Nutritional Status of School Children in Addis Baba Involved in School Feeding Program: A Comparative Study
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Nutritional status of children is an important component of primary health care. School age is
a period of rapid growth in human development when nutritional demand is increased. In this
descriptive cross sectional comparative study the nutritional status of children, dietary
diversity status and food composition of the food given to the children who were involved in
the feeding program were assessed from 10 different primary schools of Addis Ababa of
which 280 students were recruited for the study. From the study results prevalence of wasting
among the feeding group was found to be 7.1% and for the non-feeding it was 10%, 5.6%
were underweight from the feeding group and 10.5% from the non feeding group. The
prevalence of stunting for the feeding group was found to be 23.6% and for the non-feeding
it was 16.5%. This study found that the dietary diversity score were influenced by
educational status of the parents/caregivers (p-vale, 0.000). Children from the feeding group
had better food diversity profile than those who were not involved in the program. Most of
the school meals composition was not sufficient to meet the children's need though they need
nutrient and energy dense foods. From the present study the prevalence of acute malnutrition
was found to be low and chronic malnutrition was medium in terms of public health
significance. The nutritional status of the school children involved in the feeding program
was different from those who were not involved in the program even though the difference
was not statistically significant. The food composition served for the children in the feeding
program was analyzed and its protein content was adequate but it did not fulfill the daily
requirement of most of the nutrients and energy requirement. School feeding program should
be implemented along with the school curriculum for primary schools at the national level till
citizens will able to insure individual-household food security.
Key Words: nutritional status; anthropometry; school feeding, dietary diversity; food
composition.
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Keywords
nutritional status; anthropometry; school feeding, dietary diversity; food composition.