• Taiwo Akinyode Obembe, Ayoola Oluwaseun Bosede, Oluwaseun Ariyo, Folashayo I P Adeniji, Abiodun Olaoye, and Ayodeji Mathew Adebayo.
• Department of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Public Health, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
• Afr Health Sci. 2024 Mar 1; 24 (1): 239249239-249.

BackgroundThe School Feeding Programme if properly executed has the capacity to improve the nutritional status of the school children.ObjectiveTo assess the nutritional status of school children in Ondo State Nigeria given that the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) has been operational in the state for over five years.MethodsThis was a descriptive cross-sectional study.ResultsA total of 234 subjects from public schools and 227 subjects from private schools were enrolled in the study. Their mean age was 8.23 ± 1.92 years. Wasting, overweight, obesity, underweight, and stunting were noted in 19.4%, 11.4%, 0.4%, 5.0%, and 20.7% of the children, respectively. The prevalence of stunting (30.3%) and wasting (23.9%) was more among subjects from the public schools. A significant association was found between Weight-for-Age Z-score, Height-for-Age Z-score, and BMI-for-Age Z-score and the children's school type (p < 0.005).ConclusionMajority of the children showed normal growth, the rest were in both extremes of malnutrition, the subjects from private schools seem to present better nutritional status, although there is no baseline data to ratify this finding. A further study on this subject using the current finding as a baseline data is recommended.© 2024 Obembe TA et al.

28 keywords...

hide…