Collaboration between education and health systems is key to helping children recover from disaster.
This is what Evie Shore, Nat Merrick, Megan Roker, Jennifer Shaw, Lila Goodwin, Amanda H. Waterman, Nick Preston, Lydia Gunning, Mark Mon-Williams and Megan L. Wood examine in their study for Royal Society Open Science, Improving children’s mental health and educational outcomes post-disaster: a systematic comparison of environmental, human and COVID-19 interventions.
The results compile data from peer-reviewed randomized control trials from 2000 to present in which “children aged less than 18 years exposed to environmental, human or COVID-19-related disasters” have “mental health or educational outcomes measured using standardized tools.” Overall, physical exercise emerged as an essential “cross-cutting mechanism supporting well-being and academic outcomes.”
