published a position paper calling for urgent investments in school health and nutrition programs to avert generational catastrophe caused by school disruptions from poisonous COVID school policies. The organizations estimated that 1.6 billion children were affected. 

The organizations note that promoting health in children is a “high value investment” and a “sound economic and social investment.”¹¹ Using schools to “promote health,” they say, is the best way to “maximize investment,” which is “more important than ever” after COVID policies devastated children’s lives. 

What does this report have to do with education in the U.S.? It’s not a mandate. It’s not “legally binding” on U.S. schools. But the U.S. is a member of the U.N., the WHO, UNESCO,¹² a partner to (and one of the largest donors to) UNICEF,¹³ and also supports the U.N. World Food Programme as its biggest donor.¹⁴ 

WHO and UNESCO can use School-based Health Centers to indoctrinate children 

In 2021, the WHO and UNESCO published guidance on school health services.¹⁵  

In 2022, on the heels of that guidance, the Biden administration started focusing on School-based Health Centers. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act promised “billions” in grants for School-based Health Centers, according to the White House¹⁶, ¹⁷, to entice states to expand services, especially in mental health. 

Stand for Health Freedom has extensively covered SBHCs, and you can find all of our resources and articles at this link. These clinics are much more than a school nurse’s office. From one of our free printables: 

In 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported SBHCs were “rare.”¹⁸ SHF has uncovered that there has been explosive growth in the existence of these clinics. And that growth will only increase with the hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money being provided by the White House after the WHO and UNESCO teamed up to “make every school a health-promoting school.” 

In that 2011 LA Times article, a pediatrician and proponent of SBHCs celebrated the absence of parents in the clinic:  

Stand for Health Freedom invites you to explore the attempted infiltration and indoctrination of our children using the U.S. school system in a webinar featuring guest Alex Newman, founder of Liberty Sentinel. The SHF-hosted webinar took place the week before the World Health Organization plans to meet to vote on the pandemic treaty and IHR Amendments.

Here’s a preview of some of the topics you’ll find in the webinar: 

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References

1. “Making Every School a Health Promoting School.” World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/initiatives/making-every-school-a-health-promoting-school. ↩︎
2. Pulimeno, Manuela, et al. “School as Ideal Setting to Promote Health and Wellbeing among Young People.” Health Promotion Perspectives 10, no. 4 (2020): 316–324. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723000/. ↩︎
3. Pulimeno, Manuela, et al. “School as Ideal Setting to Promote Health and Wellbeing among Young People.” Health Promotion Perspectives 10, no. 4 (2020): 316–324. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723000/. ↩︎
4. Constitution.” Unesco, https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/constitution. ↩︎
5. Pulimeno, Manuela, et al. “School as Ideal Setting to Promote Health and Wellbeing among Young People.” Health Promotion Perspectives 10, no. 4 (2020): 316–324. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723000/. ↩︎
6. Pulimeno, Manuela, et al. “School as Ideal Setting to Promote Health and Wellbeing among Young People.” Health Promotion Perspectives 10, no. 4 (2020): 316–324. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723000/. ↩︎
7. “Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Standards in All 50 States.” Positive Action, August 7, 2020. https://www.positiveaction.net/blog/sel-standards. ↩︎
8. Zakrzewski, Vicki . “How to Integrate Social-Emotional Learning into Common Core.” Greater Good Magazine, January 22, 2014. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_integrate_social_emotional_learning_into_common_core. ↩︎
9. “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” United Nationshttps://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda. ↩︎
10. Pulimeno, Manuela, et al. “School as Ideal Setting to Promote Health and Wellbeing among Young People.” Health Promotion Perspectives 10, no. 4 (2020): 316–324. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723000/. ↩︎
11. UNESCO, WFP, UNICEF, WHO. “The Importance of Investing in the Wellbeing of Children to Avert the Learning Crisis.” UNESCO, October 1, 2020. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374730. ↩︎
12. Lee, Matthew. “US Formally Rejoins UNESCO after Five-year Absence.” Associated Press, July 11, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/us-unesco-6380e9bfc62c02e6669d227590d44341. ↩︎
13. “The United States of America UNICEF Public Sector Partner.” UNICEF https://www.unicef.org/partnerships/united-states-america. ↩︎
14. “How the U.S. Leads the Fight Against Global Hunger: Food for Peace and In-Kind Food Assistance.” World Food Program USA, January 2, 2024. https://www.wfpusa.org/articles/the-us-leads-fight-against-global-hunger-food-for-peace-and-in-kind-food-assistance/. ↩︎
15. “WHO Guideline on School Health Services.” World Health Organization, (2021). https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/341910/9789240029392-eng.pdf?sequence=1. ↩︎
16. “Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Help Schools Deliver Critical Health Care Services to Millions of Students.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, May 18, 2023. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/18/biden-harris-administration-takes-action-help-schools-deliver-critical-health-care-services-millions-students.html. ↩︎
17. “Public Law 117–159.” 117th Congress, June 25, 2022. https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ159/PLAW-117publ159.pdf. ↩︎
18. Andrews, Michelle. “School-based Health Clinics Play Vital Role in Childrens’ Lives.” Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2011. https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2011-sep-12-la-he-clinics-in-schools-20110912-story.html. ↩︎