Abstract
BackgroundSchool children in developing countries like Nigeria are faced with numerous nutrition and health problems. Lack of functional school health and nutrition programmes in Enugu state, Nigeria may be associated with dearth of data on associated factors. Identifying these factors could inform the design and implementation of school-based programmes aimed at ameliorating these problems.MethodsA cross sectional survey involving 450 primary and secondary school children aged 6–15 years was conducted in Ede-Oballa, a rural community in Enugu state, South-eastern Nigeria. Selection of the pupils was by multistage sampling technique. Data were collected through interviewer administered questionnaire, anthropometric measurements of weight and height, 3-day weighed food intake, stool microscopy and blood analyses for malaria, zinc and vitamin A. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate associations of interest with significance accepted at P < 0.05.ResultsThe school children were affected by underweight (18.2%), stunting (41.6%), thinness (20.0%), zinc (43.3%) and vitamin A (51.1%) deficiencies. After adjusting for potential confounders, weekly food expenditure was a major predictor of under-weight (AOR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.46), stunting (AOR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.95) and thinness (AOR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.80); household income was also a predictor of thinness (AOR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.88). Males had lower odds of being stunted than females (AOR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.83). The odd of being underweight was higher in female headed households than in households headed by males (AOR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.75). Tapeworm was an independent predictor of vitamin A (AOR = 3.59; 95% CI: 1.06, 12.13) and zinc (AOR = 3.64; 95% CI: 1.02, 12.98) deficiencies. Children with whipworm were more likely to be zinc (AOR = 3.80; 95% CI: 1.11, 13.04) and vitamin A (AOR = 3.79; 95% CI: 1.12, 12.89) deficient than those uninfected.ConclusionUnderweight, stunting, thinness, vitamin A and zinc deficiency among the school children were functions of weekly food expenditure, gender of household head and household income, tapeworm, whipworm, and sex. These findings emphasize the need for effective school- and community-based interventions.
Highlights
School children in developing countries like Nigeria are faced with numerous nutrition and health problems
A study conducted by Oninla, Owa, Onayade and Taiwo [2] on the nutritional status of children attending urban and rural public primary schools in Ife Central Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria showed that children in both rural and urban areas were affected by anthropometric deficits with the rural school children being more disadvantaged
We found no significant association with underweight, stunting and thinness
Summary
School children in developing countries like Nigeria are faced with numerous nutrition and health problems. A study conducted by Oninla, Owa, Onayade and Taiwo [2] on the nutritional status of children attending urban and rural public primary schools in Ife Central Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria showed that children in both rural and urban areas were affected by anthropometric deficits with the rural school children being more disadvantaged. These nutrition problems are important constraints to effective child growth and development and compromise the school child’s ability to benefit maximally from his education. School-aged children who suffered severe clinical under-nutrition in early childhood usually have poor cognition, school achievement, and motor skills, and have behaviour problems compared with matched controls [13]
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