Determinants of Nutritional Status of School Children

Abstract

Background : A cross sectional study was carried out to determine the nutritional status of school children in Army School, Pune. Methods: Anthropometric survey of 760 school children was carried out and compared against the NCHS/WHO reference standards to determine their nutritional status. Associations of nutritional status with socio-economic status, education status of parents, mothers working status and family size were determined. Result: The prevalence of stunting was 13.81%, wasting 6.71% and under nutrition 9.87%. Mothers' educational level, wasting, socio economic status and family size were significantly associated with the nutritional status of the child. Conclusion: Maternal educational status, socio-economic status and family size are important determinants of nutritional status of school children.

Gender Analysis of Malnutrition: A Case Study of School-Going Children in Bahawalpur

“…In the literature the mother's education has shown stronger effect on child's nutritional status than other demographic and economic variables (Mukherjee et al, 2008). The mother's education effect has been found about twice larger than father's education in Ethiopia (Christiansen and Alderman, 2004).…”

“…It may be due to poverty and poor knowledge of farmer mothers or paying less attention to their children because of their high work load. In India the incidence of wasting was higher for those children whose mothers were working (Mukherjee et al, 2008). However, in Nigeria mother's working status negatively affects the child health during infancy and positively in childhood, which may be due to lesser time for infants as required but enhanced family income contributed by working mother for childhood (Ukwuani and Suchindran, 2003).…”

“…It enhances the awareness and empowerment of women. Educated women have higher child spacing and fewer children, and give better child health-care and medical attention (Mukherjee et al, 2008). The women's knowledge of nutritional benefits of different foods and their ability to redirect resources towards the purchase of hygienic food and nutritious diet contributes to save the children from malnutrition (Khan and Azid, 2011).…”

Anthropometric Measurements Determinant Nutritional Status of Urban Primary School Children in Selected Areas of Iran and India: A Comparative Study

“…However there was no statistically significant difference in the mean weights of the boys and girls in any of the age groups. [10] The study by Prabhakar and Gangadhar [11] showed that about 41.5% of mild stunting (based on Waterlow's classification) was recorded in all age groups and both sexes, followed by moderate stunting in 39.3%. Severe stunting was observed in 6.7% of children.…”

“…[10] These researchers did not report about the percentage of children who were overweight or obese. In a study conducted at SNDT Women's University in Mumbai, 7.7 percent of children aged 7 to 10 years were overweight and 13.2 percent were obese.…”