This document was prepared to encourage more schools and communities to use skills-based health education, including life skills, as the method for improving health and education; by teaching children and adolescents how to adopt or strengthen healthy lifestyles. It is concerned with the knowledge, attitudes, skills and support that they need to act in healthy ways, develop healthy relationships, seek services and create healthy environments. The publication is intended for those who are interested in advocating for, initiating, and strengthening skills-based health education, including life skills, as their approach to health education. The main sections include: 1) Understanding skills-based health education and life skills; 2) Theories and principles supporting skills-based health education; 3) Evaluation evidence and lessons learned; 4) Priority actions for quality and scale; 5) Planning and evaluating skills-based health education.