Nutritional Status of Pupils Attending Public Schools with and without School Feeding Programme in Hohoe Municipality, Ghana

Faith Agbozo,Abdulai Abubakari,Prosper Atitto

doi:10.12691/jfnr-5-7-3

Faith Agbozo, Abdulai Abubakari + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.12691/jfnr-5-7-3

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Abstract

At-school lunch provision through the Ghana school-feeding programme (GSFP) is a child survival, health promotion and food security intervention implemented in selected schools in all 216 districts nationwide with the nutrition objective of reducing short-term hunger and malnutrition. The study assessed the impact of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) on the nutritional status of participants. School-based cross-sectional survey using multi-stage sampling to select 417 pupils aged 3-12 years enrolled in 14 public basic schools with (n=133) and without (n=304) school feeding programme in the seven sub-districts of the Hohoe municipality, Ghana. Data was collected between January-April 2015 through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire with assistance from teachers/guardians. Weight, height and mid upper-arm circumference were measured and used to generate underweight, stunting, thinness and obesity using WHO Antroplus and STATA 12.1. Mutually-adjusted simple and multinomial logistic regressions were done to determine association between the explanatory and dependent variables. Overall, 15.6% underweight, 9.8% stunting, 4.3% thinness and 5.5% overweight prevalence were observed. Between beneficiary and non-beneficiary pupils, there were no statistically significant differences in underweight (12.4% vs. 16.8%), stunting (13.3% vs. 8.6%), thinness (1.8% vs. 5.3%) and overweight (3.5% vs. 5.6%) respectively. Most of the explanatory variables including provision of schools meals were not significantly associated with the nutritional status indicators. Pupils in lower primary had increase odds for underweight (AOR; 3.0, 95% CI; 1.4-6.6, p=0.006) while those residing in rural areas were five folds more likely to be stunted (AOR; 5.3, 95%CI; 1.3-21.6, p=0.021). Prevalence of malnutrition was lower among beneficiaries but there were no statistical significant differences in anthropometry between schools with and without feeding programme. Findings suggest that the school feeding programme could marginally improve nutritional status of beneficiaries.

Highlights

Childhood malnutrition is a public health problem in most developing countries with adverse consequences on the socio-economic development of nations
Height and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurements were converted to weight-for-age Z-scores (WAZ), height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ), body mass index (BMI), BMI-for-age Z-scores (BAZ) and MUAC-for-age z scores (MAZ) using WHO Anthroplus software
The resulting indices were used to determine the levels of underweight (WAZ

Summary

Introduction

Childhood malnutrition is a public health problem in most developing countries with adverse consequences on the socio-economic development of nations. A quarter of children under-five years are stunted with 15% underweight, 8% wasted and 6% overweight. Prevalence of overweight in Sub-Saharan Africa is same as the global situation. There are higher levels of stunting (37%), underweight (21%) and wasting (9%) [1]. In recent years in Ghana, substantial progress has been achieved in reducing undernutrition among children under 5 five years. The 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey revealed a stunting prevalence of 19%, wasting 5% and underweight 11% [2].

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