• Rim Ghammam, Jihen Maatoug, Nawel Zammit, Raoudha Kebaili, Lamia Boughammoura, Mustafa Al'Absi, Harry Lando, and Hassen Ghannem.
• Department of Epidemiology, University Hospital Farhat Hached, Sousse Tunisia.
• Afr Health Sci. 2017 Dec 1; 17 (4): 113711481137-1148.

Background & ObjectivesWe aimed to evaluate the long term effect of school based intervention to prevent non- communicable disease risk factors.MethodsIt was a quasi experimental study conducted during the period of 2009-2015. We involved school children aged from 11 to 16 years old. For the assessment of the program's effectiveness, subjects in both groups were examined at baseline, at the end of the 3-year intervention period and at the follow-up, one year after program's cessation.ResultsIn the intervention group, the prevalence of school children who reported to be eating 5 fruits and vegetable sdaily increased significantly from 30.0% at pre-assessment to 33.2% at post-assessment, one year after (p=0.02, p=0.41 respectively). For the control group, this prevalence had significantly decreased from 40.2% at baseline to 35.0% at post-intervention, at the follow up, this proportion increased to 44.5%(p=0.001, p<10-3 respectively). Concerning smoking habits, we observed a decreasing trend in the intervention group from 5.7% at pre-assessment, to 4.8% at post-assessment and to 3.4% at the follow-up (p=0.19 and p=0.25 respectively). There was also a significant decrease in school children who did recommended physical activity in the same group.ConclusionThe present work showed that interventions promoting healthy lifestyles should be maintained. Developing countries should be encouraged and supported to design, conduct, and evaluate robust preventive interventions.

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