Nutritional Status of Primary School Children in Eguare Primary School Irrua Edo State
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
To determine the nutritional status of children aged 6-12 years who are attending primary schools in Irrua Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State.
Specific Objectives
To determine:
- the prevalence of malnutrition (under nutrition, stunting, wasting, obesity, overweight) in primary school children in Irrua LGA using WAZ, HAZ scores, BMI.
- the factors which influence the nutritional status of this age group.
- the differences in the aforementioned anthropometric indices between children in private and public schools in Irrua LGA.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Overview of Malnutrition
Malnutrition is defined as “a state in which the physical function of an individual is impaired to the point where he/she can no longer maintain adequate bodily performance processes such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, physical work, resting and recovering from disease (MMS/MPHS, 2009).
Malnutrition commonly affects all groups in a community, but infants and young children are the most vulnerable because of their high nutritional requirements for growth and development
(Blössner et al., 2005). Globally, an estimated 165 million children under-five years of age, or 26%, were stunted, 16%, were underweight, 8% were wasted and 7% were overweight. High prevalence levels of stunting among children under-five years of age in Africa (36%) and Asia (27%) remain a public health problem, one which often goes unrecognized. More than 90% of the world’s stunted children live in Africa and Asia (UNICEF et.al, 2012).
In Kenya, 35 percent of children under five are stunted, while the proportion severely stunted is
14 percent, 16 % are underweight (low weight-for-age) and 4 % are severely underweight (KNBS and ICF Macro 2010). Malnutrition observed in children under five years in Eastern region where Mbeere South Sub County is located is high, estimated at 41.9% stunting, 7.3% wasting and 19.8 % underweight (KNBS and ICF Macro 2010).
Causes of malnutrition
There has been agreement among researchers on factors contributing to malnutrition. The primary determinants as conceptualized by several authors relate to unsatisfactory food intake, severe and repeated infections, or a combination of the two (UNICEF, 1998 and Rowland et al., 1988). The interactions of these conditions with the nutritional status and overall health of the child and by extension of the populations in which the child is raised have been shown in the UNICEF Conceptual framework (figure 1) of child survival (UNICEF, 1998).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGYY
Study Design
The study was a descriptive cross sectional study, involving primary school children in E guare primary school and private school in Irrua LGA.
Study Population
The study was carried out among the mothers of pupils in Eguare primary school and some other private schools in Irrua LGA, Edo state
Inclusion Criteria
- Primary school children aged 6-12 years.
- Children attending registered Eguare and private primary schools in Irrua LGA.
- Subjects whose parents had given informed consent.
- Subjects older than 7 years who gave assent.
Exclusion Criteria
- Subjects on medications known to affect growth such as steroids.
- Subjects with skeletal deformities.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
The number of subjects recruited in this study was 925. However, 65 bio data forms were incompletely filled. Thus, total number analysed was 860. Of this, 348 (40.4%) were from public schools while 512 (59.6%) were from private schools.
Demographic Characteristics of study subjects
A total of 396 (46%) males and 464 (54%) females were selected for this study. The male to female ratio was 1:1.2. The mean age of the study subjects was 9.18 ± 1.79 years, while the mode was 8 years. In the public schools, majority of the pupils (78.7%) were from the lower socioeconomic class, while in the private schools, most pupils (54.7%) were from the upper social class. The demographic characteristics of the study subjects are shown in Table 1..
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
- In the present study, the prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting were 0.8%, 3.3% and 3% respectively, while the prevalence of overweight and obesity were 8.5% and 4.1% respectively.
- Stunting, wasting and underweight were significantly higher in the older children aged 12 years, while overweight and obesity were more common among children aged 8years.
- Males were more obese than females.
- Children of parents with secondary education and below were more stunted, wasted and underweight than those whose parents had tertiary education.
- Prevalence of overweight and obesity were significantly higher in children of parents with tertiary education than in children whose parents had secondary education and below.
- Children from lower socioeconomic classes were more stunted, wasted and underweight while those from the upper class were more overweight and obese.
- Undernutrition was more prevalent in the public schools than in the private schools, while over nutrition was more in the private schools than in the public schools.
Recommendations
- Establishment of school feeding programmes by government and private partners especially in the government owned public primary schools, where under nutrition is more prevalent.
- Health promotion campaigns and nutrition education programmes for mothers and school children, which would aid in improvement of nutrition.
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