Complete WAEC Syllabus for Health Education 2023, Text Books, and Topics

You must prepare for the exam by studying the WAEC Health Education syllabus. The format, notes, and goals for the Health Education exam are all included.

For your exam preparation, you must study health education. You can use it as a guide to help you decide which topics to read about. Additionally, there are notes on ideas that you ought to learn carefully.

Exam preparation without the aid of health education is like to visiting a farm without your farm equipment. You won’t be effective in the end.

Make sure to use the syllabus when you start your exam preparations.

The West African Examination Council’s Health Education syllabus and suggested textbooks are included in this article (WAEC).

WAEC Health Education

This exam syllabus is taken from the Senior School Health Education curriculum and aims to give students the knowledge they need at the right time so they may develop the attitudes and behaviors that will restore, maintain, and advance good health.

A practical test will be used to establish whether there is evidence of practical job involvement because health education is skill-based and involves knowledge, belief, attitude, and practices.

The examination syllabus must therefore be used in conjunction with the teaching curriculum.

Objectives

This examination syllabus is designed to assess the extent to which candidates have been able to:

• acquire basic knowledge of the human body and necessary skills for maintenance of health;
• acquire positive health practices in the school and community;
• identify and show the ecological relationship between man and his environment as a basis for preventing diseases;
• make observations and draw inferences from practical experiences that may have implications for health;
• develop readiness necessary for professional training in health-related careers.

Scheme of Examination

The purpose of this test syllabus, which is taken from the Senior School Health Education curriculum, is to provide students with accurate, sufficient, and timely information so they may develop attitudes and behaviors that can repair, preserve, and advance good health.

Since health education is skill-based and involves knowledge, belief, attitude, and practices, it will be decided through a practical test whether or not there is evidence of practical work involvement.

Therefore, it is crucial to apply the exam syllabus in conjunction with the teaching curriculum.

Papers 1, 2, and 3 are the three required papers that must all be taken. Papers 1 and 2 will be taken together as a composite paper in a single sitting.

Paper 1 will include fifty multiple-choice objective questions that must be answered in one hour for a total of 50 marks.

Sections A and B make up the two sections of PAPER 2.

Six short, structured questions make up Section A, and each one must be answered correctly to receive 30 marks.

Candidates must respond to two of the three essay questions in Section B in order to receive 40 points. The paper will be one hour long.

Paper 3: For school-based applicants, this will be a practical test; for private candidates, this will be a substitute practical work test. The exam will take 13 and a half hours and be worth 80 points.

WAEC Health Education Syllabus

History and Development of Health Education

1. Meaning and setting for health Education.
   • Meaning
   • Setting:
     • home-based;
     • school-based;
     • community-based;
     • health facility-based;
     • work place-based.
2. Meaning of health promotion.

Human Anatomy and Physiology

1. Cells and tissues of Human Body.
   • Types of cell:
     • somatic cells;
     • sex cells.
   • Cell division:
     • Mitosis;
     • Meiosis
   • Cell differentiation:
     • Formation of tissues,
     • Organs and Systems.
   • Growth and development
2. Sense Organs
   • Structure and functions of the following sense organs:
     • eye;
     • ear;
     • skin;
     • nose;
     • tongue.
3. Systems of the Body
   • Skeletal system and muscles
     • The general plan of the axial and appendicular skeleton.
     • Functions of the skeletal system.
     • Joints: Structures and types.
     • Structures and types of muscles tissues.
     • Movement.
   • Circulatory System
     •  Structure and functions.
       • Heart
       • Blood and lymph vessels
     • Composition of blood and lymph
     • Blood and lymph circulation
     • Process of blood clotting
     • Blood groups, rhesus factors hemoglobin, genotype.
     • Diseases disorder of the circulatory system and their causes; sickle cell anaemia, leukaemia, haemophilia arteriosclerosis, hypertension, coronary thrombosis and stroke.
   • Digestive system
     • Organs of the digestive system and their functions.
     • Process of digestion
     • Absorption, assimilation and metabolism.
     • Diseases/disorders of the digestive system and their prevention.
   • Excretory System
     • Structure and functions of the kidney and skin.
     • Process of urine formation.
   • Respiratory System
     • Structure and functions of the respiratory system
     • Process of respiration
     • Mechanism of breathing
     • Gaseous exchange.
     • Tissue/Cellular respiration.
     • Diseases/disorders of the respiratory system and their control.
   • Nervous System:
     • Structure and functions of the components of the nervous system
     • Voluntary and involuntary actions
     • Diseases/disorders of the nervous system.
   • Endocrine System:
     • Location of the different endocrine glands, the hormones produced and their functions.
     • Homeostasis
   • Physiological factors affecting homeostatis
4. Posture and Postural Defects.
   • Definition;
   • Characteristics of correct posture.
   • Determination of correct postures
   • Types of postural defects: Flat foot; scoliosis, kyphosis and lordosis
   • Effects of incorrect posture on physical appearance, position and functions of body organs.

Personal Health

1. Meaning and importance of physical health.
2. Personal hygiene
3. Promotion and maintenance of health:
   • Definition
   • Factors and their roles in the maintenance of health.
4. Health Screening
   • Eye defects and their corrections.
     • Myopia;
     • Hypermetropia;
     • Astigmatism;
     • Presbyopia;
     • Squints (cross eye).
   • Auditory defects
   • Conductive impairment
   • Neurosensory impairment
   • Disorder of the skin
   • Care of the eye, ear and skin.
5. Dental health education
   • Meaning and types
   • Types of human teeth
   • Teeth diseases

Dental caries and gingivitis should be mentioned.

Community Health

1. Community health services
   • Definition
   • Providers:
     • Orthodox services e.g. primary health care;
     • Traditional services e.g. bone setters, birth attendance.
   • Community  efforts in health promotion.
2. School health programme
   • Definition
   • Components
     • Skill-based health education
     • Healthful school environment
     • School feeding services
     • School health and nutrition services
     • School, home and community relationship.
   • Goals and Objectives.
   • Linkages for promotion (initiatives)
     • Health Promoting School (HPS)
     • Child-Friendly School (CFS)
     • Focusing resources on Effective Schools Health (FRESH)
     • Life Skills (LS)
     • Education for All (EFA)
3. Family health
   • Meaning
   • Different aspects of family health: Matenal and child health
   • Family size and budgeting
4. Ageing and death education
   • Definition and features of the elderly.
   • Ways of relating with the elderly.
   • Meaning of grief and death.
   • Common causes of death.
5. Epidemiology and vital statistics
   • Definitions
   • Components of vital statistics
     • Birth rate
     • Mortality rate
     • Morbidity rate
   • Uses of the major components of vital statistics.

Environment Health

1. Housing.
   • Criteria for good housing to include siting, ventilation, lighting and sanitation.
   • Components of a standard house.
2. Water supply
   • Definition and sources
   • Purification and uses.
3. Waste disposal
   • Meaning
   • Types:
     • refuse;
     • Sewage.
   • Methods
4. Pollution
   • Meaning
   • Types: air, water, soil and noise.
   • Meaning and sources of pollutants.
   • Health consequences of pollution.
5. Industrial occupation
   • Meaning
   • Programmes: Industrial health services
   • Occupation hazard
6. Pests and vectors control
   • Meaning
   • Habitats of pests and vectors
   • Harmful effects and control.

Nutrition and Food Nutrients

1. Nutrition
   • Classes, sources and functions of food nutrients.
   • Caloric value of food nutrients
2. Balanced/adequate diets
   • Definition
   • Classification
   • Nutritional problems
3. Factors influencing feeding habits/choice of foods
4. Water
5. Nutritional processes: ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation and metabolism and defecation/ejection.
6. Beverages
   • Definition
   • Types and effects
7. Diet for different group of people: children, male adolescent; female adolescent; athletes; pregnant woman; adult and aged.
8. Food hygiene, preservation and storage
   • Meaning and Principles of food hygiene
   • Effects of methods of food preparation on nutrients.
   • Methods of food preservation: Smoking/drying/dehydration, Freezing/refrigeration, addition of chemicals/sugar salts, Bottling/pickling/canning.

Safety Education and First Aid

1. First Aid
   • Meaning/aims and principles of first aid
   • First aid kit
   • Specific emergency conditions cuts; Wounds; bleeding dislocation; fractures; burns; scalds; shocks; asphysia/suffocation; poisoning.
   • Agencies providing First Aid Services.
   • Disaster
     • Meaning and types
     • Disaster relief activities
     • Accident
       • Types and causes
     • Prevention
   • Disability and rehabilitation
     • Meaning
     • Types and prevention.

Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Education

1. Drug Education
   • Terminologies in drug education
   • Classes of drugs commonly abused.
   • Ways of taking drugs into the body
   • Drug abuse and consequences of self medication.
2. Behaviour altering chemicals
   • Tobacco
     • Components
     • Effects of smoking on health.
     • Alcohol on health
     • Effects of alcohol on health.
   • Drugs
     • Effects of drug on health

Communical and Non-Communical Diseases

1. Diseases
   • Meaning and classes of diseases.
2. Communicable diseases
   • Definition
   • Classification of communicable diseases.
     • Air-borne/Respiratory diseases, Common cold, measles, whooping cough, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis and cerebro-spinal meningitis, diphtheria.
     • Water/food-borne diseases: Dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever and schistosomiasis, guinea worm
     • Insect-borne diseases: Malaria, yellow fever, trypanosomiasis and filariasis
   • Worm infection:
     • Ascarislumbricoides (round worm)
     • Taeniasolium (tape worm)
     • Ancylostomaduodenale (Hook worm)
     • Dracunculusmedinensis (Guinea worm)
     • Animal-borne diseases rabies, leptospoirosis
     • Contact diseases diseases;Gonorrhoea, syphilis, Tineapedis (athlete/foot), Taeniacapitis (ringworm) leprosy, scabies and Acquired immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
3. Factors necessary for communicable diseases to occur:
   • Causative agent
   • Susceptible host;
   • Transmission route (environment)
4. Non-communicable diseases:
   • Types
     • Deficiency (scurvy, pellagra, rickets, Kwashiorkor, anaemia, beriberi etc)
     • Diseases due to growth in cells, heredity and normal disorders (cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, haemophilia, heart disease, hypertension. Ulcer, mental illness, sickle cell, rheumatism, infertility, asthma, albinism etc.

Family Life and Human Sexuality Education

1. 1.Human Reproduction
   • Definition of terms: Reproduction; sex gametes; ovulation; menstruation; fertilization; pregnancy and gestation.
   • Structures and functions of male and female reproductive organs.
   • Conception, pregnancy, foetal development and child birth
   • Diseases disorders of the reproductive system
2. Human Sexuality Education
   • Meaning and importance
   • Life skills (Assertive Negotiation and communication skills)
3. Family and family member roles.
   • The family – Meaning and types
   • Family size
4. Family life challenges: widowhood; single parenthood, pre-marital and extra-marital affairs, in-laws etc.
   • Agencies promoting healthy family living
5. Family planning and safe motherhood.
   • Meaning and need for family planning
   • Birth control methods
   • Safe motherhood
6. Population Education
   (a) Meaning of population and population
   education. (b) Census and its problems (c) Small and large population

K.EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL HEALTH

1. Interrelationship
   2.Attributes:
   • Definition of personality and personality traits
   • Personality problems and solution
2. Mental health:
   • Definition
   • Promotion
   • Types and prevention
   • Importance

Consumer Health Education

1. Consumer health products and services
2. Laws protecting the consumer
3. Factors influencing choice of consumer products; Authencity; cost; availability; accessibility; availability and advertisement.
4. Consumer health care services
5. Quacks and quackery meaning and types
6. Health insurance and advertisement of health products and services
7. Nostrum:
   • Definition and types
   • Reasons for avoiding nostrum.

Health Education Exam Materials

Materials needed in Health Education Laboratory/Examination

1.  Models of various organs of the body;
2. Models of various parts of the body e.g. tooth;
3. Human skeleton;
4. Bones of the body;
5. Contraceptive devices;
6. Reagents for testing of starch, protein, fat;
7. Road safety signs;
8. Different types of safety elements;
9. Posters/charts of systems of the body e.g. reproductive, digestive, excretory;
10. First aid box and kits;
11. Fire extinguisher;
12. Sand bucket;
13. Photographs of health facilities and  workers e.g. doctors , nurses, dentist at work;
14. Photographs of methods of sewage and refuse disposals;
15. Microscope
16. Stethoscope
17. Preserved worms;
18. Preserved pests and vectors
19. Photographs/posters of various types of communicable and non-communicable diseases;
20. Model/poster showing parts of the body;
21. Materials for personal hygiene e.g. toothpaste, comb, toothbrush;
22. Dissecting set
23. Photographs/posters of accident scenes;
24. Photographs/posters showing methods of food preservation
25. Photographs/posters showing disaster scenes;
26. Safety;
27. Photographs/posters of drugs commonly misused/abused
28. Tobacco products;
29. Hand lens;
30. Real objects/photographs/poster/charts of classes of food;
31. Photographs/posters showing correct postures
32. Photographs/posters showing postural abnormalities;
33. Poster/real object of sphygmomanometer, thermometer, litmus paper snellen chart.