• Reginald A Annan, Charles Apprey, Godwin O Agyemang, Diane M Tuekpe, Odeafo Asamoah-Boakye, Satoru Okonogi, Taro Yamauchi, and Takeshi Sakurai.
• Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biosciences, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
• Afr Health Sci. 2021 Jun 1; 21 (2): 927941927-941.

BackgroundAdequate nutrition is required for growth and development in children. This study tested the effectiveness of nutrition education on knowledge and BMI-for-age (BFA) of school-aged children in the Kumasi Metropolis.MethodsChildren, aged 9-13 years old were recruited from ten randomly selected primary schools in the Metropolis. The schools were randomly allocated into 3 groups: nutrition education (3 schools), physical activity (PA) education (3 schools), both interventions (2 schools), or control (2 schools). Following a baseline nutrition and PA knowledge and status assessment in 433 children, twice-monthly nutrition and PA education and demonstrations were carried out for 6 months, followed by a post-intervention assessment.ResultsPA and nutrition knowledge improved in all groups (P<0.001); the highest improvement was among those who received both interventions (31.0%), followed by the nutrition education group (29.8%), and the least, the control group (19.1%). Overall, BFA improved by +0.36, from baseline (-0.26) to end of the intervention (+0.10, P<0.001). Within the groups, the nutrition group (+0.65, P<.001) had the highest improvement, then, both the intervention group (+0.27, P<0.001), the PA group (+0.23, P<0.001) and lastly, the control group (+0.18, P=0.001).ConclusionNutrition education could improve knowledge and BMI-for-age in school-aged children in Ghana.© 2021 Annan RA et al.

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