Abstract
School health has been considered as a high priority intervention in developing countries but it has not been prioritized in Nepal. The objectives of the study are to find out the prevalence of morbidity and nutritional status in school children. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in a private school located at Panauti Municipality of Kavrepalanchowk district for one week of November 2019. A convenient sampling technique was used. From a selected school, a total number of 356 students studying from Grade I to X were included in the study using. Confidence Interval at 95% was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Among 356 students, the most common three morbidities were dental caries 43 (18.1%), tonsillitis 26 (6.2 %), and headache 18 (7.1 %). Based on weight for age, 43 (23.9%) boys and 22 (12.5%)girls were underweight and 12 (6.7%) boys and 4 (2.7%) girls were overweight and 6 (2%) were obese. Thus school health programs should give more emphasis on oral health, nutrition, personal hygiene, etc. The health and nutritional status of school children in this study were found to be satisfactory compared to other studies. The present study emphasized oral health. The school health program is important in the school for the prevention of diseases like a parasitic infestation, improving personal hygiene, and nutritional status.
Highlights
IntroductionThe objectives of the study are to find out the prevalence of morbidity and nutritional status in school children
School health has been considered as a high priority intervention in developing countries but it has not been prioritized in Nepal
A study conducted in Madhya Pradesh, India by Shinde reported that 31.83% were having morbidity associated with dental carries followed by anemia (15.69%), vitamin A deficiency (6.25%), worm infestation (4.94%), scabies (4.06%), URI (3.77%), defective vision (0.58%), conjunctivitis (0.44%) and congenital malformation (0.15%).[7]
Summary
The objectives of the study are to find out the prevalence of morbidity and nutritional status in school children. The Initiative is designed to improve the health of students, school personnel, families and other members of the community through schools.[1] In 1997, WHO developed 10 recommendations for school health, and initiated a global school health initiative in ten countries, of which 8 were developing countries.[1] School health program has included essential components of public health for cost-effective health program, the nutrition, and health of school children. Nepal’s poverty was 21% in 2018.2 Poor people are more likely to be affected by different forms of malnutrition. Malnutrition increases health care costs, reduces productivity and slows economic growth, which can perpetuate a cycle of poverty and ill health.[3]
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