Abstract
Background‘Almajiris’ are children and adolescents sent far away from their homes to study in Islamic schools under the care of Muslim scholars. Over the years, there has been a decline in the capacity of the scholars to cater to these pupils. Consequently, Almajiris spend significant periods of time on the streets begging and carrying out menial jobs to earn a living thereby increasing their risk for physical and mental disorders. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Almajiris and public primary school pupils in Zaria.MethodsA comparative cross-sectional design was utilized to compare 213 Almajiris and 200 public primary school children and adolescents aged between 5 and 19 years. All participants were administered a Socio-demographic questionnaire and the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-aged Children Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL). Data were analyzed using Chi square tests and logistic regression.ResultsThe current prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Almajiris and public school pupils was 57.7 and 37.0% respectively. After adjusting for age and family characteristics, Almajiris were significantly more likely to have any psychiatric diagnosis, depression, enuresis, substance use, and post traumatic stress disorder but less likely to have separation anxiety disorder than the public school pupils.ConclusionPsychiatric disorders are more prevalent among Almajiris and public primary school pupils in Northwest Nigeria than found in other prevalence studies with a significantly higher rate among the Almajiris. Joint efforts need to be made by the Government and Civil Society organizations including religious groups towards reforming the Almajiri education system and the provision of programmes aimed at reducing the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in both Almajiris and the school pupils.
Highlights
Street children constitute an important social and public health challenge in both developed and developing countries of the World [53]
All other participants indicated they were from Northern parts of Nigeria a significantly higher proportion of Almajiris than public school pupils (19.5% vs. 4.2%) hailed from the North-Central region which is outside the region where the study was conducted
The findings from this study indicate that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Almajiris was higher than in the public school population
Summary
Street children constitute an important social and public health challenge in both developed and developing countries of the World [53]. In the Southern parts of Nigeria, they are typically found as ‘street urchins’ or ‘area boys’ in motor parks (stations where passengers board or disembark from buses and taxis in their transit from one place to another), hawking wares or food items, or engaged in menial jobs to supplement family incomes or fend for themselves [4, 21, 34, 52] Some features of these children include disrupted family backgrounds and poorly educated parents with large families [4]. Sexual abuse [28], risky sexual behavior [43], and use of psychoactive substance [37] have been reported among street children in southern Nigeria
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